L
Larry
I'm trying to help a relative with his small business
network. There are 5 computers, all running XP Home. A DSL
line goes into the Zyxel DSL modem/4-port-router. Since
there are only 4 ports and 5 pc's, one of the Enet ports
is used to connect, with a cross-over cable to
another "distribution" device. (I've tried both a hub and
a switch.) All PC's are newer PC's. Three are HP's, one is
a Toshiba laptop, and the 5th is another brand, not sure
just what since I'm not on the site right now. All are set
for 100MBPS operation. One of the HP's (call it PC1)is
the "Most" mission critical -- used for accessing a web
based version of Quickbooks. The laptop (call it PC2) and
the non-HP pc (PC3) are in the marketing department, and
need to access the internet from time to time. The other
(PC4 and PC5) are in the managers office, and are less
critical for Internet, but needs to be linked to the other
pc's.
That's the background, now, here's the problem.
With PC1 and PC2 connected to the switch, the operation
seems normal, fast INet activity, the "activity" lights on
the switch flash when the network is being accessed, but
are mostly solid. But, when any one of the other three is
plugged into the switch, the activity light for that
connection begins flashing furiously and never stops. This
happens even though INet Explorer is not running on the
PC. It's as if the pc is firing off thousands of packets
of data at the local network, bogging the whole network to
down to a crawl. When that happens, PC1 is unable to use
the online Quickbooks. That's their major concern. Any
combination of three pc's connected to the switch, and the
network is unusable.
Any suggestions about what setting on PC's 3, 4, and 5,
that might be causing this unusual network activity would
be greatly appreciated.
network. There are 5 computers, all running XP Home. A DSL
line goes into the Zyxel DSL modem/4-port-router. Since
there are only 4 ports and 5 pc's, one of the Enet ports
is used to connect, with a cross-over cable to
another "distribution" device. (I've tried both a hub and
a switch.) All PC's are newer PC's. Three are HP's, one is
a Toshiba laptop, and the 5th is another brand, not sure
just what since I'm not on the site right now. All are set
for 100MBPS operation. One of the HP's (call it PC1)is
the "Most" mission critical -- used for accessing a web
based version of Quickbooks. The laptop (call it PC2) and
the non-HP pc (PC3) are in the marketing department, and
need to access the internet from time to time. The other
(PC4 and PC5) are in the managers office, and are less
critical for Internet, but needs to be linked to the other
pc's.
That's the background, now, here's the problem.
With PC1 and PC2 connected to the switch, the operation
seems normal, fast INet activity, the "activity" lights on
the switch flash when the network is being accessed, but
are mostly solid. But, when any one of the other three is
plugged into the switch, the activity light for that
connection begins flashing furiously and never stops. This
happens even though INet Explorer is not running on the
PC. It's as if the pc is firing off thousands of packets
of data at the local network, bogging the whole network to
down to a crawl. When that happens, PC1 is unable to use
the online Quickbooks. That's their major concern. Any
combination of three pc's connected to the switch, and the
network is unusable.
Any suggestions about what setting on PC's 3, 4, and 5,
that might be causing this unusual network activity would
be greatly appreciated.