Question one File Transfers: One way fast, other way slow

[Shawn Dowler]

I have 2 machines both running Win2000 Pro. I recently installed a
broadband router/network switch.

Machine A: P4 2.8 GHz, 3Com 100BaseT
Machine B: P3 500 MHz, D-Link 100BaseT

All transfers to Machine A are fast (~20 seconds for 75 Meg file), all
transfers to machine B are slow (throughput near 30k/sec. Explorer
estimates 20-40 minutes for same file going from A to B. I can stram a
movie clip from Machine B to A, but not the other way around, etc.

I have spent hours looking up fixes and have, as yet found nothing that
helps. I'm using TCP/IP without NetBEUI seperately installed. I
haven't tested switching both to IPX for testing. The problem has to be
in a setting somewhere, I'd think on the Machine A. I've been using
Machine A for a few months whereast Machine B I recently wiped clean and
installed Win2000.

I am getting desperate... this is not a wonderful situation.

Thanks,
mailman0

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have 2 machines both running Win2000 Pro. I recently installed a
broadband router/network switch.

Machine A: P4 2.8 GHz, 3Com 100BaseT
Machine B: P3 500 MHz, D-Link 100BaseT

All transfers to Machine A are fast (~20 seconds for 75 Meg file), all
transfers to machine B are slow (throughput near 30k/sec. Explorer
estimates 20-40 minutes for same file going from A to B. I can stram a
movie clip from Machine B to A, but not the other way around, etc.

I have spent hours looking up fixes and have, as yet found nothing that
helps. I'm using TCP/IP without NetBEUI seperately installed. I
haven't tested switching both to IPX for testing. The problem has to be
in a setting somewhere, I'd think on the Machine A. I've been using
Machine A for a few months whereast Machine B I recently wiped clean and
installed Win2000.

I am getting desperate... this is not a wonderful situation.

Thanks,
mailman0

I don't think this is a software problem; it sounds more
like a hardware problem, e.g.
- bad network adapter
- bad cabling
- bad hub/switch

I would start off by reducing the transmission speed
on both machines to 10 MBits/s half duplex. See if
this gets you a transfer time of 200 seconds for your
75 MByte file.

To accelerate the test, type this from a Command Prompt:

debug c:\1M.bin {Enter}
rbx {Enter}
10 {Enter}
w {Enter}
q {Enter}

This will generate a file of about 1 MByte in size. Copying
it from A to be should take about 2 seconds, which cuts
down enormously on the wait time!

 

[Shawn Dowler]

I don't think this is a software problem; it sounds more
like a hardware problem, e.g.
- bad network adapter
- bad cabling
- bad hub/switch

I would start off by reducing the transmission speed
on both machines to 10 MBits/s half duplex. See if
this gets you a transfer time of 200 seconds for your
75 MByte file.

To accelerate the test, type this from a Command Prompt:

debug c:\1M.bin {Enter}
rbx {Enter}
10 {Enter}
w {Enter}
q {Enter}

This will generate a file of about 1 MByte in size. Copying
it from A to be should take about 2 seconds, which cuts
down enormously on the wait time!

Thank you, it turned out that the problem lay with Machine B being set
at full duplex. I ended up setting it to half duplex at 100 Mbit and
everything works great. I was able to transfer the 20 gigs I wanted to
in about an hour.

One other question though... will setting the card for half duplex make
a big difference in transfer speed over full duplex, or is the diffrence
negligible/rarely noticable?

Again, thank you for your help!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thank you, it turned out that the problem lay with Machine B being set
at full duplex. I ended up setting it to half duplex at 100 Mbit and
everything works great. I was able to transfer the 20 gigs I wanted to
in about an hour.

One other question though... will setting the card for half duplex make
a big difference in transfer speed over full duplex, or is the diffrence
negligible/rarely noticable?

Again, thank you for your help!

"Duplex" means that the card can send and receive packets
at the same time. I have noticed with certain database
applications that they perform very poorly with "duplex",
for reasons I do not understand. I recommend you run
your own tests to get an answer to your question.