sktn77a said:
I have 4 computers at home that I have just upgraded (?)
from windows 98SE to XP pro. Have a Netgear router and
various network chips in the computers. The network
worked flawlesly under 98 but is SLOWER THAN MOLASSES
with XP (it's a 10/100 ethernet setup)! System is
identical under 98 and XP - norton antivirus 2002 (not
2003 with it's speed problem), no firewall, no ICS,
netbios is enabled over TCP/IP - no other protocols
enabled. I can ping the other computerd just fine with
<1ms round trip time (don't know if this means anything)
but file transfer is SLOW!
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keith
First, only measure data rates using a single large file -- one
big enough that you can measure transfer time with a watch, and
then calculate data rates from that; after creating those huge
files, defrag the HDs. Some software transfer rate indicators are
unreliable. Also, you may get very different results with one
large file instead of a folder full of small files, due to the
metadata overhead.
Note that there are four transfer rates, and they may be very
different: pushing XP's data to W9x, pulling W9x's data to XP,
pushing W9x's data to XP, and pulling XP's data to W9x. And, be
consistent in how you do the transfers -- e.g., map a network
drive in each direction, then use Explorer's ^C and ^V to copy.
Check that your file transfers are being done on the LAN, not the
WAN. If you remove the WAN cable and can still transfer files,
you'll know that the traffic is at least going over the LAN.
Look at the network device and make sure that both NICs are using
100 Mb/s FDX. If they are set for Automatic mode, try manually
setting them to 100 Mb/s FDX as an experiment, and see if that
affects the transfer rate.
Note that transfer rates can be limited by slow HDs as well as
network problems.
Remove any other devices from your router, so that other LAN traffic
is not clouding the issue.
Uninstall all firewall and AV apps while you measure network transfer
rates, and run both PCs as close to standalone as you can get.
Finally, create identical accounts on both PCs (same username & PW),
and do the measurements while logged into both PCs with those accounts
Make sure both PCs have large RWINs (I use 46720), and that both PCs
and the router use the same MTU (I use 1500 everywhere; some nets may
need smaller values). DrTCP.exe is handy for this.
