Slow ping rates and loss of connection to a computer in the same network

[adeveloper]

Hi,

We have a windows 2000 server (running active directory) in our network
which we use as a fileserver. Previously it has been running fine but
recently (in the last month or so) when we are trying to navigate the file
system sometimes explorer freezes and we loose the connection to the
machine. This usually only lasts for 1-10 seconds and if we refresh we get
the connection back. So it seems that periodically we loose connectivity to
this machine or the speed of the connection slows down.

When I ping the server in question I am getting an average ping rate of 3 ms
instead of <10ms (which I believe we previous always got) with spikes of up
to 20ms. My theory is that these spikes correspond to the down time.
Actually I just checked and saw that the ping rates to other machines in the
network showed results like 1-3ms, when previously I think they always
showed <10ms - however we don't get this problem with the other computers.
Could this be a router problem?

The disk are a bit fragmented and we have 19% space on the Windows
partition. The server has been running for several years without too many
changes.

Has anyone seen this before?
Most grateful for any help.

Here is an example of pinging the problem machine.
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128

 

[Guest]

Those ping rates don't look bad. By the way, 3 ms is <(less than)10ms, so
from your example I only see 2 'spikes' above the <10ms. I would only worry
if you were seeing extreme differences in the ping rate(like going into the
hundreds).

As far as the problem you are having, it could be numerous things. Bad
cable, bad nic in server(or needs updated drivers), bad hub/switch, or if
your HD is out of whack a disk defrag may help. Have you checked the event
viewer on the server for error messages?