XP/w95 file Share - WMP 6.4

Have XP Pro networked with w95 via router/Internet share (Linksys Befsr41). Installed WMP 6.4 on w95 and set "My Music" on XP to be shared with w95. Everything works... except WMP plays for 20 - 45 seconds, stops, buffer status appears with the value of zero %, sits there about 10 to 30 seconds, starts playing, then repeats same cycle. Can not find a option on w95/WMP 6.4 to adjust more buffering. Following config. for w95...
AMD 300HMz, 128MB, 6GB HD half full.
NETWORK status as stated by XP via "Task Manager" during w95/WMP 6.4 playback ....
Network Link Speed -- 100 Mbps
Network Utilization -- ranges from .03% to .08%
Is the problem "no buffering "? If yes, how do I adjust it.

UPDATE -- before I posted the above
Found where to adjust buffering, settings was at 5 seconds, changed to the maxium of 30 seconds. This has reduced the problem by a factor of 10. But it still does the "exact" cycle problem as above, but now 3 to 5 times per song. The curious question, why does it state 0% while in the buffer status.
BUT... one understanding, it does NOT do this on all songs. So far we have one 4 minute song it plays non-stop. 3 other songs we have tested stop approx 4 to 7 times. All songs were moved from CD and created into .wma's at 128 bit using WMP 9.0 on my XP.
Any suggestions?

 

Further searching lead me to MSknowledgebase. It suggested disabling UDP protocols, which I did with no change. I had two songs under 3 minutes in length... they played with NO interruptions. I also noted no constant activity on network (none during the song play) which suggests ALL of the song was in buffer. So is there a way to increase buffer - OR - a way to force all of a file to be buffered first. Also I'm assuming if required, this storage would be moved to virtual HD storage?
Additional side note......
To test my network transfer speed, I copied some files from XP to w95. My average speed was 1 MB per 1.25 minutes. With little knowledge in this area, this seems somewhat slow considering it is a local network. I can download files off the net at approximately twice that speed (cable ISP).
___________________________________________
PS ---- To Newt or any Administrator
Would very much appreciate if no replies in this forum,
would you be so kind as move this thread to "Network Forum" for possible replies.
Thank you

note - moved from XP to networking - Newt

 

Dennis - the network thruput you mention is for sure not what it should be. Way too low.

The network card (NIC) in your new PC should be fine but change the speed setting from auto (the usual default) to 100mbps full duplex.

The NIC in the 95 machine may be too old to handle anything faster than 10mbps but set it as fast as it will handle too. It should do at least 10Mbps half duplex and maybe faster. Full duplex is probably and maybe even 100mbps. But if you do have to run the NIC at half-duplex, try setting the other NIC the same speed and duplexing . I'm really not sure how smart that switch is.

Make sure you have good cat5 patch cables from NIC to switch. If yours are home built, you should consider buying some unless the run is too long.

And given what you want to do, if the 95 NIC is very old, I'd suggest getting a new one and PCI if the PC has a slot. If ISA you are probably stuck.

If the above don't fix you up, post back and include details like the length of each patch cable from PC to switch, the type of NIC you have in the 9X PC.

Tech stuff - half duplex means a NIC can either send or receive at any one time. Full duplex means it can do both at once. It's possible that if one card can only do half duplex and the other tries to send while it is sending, some of the packets will just go off into space. Half duplex would force the faster card to shut up and listen after it sent. Also a card that maxed out at 10mbps might get confused with stuff sent to it 10 times that fast. Some switches will deal with this by controlling the traffic but others don't know how.

I run the same switch but both my systems use 100mbps full duplex so not an issue.

 

Thanks for the info Newt.
Switch to cable ISP 18 months ago, was not home when they installed card (w95). Got my XP 11 months ago. Networked them via router 10 months ago. Never had a reason to check nic card in w95. Made the all famous ASSumption it was a fast card since XP reported network speed at 100Mbps. Well I check the nic in w95 (Adia32), cable guy put in a Linksys ETHER16 LAN CARD ISA8 / FAST 16 10MBS card. Don't know why a ISA, there were two PCI slots available. Ask wife if she could remember, said something about a windows driver not available for the PCI card. Oh well, will let this puppy rest until I get a 10/100 card. Would one assume replacing a slow Linksys nic with a faster Linksys nic in (w95), connecting to Linksys Befsr41 router would be less grief? If yes, any model your partial to?

 

Any PCI NIC should be fine. With a very small network, you won't see performance differences.

And nonsense to the "no drivers" comment by the pseudo-tech.