slow network browsing in XP

We have small network, two Windows XP machines and one
Windows98. When browse shared files from Win98 machine
on XP machine, this work normal, fast. But when try browsing
shared files(My Network Places), between two XP machines, or
from XP machine on 98 machine -it works very slowly, with
delay. How to adjust Win XP machines that browsing worked
more fast?

 

Hi Kenton,

We really need a lot more information.

How are your computers connected? Are you using Ethernet, with a router? If so, are all NIC cards 10/100?

Or, if you're you wireless, do you have a mix of 802.11b and 802.11g cards?

 

device

Hi Jim,

Cable from the ISP provider is connected to a router, then from router it distributed on clients(groups). Our group (3 machines) connected to a hub, which is connected to a router, I think.

Network cards:

on Win 98 machine: Realtek RTL8029(AS) PCI Ethernet NIC (separate card)

on XP machine: VIA VT6105 Rhine III Fast Ethernet adapter, onboard

Don' know what NIC card on another XP machine, as well as its parameters

kenton

 

connected to a hub

If it truly is a hub rather than a switch (which would be newer and much faster) then rather than leaving your PC NICs at auto for speed and duplexing, set them to 10Mbps half duplex.

If you aren't positive about hub vs. switch, set one NIC to 100Mbps full duplex and if it works at all, you have a switch. In that case, set all the cards to 100Mbps full duplex if they have the option.

If you use static/fixed IP addresses on the PCs, build a hosts file containing
ip-address pc-name
for each machine and put a copy on all 3. File name is hosts with no extensions. Location is c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc on XP and c:\windows on 98. Also good to have a localhosts entry on the first line. So, for example

127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.0.1 John
192.168.0.2 Mary
192.168.0.35 Junior

In this case, stop and disable browser service on the XP systems and in the NIC settings for 98, tell it never to try to act as your master browser.

If the addresses are dynamic (automatically assigned) the hosts file won't work but you should leave browser service running on 1 XP PC and disable/turn off on the other two.

The above may fix you completely or may only cause slight improvements. It will at least give us a good, known starting point for further tweaks.

 

re: connected to a hub

I dont know exactly is this switch or hub.
How to set NIC card to 100Mbps full duplex mode? I need more detail info about this.
Third XP PC have Realtek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC. We have no static/fixed IP addresses, addresses are dynamic. Is this mainly hardware/configuration issue?
Also, we have Kaspersky antivirus on our machines, its may slow down XP machines.
I do not feel any problems when I browse XP machines from Win98 PC.

kenton

 

Right click on your LAN connection and select properties. Then select configure. On advanced tab, highlight links speed and duplex. Select value.

What is the make and model of your router?

 

does not support 100Mbps full duplex

I have no direct acces to router, so don't know it model. I try set 100Mbps full duplex on XP machine (default is "Auto-Negotiation "), but its does not support (cross symbol on network connection)

 

Try typing http://192.168.0.1 (or right click on it and copy shortcut then paste it in) into your address bar. You should get prompted for username and password. These are usually both 'admin' by default or admin for user and blank for password. Hopefully this will give you access to the router so that you may identify it.

 

You mean type in IE address bar? I try, but get no any prompt there, just standard "The page cannot be displayed "

kenton

 

I try set 100Mbps full duplex on XP machine (default is "Auto-Negotiation "), but its does not support (cross symbol on network connection)

If you could even find the setting to try it, the NIC does support the faster connection but you are being told your LAN device does not. That indicates it is a hub so the best you can get is 10Mbps Half-Duplex. Set all the NICs for that speed/duplexing.

If you have a little money to spend, a switch isn't expensive these days for a small one to use with a home or office LAN and the difference in speed is huge. 15 to 20 times faster at moving network traffic around if you run 100Mbps full-duplex as compared to 10Mbps half-duplex.

- 100Mbps is 10 times faster than 10Mbps.
- full-duplex allows send/receive at the same time so twice as fast as half-duplex (send or receive but not both at once)
- hub splits the 10Mbps bandwidth among all attached devices so 5 devices working at full speed could each be getting only 2Mbps to work with. Switch delivers a full 100Mbps to all attached devices.

 

not hardware, but Microsoft issue

I am not sure that you correct understand my problem.
So, if have just set all NIC to 10Mbps Half-Duplex this could at once resolve problem? That mode already has been sets on Win 98, by default. (In XP default NIC mode set Auto-Negotiation) I think, the hardware has no attitude to this problem. When we have Win98 on all machines, all network browsing(and printing) work normal, no any problems.
As soon as we have set XP on two PCs, slow problems have appeared. I assume that any mixed network XP- 98 config can no provide normal work. That's Microsoft problem. I do not know anybody who would be pleased XP-98-2000 work in mixed network. The majority of familiar programmers choose Linux, there's no sense to pay for Windows..
I am not sure are here experts who can help?

 

kenton - I think you are correct and that no one here can help you.

What I suggested worked fine on a 2000 PC network that contained a mix of Win95/98, NT4, 2K, XP with a mix of routers, hubs & switches and a cable plant that contained some coax, some Cat3 ethernet, and quite a bit of Cat5 ethernet. We've since gotten rid of all the 9X systems but it still seems to work pretty well.

Setting the speed to a fixed quantity didn't always clear up issues but it was always the first step and in many cases cleared up the problem. In others, it ruled out a common problem and provided a starting place to look for other, more unusual causes.

Obviously you have a more complex setup though and a combination of Linux and another forum for answers to questions when you get stuck would be a much better idea.