Gaming & other home lan problems

hey all,

i`m having a few 'intermittent' problems with home networking LAN games.
unreal tornament 2003 - fine (tcp/ip protocol)
command & conquer generals - fine (PRESUME TCP/IP)
file sharing - somewhat slow to open the folders view & find pc's on the
network; file tranfers the full 100mbit/sec
ANY delta force game (all use ipx protocol) and major problems arrise.
and windows XP startup (when taskbar applications load, and LAN connections
are active) there is a 1-2 minute pause in loading - nothing happens.
LAN connections dont always get IP#'s

1) filesharing details - just the normal workgroup name, and filesharing
ability has been checked, and nothing seems to be abnormal - i have ran home
networking wizard with no problems. - any ideas why theres a slight pause
when searching for pc's on the *small* home network. is this just normal and
nothing for me to worry about?

2) delta force problems - IPX is installed, thats it. i have not changed any
settings. i have ran home networking wizard again after IPX install. when
you go into DF (either 1, 2, land warrior, or black hawk down) it can find
the game without delay, once you click join, it will hang at 'connecting to
server', while the host is in game, and has a '[player] is joining' message
onscreen. serve & play setup.

3) Win XP startup with lan enabled. if i have either my Nforce2 lan, or the
3com (both built into my a7n8x deluxe rev2.0) enabled, then once you restart
pc, and winXP loads backup, there is a 1-2 minute delay of nothing - HDD
light off, nothing loads. then after this delay, everything is fine again.
is winXP caching some networking stuff? any way to disable the pause?

4) lan connections dont always get ip#'s. i`ve been unable to find out a
cause behind why it does this, i have even set ip# to fixed 192.168.0.1,
only to find (after a restart) that it does not default to. ip#'s are either
<not available> or '0.0.0.0'

my setup is WinXP Home + sp1, v2600, client for MS networks, file &print
sharing, NWLink NetBIOS, IPX/SPX/Netbios compatable protocol and TCP/IP are
installed in LAN properties, asus a7n8x-deluxe rev2.0 with latest nforce
2.45 drivers. tried both via a network switch (SMC 8port switch) and a Xover
cable, pc-pc, i`ve also ran home network wizard after EVERY network change
(ip's, protocol re-installs, cable setup, etc)

my dad reckons that winXP's IPX protocol is somewhat flaky, and there are
better ipx drivers out there. if so, could anyone recommend me some?

sorry about all the questions, but now my lan sessions consist of UT2003
invasion mode, and C&C generals and rather annoying pc pauses when pc
restarts occur

thanks for any replys
tim draper

ps i`m somewhat a networking newbie - maybe it's a simple network setting
somewhere that i dont have setup right.

just updated to DX9b - still no luck, so i guess thats 1 less thing it could
be

tim

"O |V| ? G ?" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bkmbba$gfu$(E-Mail Removed)...
> hey all,
>
> i`m having a few 'intermittent' problems with home networking LAN games.
> unreal tornament 2003 - fine (tcp/ip protocol)
> command & conquer generals - fine (PRESUME TCP/IP)
> file sharing - somewhat slow to open the folders view & find pc's on the
> network; file tranfers the full 100mbit/sec
> ANY delta force game (all use ipx protocol) and major problems arrise.
> and windows XP startup (when taskbar applications load, and LAN
connections
> are active) there is a 1-2 minute pause in loading - nothing happens.
> LAN connections dont always get IP#'s
>
> 1) filesharing details - just the normal workgroup name, and filesharing
> ability has been checked, and nothing seems to be abnormal - i have ran
home
> networking wizard with no problems. - any ideas why theres a slight pause
> when searching for pc's on the *small* home network. is this just normal
and
> nothing for me to worry about?
>
> 2) delta force problems - IPX is installed, thats it. i have not changed
any
> settings. i have ran home networking wizard again after IPX install. when
> you go into DF (either 1, 2, land warrior, or black hawk down) it can find
> the game without delay, once you click join, it will hang at 'connecting
to
> server', while the host is in game, and has a '[player] is joining'
message
> onscreen. serve & play setup.
>
> 3) Win XP startup with lan enabled. if i have either my Nforce2 lan, or
the
> 3com (both built into my a7n8x deluxe rev2.0) enabled, then once you
restart
> pc, and winXP loads backup, there is a 1-2 minute delay of nothing - HDD
> light off, nothing loads. then after this delay, everything is fine again.
> is winXP caching some networking stuff? any way to disable the pause?
>
> 4) lan connections dont always get ip#'s. i`ve been unable to find out a
> cause behind why it does this, i have even set ip# to fixed 192.168.0.1,
> only to find (after a restart) that it does not default to. ip#'s are
either
> <not available> or '0.0.0.0'
>
> my setup is WinXP Home + sp1, v2600, client for MS networks, file &print
> sharing, NWLink NetBIOS, IPX/SPX/Netbios compatable protocol and TCP/IP
are
> installed in LAN properties, asus a7n8x-deluxe rev2.0 with latest nforce
> 2.45 drivers. tried both via a network switch (SMC 8port switch) and a
Xover
> cable, pc-pc, i`ve also ran home network wizard after EVERY network change
> (ip's, protocol re-installs, cable setup, etc)
>
> my dad reckons that winXP's IPX protocol is somewhat flaky, and there are
> better ipx drivers out there. if so, could anyone recommend me some?
>
> sorry about all the questions, but now my lan sessions consist of UT2003
> invasion mode, and C&C generals and rather annoying pc pauses when pc
> restarts occur
>
> thanks for any replys
> tim draper
>
> ps i`m somewhat a networking newbie - maybe it's a simple network setting
> somewhere that i dont have setup right.
>
>