You'll think I'm crazy....

I've run across a Windows networking problem that I've
never before seen. I have no clues...

I needed to attach a Win98SE laptop to our LAN which has
broadband. Networking (other than dial-up) was not
installed. I inserted a new PC Card ethernet adapter
(wired) and installed the drivers. No problems...

After rebooting and logging in, I have access to our
WinXPPro server and the broadband connection. All is
good. I go to the Windows Update sight to install the
latest security updates. First problem: when I click
the "Scan for Updates" link it takes more than five (5)
minutes to find and show updates. Oh well.. I request the
updates. Download speed is no better than a modem. It
takes over an hour to get the updates.

Next problem: I try to copy a few files from the server
to the laptop. Browsing the network is brisk. No delays.
The Link/Act light on the NIC flashes rapidly. When I
start the copy operation, boom, everything (on the
laptop) slows to a crawl, just like the internet
download. The Link/Act light now blinks much more slowly.
It takes nearly ten minutes to copy a 5MB file!

So far, I've done the following: Removed all networking
from the Network config and removed all devices from
Device Manager then reinstalled everything from scratch.
I've tried three different NICs with three sets of
drivers. The behavior is exactly the same regardless. I
tried a different patch cable and port from the network
hub. No change. Everything works as expected except when
anything more than a tiny bit of data has to pass through
the network. All other computers (from Win95 to XP) on
the LAN work fine.

I have NO ideas where to look for such a problem. ANY
ideas would be very much appreciated. TIA.

Al

In article <056a01c3d630$72f44050$(E-Mail Removed)>
"Al" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

I bet corey holzman's site will help you. Of course, you can send the
donation to him along with a long letter of "thank yous" and don't you
forget it. Don't criticize him though. He will wipe out your criticism so
only his site contains the "nice" letters from all the good little boys
and girls.
DOWN WITH CENSORSHIP!

Did you verify that the speed/duplex settings match between your
switchport and your new laptop's interface? I've seen extreme network
slowness on occasion when the duplex settings don't match...

Al wrote:
> I've run across a Windows networking problem that I've
> never before seen. I have no clues...
>
> I needed to attach a Win98SE laptop to our LAN which has
> broadband. Networking (other than dial-up) was not
> installed. I inserted a new PC Card ethernet adapter
> (wired) and installed the drivers. No problems...
>
> After rebooting and logging in, I have access to our
> WinXPPro server and the broadband connection. All is
> good. I go to the Windows Update sight to install the
> latest security updates. First problem: when I click
> the "Scan for Updates" link it takes more than five (5)
> minutes to find and show updates. Oh well.. I request the
> updates. Download speed is no better than a modem. It
> takes over an hour to get the updates.
>
> Next problem: I try to copy a few files from the server
> to the laptop. Browsing the network is brisk. No delays.
> The Link/Act light on the NIC flashes rapidly. When I
> start the copy operation, boom, everything (on the
> laptop) slows to a crawl, just like the internet
> download. The Link/Act light now blinks much more slowly.
> It takes nearly ten minutes to copy a 5MB file!
>
> So far, I've done the following: Removed all networking
> from the Network config and removed all devices from
> Device Manager then reinstalled everything from scratch.
> I've tried three different NICs with three sets of
> drivers. The behavior is exactly the same regardless. I
> tried a different patch cable and port from the network
> hub. No change. Everything works as expected except when
> anything more than a tiny bit of data has to pass through
> the network. All other computers (from Win95 to XP) on
> the LAN work fine.
>
> I have NO ideas where to look for such a problem. ANY
> ideas would be very much appreciated. TIA.
>
> Al
>

Yes. the default setting of "Auto negotiate" was
originally selected, so I tried manually selecting each
of the other available options one by one. The ones that
worked at all exhibited the same problem and some just
plain didn't work. I'm completely stumped...


>-----Original Message-----
>Did you verify that the speed/duplex settings match
between your
>switchport and your new laptop's interface? I've seen
extreme network
>slowness on occasion when the duplex settings don't
match...
>
>Al wrote:
>> I've run across a Windows networking problem that I've
>> never before seen. I have no clues...
>>
>> I needed to attach a Win98SE laptop to our LAN which
has
>> broadband. Networking (other than dial-up) was not
>> installed. I inserted a new PC Card ethernet adapter
>> (wired) and installed the drivers. No problems...
>>
>> After rebooting and logging in, I have access to our
>> WinXPPro server and the broadband connection. All is
>> good. I go to the Windows Update sight to install the
>> latest security updates. First problem: when I click
>> the "Scan for Updates" link it takes more than five
(5)
>> minutes to find and show updates. Oh well.. I request
the
>> updates. Download speed is no better than a modem. It
>> takes over an hour to get the updates.
>>
>> Next problem: I try to copy a few files from the
server
>> to the laptop. Browsing the network is brisk. No
delays.
>> The Link/Act light on the NIC flashes rapidly. When I
>> start the copy operation, boom, everything (on the
>> laptop) slows to a crawl, just like the internet
>> download. The Link/Act light now blinks much more
slowly.
>> It takes nearly ten minutes to copy a 5MB file!
>>
>> So far, I've done the following: Removed all
networking
>> from the Network config and removed all devices from
>> Device Manager then reinstalled everything from
scratch.
>> I've tried three different NICs with three sets of
>> drivers. The behavior is exactly the same regardless.
I
>> tried a different patch cable and port from the
network
>> hub. No change. Everything works as expected except
when
>> anything more than a tiny bit of data has to pass
through
>> the network. All other computers (from Win95 to XP) on
>> the LAN work fine.
>>
>> I have NO ideas where to look for such a problem. ANY
>> ideas would be very much appreciated. TIA.
>>
>> Al
>>
>
>.
>