Poor network performance all of a sudden..

Scope · 24 Jun 2006 at 08:41

My network has developed a strange problem.. Its been running fine on 100mb for years, then suddenly the speed of the network fell to around 200kbs - so very slow.. I've rebooted everything, tried bypassing the switch (so direct to the router), changed port on the router, what have you, but no better performance.. Funny thing is, if I change to a 10mb card it all works fine, I get the full speed..

The cable (to the router) is on the outside of the house and I suspect it might need changing.. But before I do I thought I'd check if anybody else has experienced anything similar. Oh, and I have tried changing the network drivers, and even went as far as installing a new 100mb network card - but still the same problem.

aix0 · 24 Jun 2006 at 09:32

I'm sure that i've experienced a similar problem with a printer connected to a 5 port desktop switch. Something to do with the speed / duplexing on the network card, I think that we set the speed to 100mbps Full Duplex as apposed to auto.

But then again, if it's been cool for years, I can't see that solving it. Hope it helps anyway.

Scope · 24 Jun 2006 at 09:34

I did recently re-install XP on the server (which is where I am getting the files from), but Im not sure if the problems started then. I have tried setting the network card to 100mb full duplex, no difference.

aix0 · 24 Jun 2006 at 09:43

Can you not get hold of a lappy and plug that into the router / switch with a 2m cat5 cable or something?

csmager · 24 Jun 2006 at 09:59

Try setting to 100 Half Duplex. It still sounds like duplex mismatch - if one's on full and one's on half, you get unbelieveably slow rates.

Scope · 24 Jun 2006 at 14:14

csmager said:
Try setting to 100 Half Duplex. It still sounds like duplex mismatch - if one's on full and one's on half, you get unbelieveably slow rates.

Setting it to 100 Half Duplex didnt improve anything.. But I tried setting the 100mb card to 10 Full Duplex, and that works fine (like the 10mb card)..

I will try connecting the laptop directly to the router..

In the meantime, can a cable be destroyed to a point where it will only move traffic from a 10mb card? Running the card at 100 full/half duplex results in a rubbish speed, I dont even get 10mb speed..

Thanks for the help I've been getting so far.

aix0 · 24 Jun 2006 at 18:54

Is the card speed of the router / switch configurable?

csmager · 24 Jun 2006 at 19:01

Scope said:
In the meantime, can a cable be destroyed to a point where it will only move traffic from a 10mb card? Running the card at 100 full/half duplex results in a rubbish speed, I dont even get 10mb speed..

It'd have to be fairly dire cable, but it is possible. I've got some (probably) CAT3 I tried running 100Mb over. Ended up dropping packets and giving dire (sub 10Mb) performance. Changed it down to 10Mb and all is rosy.

Werewolf · 24 Jun 2006 at 19:22

how many machines are on the network?

I've had similar problems when the NIC on one machine started dying and network traffic to/from it was moving at a crawl (I narrowed it down after swapping cables, switches, other machines).

Scope · 27 Jun 2006 at 20:33

Right, let me give you an update - for anybody interested.

After trying different things it was all down to the port on the router - it wont work on 100mb (any longer), especially if the network card (as was the case for my laptop) is set to auto duplex, others would actually detect it wasnt working on 100 and reduce it to 10..

So hopefully the other ports wont start failing now, as I dont want to buy another router until Wireless N is agreed.