Net Speed Slooow

Don't force the Nics into duplex mode.  Set them to auto negotiate.  It sounds like a harmless thing to do but evertime I've done it the results are disappointing.  I wish I could explain why...

What?  You have:

  WRT54G <----> SW1 <-----> SW2 <----> SW3
      /\                   /\                   /\                /\
       |                    |                    |                 |
      \/                   \/                   \/               \/
    4 PCs              1 PC                2 PC          1 PC + XBOX

What two boxes are you copying files between?

Hi Stevew1999

Yah your drawing is just about right, (3 pcs - 1pc ------------- 2 pcs------------1pc + Xbox)
Speed is the same all around. the changes to the niks where done today just to see if it would help, buy sadly no change. I don't really know how fast the speed should be. But one would think using 100mb should be faster then 100MB per 1min 20!!!

Sorry Hi Giltjr i didn't catch this was two comments. But ok thanks for the quick reply!!!

Hi Giltjr

All- righty then sounds like a plan... We are in luck with the FTP server as on is up and running all ready. As things are just now the ping replied Time=1ms TTL=128

I could not logon ftp -w:32000 x.x.x.x i dont know how to define witch port to use like
-->192.1681.101:5050

Do you have a ftp sever running on the other box?  FTP uses standard ports and as long as you have a ftp sever running it should work.  Oh, wait, do you have personal firewalls running?  If so you will need to configure it to allow the PC to act like a ftp sever.  Which personal firewall do you have, if you have one?

Hi again

Yah i am using norton... but the problem is i am not using port 21, i am using port 5050. What ill do is change to port to 21 for the test on PC1. Im just now installing warftp on PC2.

first thing is you are using three switches ( d-link -5 port) means 15 ports are avilable and four of routers means total 19 and you are using the 8 pc's & one x-box ..right then chck the proper uplink to every switch is proper and why you are using the three switches i mean to say that using linksys router & one d-link switch is ok ..

So firstly disconnect the switches and check with router connected pc's ( three pc's) and configure the static IP on the pc's and reset your router and configure the IP address / subnet mask/Gateway & DNS addresses properly as per ISP provides and also DHCP server settings .Also give DNS  ( Primary & ALternative) addresses on each pc ( TCP/IP settings ) and configure the workgroup and configure the file & printer sharing .

And check the speed of file transfer & internet speed ..hope it will work...

Ah, the Windows FTP client does not support specifying a non-standard command/control port number.

HI- kadadi_v

The reason for three switches is:
I have a home network with a few neighbors connected so each one has a switch
Me -->(3 pcs - 1pc) ------house2-------> (2 pcs)-----house3------->(1pc + Xbox) We use this net mosty for games and tv shows so we are often moving files from 500mb to 5GB hence the need for a speedy net. :)
I am just now in the process of checking if the speed changes using just one switch (WRT54G)

HI- kadadi_v, giltjr

Is there a speed advantage using a static ip and not DHCP?

There is no speed advantage.  The only advantage of using DHCP is that if you change the IP address of say your DNS sever, WINS sever or default router you can update the parameters in the DHCP settings on the sever and at the next renew all of the clients get the changes.

With static IP addresses, you would have to go to each PC to update this information.

IIRC Windows only gets DNS ip addresses, WINS IP Addresses, and default router information from DHCP.  There are a bunch of other options a DHCP sever can set, but Windows does not accept all of them.

What Model # are the Dlinks?

Hi stevew1999

2x Dlink Fast Ethernet DES - 1005D
1x Dlink Fast Ethernet DES - 1008D

HI giltjr
My ftp server would not start on pc1 because port 21 is in use???? What program is using it i don't know. So i restarted safe mode w/net support then i could start it.... strange. I am not sure what results you wanted from the ftp in dos but i used the command "get 1.avi" the file is 800mb it was downloaded at 1956Kbytes/sec,

Is there any operating system programs using port 21 / how do i find what program is using port21?

I found the problem with port 21... It was an old ftp server installation.

Using copy to/from a file share can be very slow.  FTP can do transfers much faster and I wanted to see how fast FTP could do the transfers.  Next step would be to install a Packet capture utility and see if anything unusual.

I suggest wireshark, http://www.wireshark.org.  You speed seems to be about 20 Mbps a second.  I would expect this with a Wireless connection, but not a wired.

I don't know how to explain it but here are the speed test results.
Before any changes where made:
Ping from pc1 to pc2 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Ping from pc2 to pc1 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Moving files using DOS ftp:
pc1 to pc2 1730 Kbytes/sec
pc2 to pc1 1956 Kbytes/sec

After updating Nik drivers and using one switch.
Ping from pc1 to pc2 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Ping from pc2 to pc1 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Moving files using DOS ftp:
pc1 to pc2 2264 Kbytes/sec
pc2 to pc1 2756 Kbytes/sec

Tested on more time:
After updating Nik drivers and using one switch.
Ping from pc1 to pc2 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Ping from pc2 to pc1 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Moving files using DOS ftp:
pc1 to pc2 2360Kbytes/sec
pc2 to pc1 4139 Kbytes/sec

Put the system back to way it was.
Tested on more time:
After updating Nik drivers and using one switch.
Ping from pc1 to pc2 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Ping from pc2 to pc1 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Moving files using DOS ftp:
pc1 to pc2 2560Kbytes/sec
pc2 to pc1 4740 Kbytes/sec

I don't know what has the improved the speed "pc2 to pc1" but now i can copy 800mb in 2.5 min in one direction but it still takes 10 min in the other. Maybe a bad net cable???

Investagation continues...

giltjr
Thanks for giving me a hand on this problem it seems as things are moving in the right direction ;)

Typo error update: the last test was using all of the switches

Put the system back to way it was.
Tested on more time:
Ping from pc1 to pc2 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Ping from pc2 to pc1 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Moving files using DOS ftp:
pc1 to pc2 2560Kbytes/sec
pc2 to pc1 4740 Kbytes/sec

It is possible a bad cable could cause this.  You still are not getting what you should.  FTP should easily be able to get to 8,000-10,000 Kbytes/second (8-10 MBps) assuming that you have a fairly new PC with a decent harddrive.

OK, yah all pcs P4 at least 1 gig ram and 100+gig HDs (pc1 has raid 0 750 gig 3x250) but on the down side we are using norton Internet Security - i'm told is a real drag on speed, What should i look for when using WireShark? Maybe send you a copy of the results??

OK its not a cable, I replaced one of the pcs with a laptop so now i tested pc1 -> laptop Task Manager is now reporting stable 80% network utilization of a 100mb connection before it was jumping between 2-25% sooo there is something going on with PC2.

Investagation continues...

Using static ip's on each pc you better know the which pc / ip having the problems using TCP/IP utilities ( like ping/ftp or telnet) coz right now you have the 9 pc's only so you can configure the static ip's and workgroup file & printer sharing settings or check with only your home pc and neighbour's pc ..and disbaled / uninstall the norton internet security and check the speed and for ftp server if you properly configured the winxp workgroup network settings and put this 9 machines on workgroup then no need to use ftp server coz every pc on local network and if also you want to use the ftp server then install the bulletproof ftp server and open the port 21 on your router and forward to that ftp installed pc's IP address.

and scan your pc's and run the spybot search & destroy and check which ports are open on the router using on cmd prompt > netstat -an so you can know the which application using the ports.

Hope it works...

--> OK its not a cable, I replaced one of the pcs with a laptop so now i tested pc1 ....

Did you swap out the cable on PC2?  Do you happen to have a crossover cable?  If you bypass the switch and do some tests directly connecting the PCs.  

Hi giltjr

Yah i have a 30m cat5 cable i can make to a crossover cable. Going to the store now to get some RJ45 connectors. I started PC2 in safe mode w/net and tried but no funk, it works fine in one direction but not the other... Can you tell me the steps for setting up TCP when using a crossover. PC4 & PC6 also have this same problem   (pc-->ok  not ok<--) Oh yah i changed out the cable on PC2 (I'm thinking maybe Nic is "fubar")


HI kadadi_v
I'm thinking your suggestions can be done but after the speed problem is solved.
Pc should be clean been Using NIS 2007, HijackThis, Ad-Aware, SpyBot SD!
Whats the reason you suggest to setup the net using static ip?

Test results with new Nic in Pc2 and all switches connected
Ping from pc1 to pc2 bytes 1472 time 1ms TTL 128
Moving files using DOS ftp:
pc1 to pc2 9613Kbytes/sec (1min 15 to move 715mb) Now thats more like it!!!!
Now to Pc4-6

Yep, that is what you should be getting.  Sounds like a bad NIC in PC2.

Does PC4 or 6 have the same type of NIC as PC2 had?

giltjr.-

I don't know, nobodys home ill check tomarrow. Jippi problem fixed... Do you think is worth the time to set the Pcs with a static ip. Is it just to set an ip address, subnet, dns, gateway and remove DHCP in the router?
I'll leave this question open for a couple of days then close it if the Nics are bad there too:) You have helped me a lot soo the points are yours - MAJOR thanks ;)

Static vs. DHCP is really a coin toss.  With static you know what computer has which IP address because you assigned it, or told somebody to.   You could setup host files on each computer and acces them using names instead of IP addresses.

However this also means that your neighbors can't connect new computers to their switches when ever they want, unless you give them a range of IP address before hand.

I use DHCP in my house, but I also don't use the DHCP sever in my wireless router.  I have setup my own DHCP sever, DNS sever (I use dynamic DNS), and proxy sever.  I don't just assign IP addresses, default router, and dns severs using DHCP which is all your WRT54G will do.  I also hand out NTP sever address and WINS severs addresses.  I also set the MTU size using DHCP, but this will not work for Windows boxes they ignore the DHCP MTU parameter.  I run Linux mostly at home.

The easy part of DHCP is that is the default for most any computer you buy today.  Generally with a "small" home computer one a computer gets an IP address, it keeps it.  It not like you will have a bunch of different computers on and off of the network.