Slow connection speeds since installing switch

[jackpanel]

The small company I work for recently expanded it office, and I've been tasked with getting everyone's computers connected in the new offices. I've come accross a strange problem with one of the users.

Initially, the setup that this user had was this:

DSL modem -> USRobotics Router -> Linksys 16 port hub -> laptop running windows xp

Its a small office, so there's no domain controller set up, and computers just share a workgroup.

When we moved to the new section, I set up an 8 port Linksys switch and linked it to the original setup. There are 6 computers hooked up in the new section, with 2 Windows 2000 Pro machines and 4 Windows XP Home machines. 3 out of the 4 XP machines connected with no problems, exactly as they had been working before the move, and both Win2K machines worked fine hooked to the switch.

The 4th XP machine though, has been non-stop trouble ever since moving. It can connect to the internet and browse the workgroup, but its extremely slow, causing network programs to crash. If I plug this laptop back into the original hub setup, it connects fine, but as soon as I plug into the switch it grinds to a halt. I've tried installing a clean version of WIndows 2000 Pro on the machine, and its still slow. The network card is an onboard Intel Pro 100 VE card, which I'm beginning to suspect may be the problem. The newest drivers aren't helping, and I've done full updates on both XP and 2K Pro versions with no improvements.

Has anyone ever heard of a problem like this when attached to a switch versus a hub, and hopefully any solutions?

 

[mattjurado]

How is tcp/ip configured on each computer? Is it the same on all computers? Are you using DHCP off the router, or are you assigining static ip addresses?

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[jackpanel]

Its dynamic IPs off the router, and from everything I could tell, this laptop was set up identically to another XP Home laptop that was running fine off the new switch.

I've actually gone so far as to re-format the laptop and install Windows 2000 Pro on it. I've got it at home right now and hooked it into my home network to finish off the installations over the weekend, and I'm getting the same slow connections off my home set up on a brand new Windows 2000 Pro installation. My home setup is through a SMC router attached to a DSL router. I've hooked up fresh Win2K installs to this router with no problems before, so the only thing I can think of os an issue with the laptop's network card or other hardware. The laptop is a Sony Vaio PCG-R505DL, with an onboard Intel NIC.

 

[mattjurado]

But if you plug it back in as it originally was, it works fine? If so, I think we're looking at a configuration issue, not a nic card. If its slow everywhere, now you have a reason to try a pcmcia lan adapter.

Perhaps a service such as the automatic updater trying to do its thing... Any messages in event log?

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[jackpanel]

Yeah, if I plug the laptop into a jack hooked up to the old hub, without making any configuration changes at all, it can browse the network at full speed. As soon as I go to one of the new jacks attached to the new switch, it slows to a crawl. The other 6 computers connected to the new system(3 running Win2K, 3 running Win XP Home) can connect just fine.

I'm not a networking expert, so don't really have any clue on how to troubleshoot this. Are there any diagnostic tools I could download to see what's going on?

 

[JimInKS]

Try Playing around with the NIC properties on your notebook that affect the connection speed and options. Normally these are set to AUTO and the two devices are supposed to automatically detect the connection type. Sometimes this doesn't work as it is supposed to.

Hubs use half duplex connections, switches normally like full duplex connections. Look at the current settings for your NIC and just try some different combinations for DUPLEX and SPEED.

A common cause for a slow connection is the device on one end of the cable is trying to use a full duplex connection while the device on the other end is trying to use half duplex.