Question for LAN-Gurus

[Grego]

I have been asked by my boss to find out why the LAN where I work doesn’t work properly. A description of the workstations are listed below.

The problem is that the LAN is extremely slow and that it is a miracle if it is possible to connect to the internet or get any work done. Once it took 3-4 minutes for my workstation to save a 1-page letter!

The server is a new machine (P3 something) running win2k, and access to the net is by adsl.

I know that the hardware is far from state-of-the-art but I figure that it should be able to work better than this.

Workstation 1:
Win98 1st edition
K6-2 333
32MB ram
Unknown brand of mobo but it has VIA-chipset
The ethernet-card shares its irq with the graphics-card
Only tcp/ip protocol is installed
There is a problem with primary ide-controller, the driver is not installed correctly.

This machine is the worst of them all, it is in itself very slow, probably because of the ide-driver problem, which I will look into next time Im there. It is impossible to connect to the internet, and when accessing the server it is extremely slow.

Workstation 2 and 3:
Same type of hardware
Only tcp/ip protocol installed
No irq-sharing
No problems with the ide-driver

These machines are also very slow when trying to use the LAN and/or internet.

This is the info which I have got at the moment, now Im hoping that some LAN-guru can help me out

I would like nothing more than throwing the machines out and buying new ones, but Im not sure we have the money for that. (we’re tax-funded) I have read some very bad things about the via-chipset for the super7 platform, and my guess is that this is the primary reason!? Is it a problem that the server is running win2k and the workstations win98 1st edition?

Thx
Jesper aka Grego

[MultimediaMan]

The first place to look is the Hub...are the Collision lights lit constantly?

Are you able to get to get good ping times to each of the clients from the Win2K machine?

Is one machine showing high LAN Activity even when it is not doing network-related tasks? If so, it could be a bad NIC (aka a "Screamer"), or there might be a virus or other bandwidth-eating piece of software causing the problem.

A Switch instead of a Hub is a good idea where LAN traffic is expected to be high, but it can put your server machine under more stress under certain conditions.

Another thing: are your cards compatible? If you run some cards at 10MBPS, and others at 100MBPS, some Hubs have a difficult time getting the signals translated properly.

Other basic things:

If you are running a Hub, make sure all network cards are forced to HALF-DUPLEX. Hubs cannot utilize Full Duplex.

Maker sure your cable runs are within Spec...less then 100 Meters TOTAL for a non-repeating Hub. If your Hub can double as a Repeater, then make sure your network complies with ALL of the particular requirements of the Hub in order to work correctly: many Repeating Hubs have to be completely homogenous (i.e. 100MBPS on all inputs) to function as a Repeater.

Make sure your network cabling is routed well away from any and all Flourescent ballasts or other high-frequency EMI. (Doctor's office's and Hosptials with MRI or X-Ray devices often require specially shielded cases and Fiber-based network cards in the vicinity of the Imaging Equipment.

[IcedEarth]

>>edit<<

Oops, I didn't quite read your post good enough and posted something stupid.

[Guru]

Take a look at the guides at www.tweak3d.net (server currently down?) and the one at www.3dspltlight.com

[Topha]

if you decide to get new pc's, check this out: http://www.chip-online.com/products_...ests_5307.html

posting this like mad at the moment

you should be able to get a new system (mobo, cpu, ram, hd, graphic) for not too much money, especially if you recycle old components.

just tell you boss you will do it yourself, so you dont have to spen lots of money for technicians.

and dont get a pre-build pc (dell etc.)

[EdSki]

Not much info to go on here..

The problem could be anything. Could be the network (be sure to read Multimedia's reply). Could also be the workstations or the server.

Are there any other machines on your network? If so are they experiencing the same problems? Is it only slow when connecting to the server (Server=adsl gateway??)?. Or is anything between workstations also slow?

If only connecting to the server is slow, check the event viewer and task manager for anything weird like anything taking up a lot of processor time and/or memory. Stuff like Virus checking running during working hours can slow a server down to a 8088. You can also do some performance monitoring, maybe the poor thing is just being strained to much. All of the above also goes for the workstations..

P.S. You did make sure you are not running iis on the server (default in win2k!) or patched and checked it didn't you?

Grtz,
Ed

[Guru]

Yes installing sp2 is recomended as it fixes som memory leaks that can slow down the system!

To check for secutrityupdates look over here or updates in general overhere!

[Grego]

Thx for the suggestions, I will check it out this tuesday - hopefully I will be able to find the cause of this problem.

First of all I dont know much (hardly anything )about lan, but the only purpose of the lan is to connect the workstations with the server and the adsl-connection, there is no contact at all between the workstations.

P.S. You did make sure you are not running iis on the server (default in win2k!) or patched and checked it didn't you?

What is iis? I have not checked which version of w2k is installed on the server, but I will next time.

An antivirus program is running on all systems, would it be an idea to disable this?

[EdSki]

Don't disable your Anti Virus programs!! I meant that a scheduled virus check during working hours can really slow a server down. This may not even be the case, but if you pinpoint the problem to your server it is something you could check.

IF you determine that the performance of the server is the problem, the first thing you should check is the processes tab of the task manger to see if something is eating up a lot of processing time. If nothing obvious shows up there, use the performance monitor (or system monitor as ms calls it these days) to get a picture of the load on processor usage, harddisk usage and memory and network. Mind you system monitor itself puts a load on your server, so don't let it run for to long.

It's best to schedule your anti virus program to run a virus check when the server isn't used. Like during the night, after the backup. You will still need the anti virus shield during the day for protection.

See Multimedia's reply for how to trouble shoot network problems.

IIS is internet information server. It has some major security leaks. One of which is used by the red worm virus(ses). Red Worm will create a lot of network traffic during the times that it becomes active. Patches are available at the microsoft site.

Grtz,
Ed

EDIT
This is a helpfull link for trouble shooting

http://www.microsoft.com/technet

/EDIT

[Grego]

Well now sp2 is installed on the server (what can I say, they are not very well versed in computers )

This thursday I will bring my own notebook, and try to connect that to the lan instead of the 3 workstations. This way I can find out if the problem is with the connection or the stations.

btw 2 out of 5 workstations work just fine, and one of these stations is the same type of machine as the 3 trouble-machines.

more to follow.............