File Transfer Lockups in Win2k over a network=data loss.....????? HELP!

[jamesbond007]

Ok. I am stumped here. I have a network at home, using a Linksys 5-Port Ethernet Switch, using all Linksys network cards. I have a DSL connection to the web. I have Win2k Pro on all of my machines. They are all 1Ghz+ AMD Machines using either the Asus A7V and Asus A7V133 motherboards. I am currently using BIOS 1006 for the A7V and 1003 for the A7V133. Network transfers are fast as hell! Not that that is bad or anything, but whenever I do large transfers, such as 2GB+, one of my machines freezes. That machine consists of a 1.2Ghz TBird running a 266Mhz bus. (L1 bridges came unlocked on 200Mhz chip...9x133). I have switched the chip back down to its default settings, running 12x100, because I thought it was the FSB change that may have been causing the crash. The system completely locks up whenever I do large transfers. The mouse locks up, as well as the keyboard and any music just loops a .5 second sound. CTRL+DEL doesn't work either. I am currently using VIA 4.29beta drivers, but I have also tried all of the other versions of VIA drivers as well, but it still locks up. Is this a BIOS problem or what? I've never had transfers go so fast. I used to have a Linksys hub, but with this switch, it goes EXTREMELY fast. The lockup occurs after about 300-400MB of data, which goes in about 30-35 seconds. It varies each time. NOW, what the real thing that stumps me is that after it locks up 5-6 times and after rebooting, the files on my C partition get corrupted! When I boot, I get "Invalid System Disk". I have scanned with virus scanners (Norton, McAfee, AVP, etc.) and nothing was found. I am totally lost here. All of the machines are a pretty simple setup, but this 1.2Ghz machine is decked out. The specs are listed below. By the way, it doesn't matter which machine I transfer to on the network. I have a lot of the same/similar components in other A7V systems, but this is a first A7V133 board. A7V worked fine. I am able to surf the Internet forever without any problems on this machine as well.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I've posted this in several topics under the Anandtech forum, so please excuse me there. When I don't do large network transfers, I can run the box days on end without lockups/crashes. Small transfers (<100MB) transfer fine in about 5-7 seconds. I've attempted to FTP the file over as well, but after about 1.5-2GB, the machine locks up! Any input or possible work-arounds are appreciated. I will be CCNA certified in 3 months, so don't worry about using Network terminology if you think it is a network setup.

Thanks!

Specs: Hardware
-------------------------------
Asus A7V133 motherboard with BIOS 1003
AMD 1.2Ghz CPU, originally 200Mhz bus, but running 266Mhz (9x133). (Came unlocked)
512MB Crucial Memory (2x256MB) PC133, CAS2, Timings: 2,2,2
Asus V7700 Deluxe AGP (nVidia GeForce2 GTS DDR 32MB)
SBLive! Platinum 5.1 /DTT3500
Linksys NIC (Version 4) @200Mbps
Motorola PCI 56k modem (DSL backup, never had to use it though 🙂)
Kenwood 72x CDROM (DMA Enabled)
HP 8x4x32x CDRW (DMA Enabled)
Pioneer 105S Slot-Load DVDROM (DMA Enabled)
Zip250 Internal
Seagate 30GB ATA66 HDD (UDMA4) - On Promise ATA100 Controller
3.5&quot; Floppy
MS Optical Explorer Mouse (USB)
MS IntelliType Pro Keyboard (USB)

Specs: Software
-------------------------------
Win2k Pro (No SP1)
VIA 4-in-1 4.29Betas (Take Care of SCSI HDD Recognition)
SBLive! Drivers (SBLive Emulation enabled w/ no probs)
nVidia 6.5 Reference Drivers
Linksys NIC v.4 Drivers
Motorola Modem Drivers
Iomega Software Drivers

 

[jaywallen]

Just a couple of questions:

All machines are W2K Pro. Since you didn't specifically stipulate, I'm assuming you did not set up a DC but are simply networking perr-to-peer. Correct? What protocols and clients are you using?

This will probably really sound dumb, but again no specific stipulation. The lockup occurs on only the one machine when a large file transfer is done. To it? From it? Between two other computers? (Don't laugh. I've seen it before.)

When you say transfer do you mean copy or move? Are you using Explorer or the old File Manager from NT4?

Is there anything in particular about these files that is different from files which don't cause lockups when transferred, besidestheir size. Are they compressed, encrypted, all written by the same application, on a different type of partition?

I just noticed that the specs say &quot;No SP1&quot;. Any particular reason? Do you have the indexing service running on the problem machine? If so, and if the index is exceeding 4 gigs in size (Wow!), you need SP1 (or to turn indexing off). W2K will corrupt index files larger than 4 gigs, and that will cause data loss.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q258/0/75.ASP

All I can think of at the moment.

regards,
Jim

 

[joeyjojoe]

man jaywallen, i really have to commend you on your detective work and explanation. it seems like what you are saying has very good potential of helping.

 

[jamesbond007]

To make it short and sweet, what I do is I open the networked folder on the other machine. Then I open the folder on my HDD, drag and drop the files in. I'd be using Explorer for that process. The lockups occur, no matter what machine I'm doing the copy/paste procedure on. Some of the folders contain compressed files, but no files were ever encrypted. I have my 30GB partitioned into 3 10GB drives. The last HDD partition, drive E, is the partition I'm copying from. I don't have SP1 installed for various reasons, but I've heard lots of bad things about it. I did install it once, but noticed no differences on the other machines. I can't imagine the indexing service having anything to do with it. I leave most of those settings alone, but the other machines are able to transfer without hassle.

Thanks for the help thus far.

 

[obenton]

Recent problem, or since you got the machine? Where's the NIC located and what are its settings?

 

[jamesbond007]

I just got the machine up and running on Friday, March 2. I had been donig my normal stuff on it for a while until I decided to move some files over to some other machines. I believe the NIC is in slot 3 of the motherboard. Not sure though, I'll have to look when I get home. The drivers for everything install ok and there doesn't seem to be any apparent hardware conflicts.

 

[obenton]

... and try setting the NIC to half-duplex and see if that stops it.