Home network only fast in one direction - what could be wrong?

[bigd480]

Computers A and B are networked with a crossover cable. I've had them set up this way many times to transfer files. Recently for some reason, Computer A transmits very slowly (like 20 min for a 500mb file) while it can receive the same file in a couple of minutes. I even explicitly had both computers set to 100mbs/full duplex... I am thinking the fact that the NIC in Computer A recently has been used for DSL could be a contributing factor since DSL caps your uploads (transmitting)... However I uninstalled the DSL software and it still did the same thing... Any ideas? The specs on the slow-sender are low compared to the receiver but if it can write that fast it should be able to read even faster right?

 

[ttn1]

The first thing I would do is defrag the harddrive on the slow machine. Usually it is the harddrive read speed that
effects the transfer rate. At least in my experience. On download the machine can cache alot of the downloaded
file, but while uploading, at least at 100Mbit/s on an IDE drive, it is totally dependent upon the "read" speed of the
drive.

This is an educated guess, someone else may prove me wrong.

Being connected to DSL shouldn't have any effect. The capping that DSL does is not done
at your computer it is done with their hardware.

*edit* changed to "read" speed instead of write speed

 

[ojai00]

<< Being connected to DSL shouldn't have any effect. The capping that DSL does is not done at your computer it is done with their hardware. >>


Have you tried updating the drives for your NICs and seeing if that helped?

 

[Spg]

Talk about a small world. I have the same problem and I came here to look for answers.

I have 2 machines running win98. Machine 1 has a Intel Pro100 NIC and machine 2 has a USB/Ethernet link box. (I got it when I had a cable modem and they did not want it back.) I have them connected through a intel inbusiness 5-port hub. Machine 2 can send machine 1 a 5 mb file in a few seconds. But if machine 1 sends the same file to machine 2 it takes 5-7 minutes.

I don't know much about networking but I would appreciate any help.

Spg

 

[ScottMac]

Try swapping ends on the cable (like put the "A" side into the "B" machine, and vice versa).

If the problem moves to the to the other machine, you have a bad cable.

Good Luck

Scott

 

[CSoup]

I had a similar problem, but with computers connected through a router. I originally had both computers set up for 100 full-duplex, but had very bad performance one way (< 1mbps I think), so I set both to 10 full-duplex and the speeds both ways became even. I would have liked 100 both ways, but 10 mbps each way is better than having a 1mbps connection one way.

 

[bigd480]

Thanks for the input! I don't think it's the machine because I have set them up this way many times and it has been fine... I also ran Power Defrag last week...

I'll try switching the cable and setting to 10mb/fd... Let me know if u think of anything else

 

[CSoup]

<< Thanks for the input! I don't think it's the machine because I have set them up this way many times and it has been fine... I also ran Power Defrag last week...

I'll try switching the cable and setting to 10mb/fd... Let me know if u think of anything else >>



You might also want to try out the half-duplex options also if the 10mb/fd option does not work.