slow write but fast read on wired lan

[satz24]

Hi all

I'm a bit puzzled by the transfer speed on one of my wired lan computers. When I do file transfers, or use Lan Speed Test it comes up with figures of around 45mbps write (to) and 500mbps read (from). I've run this test several times with similar results.

My router is a gigabit router (ASUS n66u) and I have 2 PCs connected by hardwire (cat 5e), and a few wifi devices.

On the 'troublesome' PC which is about 9 years old and running XP SP3, it does have a gigabit lan onboard, and the connect speed shows as 1gbit. Mobo is Asus P4P800 Deluxe. I've only run the Lan Speed Test from the newer (Win 7) PC as this older one can't find other PCs on the network (although it can be found by other PCs)

I've tried swapping cables, to no effect. Have also used different ports on the router to no effect.

My cable internet download speed is 60mbps. The troublesome PC is showing internet speed of about 25mbps, while my other newer PC is showing 60mbps. using Ookla online speedtest.

Are there any settings (perhaps do to with duplexing) that I should look at on the XP PC, and maybe even on the router?

thank you

 

[Arcanedeath]

You have 2 issues with the old PC. 1) it most likely has a slow HDD so you may be maxing it's write speed (espically if it's the system drive). and 2) the old PC is on XP which uses SMB 1 which is just horrible for lan transfer speeds. Vista & 7 are both on v2 and 8/8.1 are on v3. SMB even v3 is not that efficient but each version is much better than the last although there is a much bigger difference between 1 and 2 than 2 and 3.

 

[satz24]

hi Arcanedeath
thank you for the reply. Would the slow HDD also constribute to such a dramatic reduction in internet connection speed? (25mpbs compared to 60 on the other wired PC)? I was thinking that perhaps the HDD was the bottleneck, but would that not affect both read and write speeds?

Is there anything I can adjust on XP or would upgrading the PC to Win 7 help?

cheers

S

 

[jolancer]

within reason i would think HDD has nothing to do with network speed. Isn't the point or Ram to act as a buffer if need be?

Arcanedeath xp network reference sounds gossly exadurated, and how would it relate to read:write differential you see? and wan?

a quick net search brings up titles for people having difficaulty maping from within win7 to XP, not the other way around...

my assumption, your XP firewalled not set correctly?, or XP installation is just crapped up over the years an somethings broke driver wise etc?, your doing something wrong. what do you mean by XP cant see your network shares? typing the network address for a share into XPs map network drive field doesn't bring up anything? are you using diff workgroups or domains for your computers?

 

[Mushkins]

There's not enough information here to really understand the problem. When you say you do "file transfers," do you mean you are transferring files from one PC to another PC on your LAN, or downloads from an external server over the internet, or uploads to an external server over the internet, or what? All of these will behave vastly differently.

Also, what is this Lan Speed Test you mention. How are you testing these speeds and getting these numbers specifically.

At first glance, Arcanedeath is most likely right. It's a combination of a slow HDD, Windows XP networking code, and old drivers on an old NIC not playing nice. Without more information we cant be sure though.

 

[azazel1024]

What NIC is in the problem machine? On board? Add-on card? PCI? Manufacturer and model? What exactly are you doing? Win 7 machine acting as server? CIFS, or a different network file storage protocol?

I'd go with Mushkins, probably combo of slow HDD, SMB1 and old NIC drivers. Could also be a crap NIC too. I've seen plenty of old NICs that claimed they were GbE NICs that fell massively short of being able to handle full GbE speeds. I've also seen plenty of older ones that had a hard time with fast ethernet speeds, even when they claimed they were connected at 1Gbps.

Honestly, it just might be time to put the old XP machine out of its misery

 

[Enigma102083]

I absolutely promise you it's the HDD being the bottleneck.