Why do I have slow file sharing in my home network?

[Questi4110]

It takes me about 20 minutes to share a 250 MB on my home network.

I have set up the network through a router and I am sharing between a wired desktop and a wireless notebook.

The notebook gets the same speed as the desktop when using it next to the router (and this is the same spot I am doing the file sharing) on web pages and downloading stuff but when I share files across the network it takes forever.

I am using sygate personal firewall on the desktop (I have enabled file sharing on it) and Windows firewall on the notebook.

I have set the desktop NIC to 100 Mbps/Full Duplex.

This problem also occurs when I try to share files from one desktop to another(also through windows) that is also wired to the router on the network.

However, the transfer speeds increase drastically when I share between the computers using AIM (Instant messanger)...but I would hope that it would be faster than this (And I do want it to be faster than AIM) since sharing through windows should be faster.

What could be the cause?


THANKS

 

[nweaver]

don't hard set your NIC's, you may be causing a duplex mismatch, which is presented as very slow speeds.


Also, don't expect much of the wireless, G speeds are pretty slow compared to wired, they aren't even close to half (as the 54 mb/w number would suggest)

 

[Questi4110]

I didn't hard set it at first, I had it at auto and it was even slower.

Also, how do you explain that the second wired desktop is also giving slow transfer speeds?

And also how come on AIM the transfer is much faster...has to be something else.


THANKS

 

[Questi4110]

bump

 

[spidey07]

really sounds like it could be cabling or a duplex mismatch. You really shouldn't set the speed/duplex unless you can do the same on the switch - doing so yields very poor performance.

it could also be interferrence so try channels 1, 6, 11 on your wireless access point.

Are these homemade cables?

 

[Questi4110]

Well, I had my desktop's NIC set to auto and it was still slow (I dont know where the duplex settings are for my notebook NIC).

I didn't make the cables, I bought them in a package (if thats what you mean).

How do I try channels 1,6, and 11 on my wireless access point?

Also, remember that this problem also happens when I try to transfer from one wired desktop to another.

THANKS

 

[bluestrobe]

My guess would be the firewalls. Disable them and try it after that. Leave all of the NICs on auto settings like the others said. I've seen software firewalls do everything to wired/wireless networks so its not surprising.

 

[Questi4110]

Originally posted by: bluestrobe
My guess would be the firewalls. Disable them and try it after that. Leave all of the NICs on auto settings like the others said. I've seen software firewalls do everything to wired/wireless networks so its not surprising.

Just tried it...it still takes ~8 minutes for a 140 MB file.


Anybody have any other suggestions?


THANKS

 

[spidey07]

Please describe exactly what machine and how it is attached. Also the speed you are connecting to the access point.

And in what direction you are copying. And how - like if it's windows sharing (which is notoriously slow), etc

 

[Questi4110]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Please describe exactly what machine and how it is attached. Also the speed you are connecting to the access point.

And in what direction you are copying. And how - like if it's windows sharing (which is notoriously slow), etc

I have an HP Pavilion dv8000z (CTO) as my notebook. It has a broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN wireless NIC. It is set at 54g Auto (54 Mbps).

My desktop is a DELL with an INTEL 100/PRO VE NIC.

The router I am using is an SMC Barricade (SMC7004VWBR).

The desktop is connected to the router and I am using wireless access on the router for the notebook.

I am tranferring from the desktop to the notebook using windows sharing.


I also have a Linksys WRT54G router that I am about to try.


I just transferred at 8 MB/sec when I connected my notebook's wired NIC (Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC) to my desktop's NIC (mentioned above) through a crossover cable.


I transfer at about 400KB/sec when transferring from the desktop to the notebook (wireless at this point) using AOL Instant Messanger.


THANKS

 

[Thor86]

Have you tried disabling QoS in your network settings?

 

[Thor86]

oops doublepost.

 

[shamans]

Umm okay. First of all, you need to describe what you're trying to do with better detail (and your setup).

Here are some causes for your slow file sharing between desktop and notebook:
1) Collisions. You're using ethernet. An ethernet medium is one where many people can communicate at once and cause collisions. Only one person should only be broadcasting at any specific point of time.

1a) You're using wireless (wireless ethernet). Of course it's slower. When they say xx Mbps, that is the theoretical speed. However, in real life, a lot of devices share the same spectrum and this can cause your wireless to be really slow as there is a lot of noise. Wireless home phones for example may share the same spectrum. I had a friend who got momentarily disconnected from his network whenever his phone rang. Also, distance is a big factor.

1b) Wired ethernet. Switch technologies help here to some degree but collisions can still happen.

So, let me stress again. When it says xx Mbps, that is theoretical. That is what they hope it will achieve.

2) Possible cause: Windows file sharing and AIM may be using different protocols. I'm too lazy to remember which uses what or which is better, but this may be a big factor. TCP for example, does not operate well with packet losses or out of order packets (to some degree).

If you give more info, I may be able to help more.

 

[spidey07]

shamans,

slight correction...

In todays switched full-duplex ethernet collisions are impossible and never happen.

Wireless is half duplex, so only one layer1 device can send at a time - it uses "collision avoidance". But I think the problem here is - wireless is slow. couple that with using windows file sharing = slower.

Even on it's best day 802.11g achieves around 22 Mbs of thruput.

 

[Questi4110]

Originally posted by: shamans
Umm okay. First of all, you need to describe what you're trying to do with better detail (and your setup).

Here are some causes for your slow file sharing between desktop and notebook:
1) Collisions. You're using ethernet. An ethernet medium is one where many people can communicate at once and cause collisions. Only one person should only be broadcasting at any specific point of time.

1a) You're using wireless (wireless ethernet). Of course it's slower. When they say xx Mbps, that is the theoretical speed. However, in real life, a lot of devices share the same spectrum and this can cause your wireless to be really slow as there is a lot of noise. Wireless home phones for example may share the same spectrum. I had a friend who got momentarily disconnected from his network whenever his phone rang. Also, distance is a big factor.

1b) Wired ethernet. Switch technologies help here to some degree but collisions can still happen.

So, let me stress again. When it says xx Mbps, that is theoretical. That is what they hope it will achieve.

2) Possible cause: Windows file sharing and AIM may be using different protocols. I'm too lazy to remember which uses what or which is better, but this may be a big factor. TCP for example, does not operate well with packet losses or out of order packets (to some degree).

If you give more info, I may be able to help more.

Thor86: I'll try disabling (or seeing if it is even enabled) the QoS settings

Shamans (Quoted above):
1) Ok

1a) My wireless card on my notebook says that I have excellent reception. Also, remember that this problem arises when I try to transfer between my wired desktop and my other wired desktop.

1b) Ok

What other information would you like?


Spidey07: Again, this problem arises when I transfer between two wired desktops.





Is there anyway that the problem could arise due to the router or it's settings (besides QoS)?

Also, I just want to mention again that I disabled firewalls on both systems and the transfer was still slow.


Thanks for all the help

 

[shamans]

There are a couple kinds of windows file sharing (I think...)
there's Netbios over Tcp/IP...and then there's netbeui....

I guess you can try each of them...(which one were you originally using?)

If you use wish to share files extensively, I suggest using an ftp/http server instead of windows file sharing. Microsoft never was serious about improving its file sharing technologies (I haven't seen much improvements). If what you say is true...(that AIM gives you better speed, all else being the same) then forget windows file sharing. I haven't been impressed with their speeds myself in the past and it's been awhile since I've transferred anything large. I do vaguely remember that transferring something as large as 2 to 4 gigabytes was a pain in the butt (sometimes there would be mysterious errors and it didn't have file resuming of course).

Advantage of ftp/http server include mature, non-proprietary software accessible even outside lan (if u wanted it) + other features.

Check out what performance you get (in Megabytes /sec) by trying it.

So in summary:
My suggestion is to use ftp...easier, more superior. If you need some sort of announcement (as in being able to see who's on the network), you can enable file sharing without actually using it for the purpose of file sharing. This will still let you see the other computers over the network. You can further complement this by using windows shortcuts (.lnk files) and reference an ftp address this way.

So for example if you have a computer called BobsComputer on the network then...
\\BobsComputer\SomeFolder\ can contain a shortcut (.lnk file) to ftp://BobsComputer

What can I say...once you know how to set up an ftp/http server, you'll never go back. (Note that http doesn't directly have write/upload capability). If you don't want to bother, then I'm out of ideas because from what I can tell this is a difference in protocol performance.

And...the internet is your friend. If you don't understand anything, try researching about it. I bet thousands of other people have experienced your problem.

 

[Questi4110]

Originally posted by: shamans
There are a couple kinds of windows file sharing (I think...)
there's Netbios over Tcp/IP...and then there's netbeui....

I guess you can try each of them...(which one were you originally using?)

If you use wish to share files extensively, I suggest using an ftp/http server instead of windows file sharing. Microsoft never was serious about improving its file sharing technologies (I haven't seen much improvements). If what you say is true...(that AIM gives you better speed, all else being the same) then forget windows file sharing. I haven't been impressed with their speeds myself in the past and it's been awhile since I've transferred anything large. I do vaguely remember that transferring something as large as 2 to 4 gigabytes was a pain in the butt (sometimes there would be mysterious errors and it didn't have file resuming of course).

Advantage of ftp/http server include mature, non-proprietary software accessible even outside lan (if u wanted it) + other features.

Check out what performance you get (in Megabytes /sec) by trying it.

So in summary:
My suggestion is to use ftp...easier, more superior. If you need some sort of announcement (as in being able to see who's on the network), you can enable file sharing without actually using it for the purpose of file sharing. This will still let you see the other computers over the network. You can further complement this by using windows shortcuts (.lnk files) and reference an ftp address this way.

So for example if you have a computer called BobsComputer on the network then...
\\BobsComputer\SomeFolder\ can contain a shortcut (.lnk file) to ftp://BobsComputer

What can I say...once you know how to set up an ftp/http server, you'll never go back. (Note that http doesn't directly have write/upload capability). If you don't want to bother, then I'm out of ideas because from what I can tell this is a difference in protocol performance.

And...the internet is your friend. If you don't understand anything, try researching about it. I bet thousands of other people have experienced your problem.

I don't know which kind I was using, I just had both computers on the same workgroup and shared one of the folders on the desktop, accessed it from the notebook and transferred files.


I have setup FTP before and tried transferring files from the wired desktop to the other wired desktop and it was only as fast as AIM.

The only reason I thought of using windows file sharing is because I thought it would be quicker...it was quick ( 8MB/sec) when I connected the notebook NIC to the desktop NIC through a crossover cable.


THANKS

 

[shamans]

So you're saying windows file sharing was fast (8 MB/s) with a crossover cable? What about using an ftp server over crossover cable? What speeds did you get using that.

 

[Askalon]

Just a quick note: i had an SMC barricade and my performance was very slow as well. It degraded to the point where i could not get internet or see other pc's. The hardware just gave out. How old is the SMC? Mine was a good 4 to 5 years old. i upgraded to a D-Link gameing router (has gig on it) and been much happier. As a test, you could make static IP's on your two wired desktops and use a simple 10/100 switch to see if you gain in performance.

On another note, what is your Anti-Virus solution? It could be scanning outgoing and incoming on both PC's and thus slowing it down.

 

[Questi4110]

Originally posted by: shamans
So you're saying windows file sharing was fast (8 MB/s) with a crossover cable? What about using an ftp server over crossover cable? What speeds did you get using that.

Shamans: That is correct, 8 MB/sec with a crossover cable. I am going to try the FTP with the crossover soon now.



Askalon: I think this router is about 4-5 years old also...I still haven't gotten around to testing this transfer with the WRT54G I borrowed from my friend...I'll do that later today as well.

Also, I have disabled antivirus completely on both PCs.



THANKS

 

[shamans]

Is your router 10 Mbit or 100 Mbit capable?
Easiest way to find out is through the brand + model # and check its advertised specifications on the internet.

 

[Questi4110]

Originally posted by: shamans
Is your router 10 Mbit or 100 Mbit capable?
Easiest way to find out is through the brand + model # and check its advertised specifications on the internet.

11 Mbps Wireless



THANKS

 

[shamans]

Originally posted by: Questi4110

Originally posted by: shamans
Is your router 10 Mbit or 100 Mbit capable?
Easiest way to find out is through the brand + model # and check its advertised specifications on the internet.

11 Mbps Wireless



THANKS

I meant wired, not wireless.

11 Mbps wireless is not that fast btw.

 

[Questi4110]

Originally posted by: shamans

Originally posted by: Questi4110

Originally posted by: shamans
Is your router 10 Mbit or 100 Mbit capable?
Easiest way to find out is through the brand + model # and check its advertised specifications on the internet.

11 Mbps Wireless



THANKS

I meant wired, not wireless.

11 Mbps wireless is not that fast btw.

Oh ok. Well this is what it says under the description:

"The wireless Barricade provides a 10/100 Mbps WAN port for high-speed integration into your network"

Link


THANKS

 

[shamans]

Okay... then it's capable of up to 100 Mbps (if you have network cards, etc. able to utilize it)