[SOLVED] New PC slow to access network shares

[tek9]

Hi all.
I'm having some issues with a small business client that I can use some help with. I'm not very good with networking so I'm looking for all the help I can get.
Story is this: Client had 6 networked computers, no servers, just workgroup. 3 of the computers are Windows 7 (don't know if Pro or Home Premium), 3 are XP Pro. They called me in to replace one of the XP machines with a new Dell Optiplex 9020 Windows 7 Pro system.
The printer they're using is an HP LJ P4015n, and it's connected via USB to this XP (now Win7) machine and shared out to the others.
Now the wiring in this place was not done by a pro and it's obvious from the outside, but I didn't get a chance to check out all their equipment yet due to time constraints. All I know is that when I try to login to their router, the splash page shows it's a Sonicwall, but they don't know the password etc. I'm just mentioning this in case the Sonicwall might be the cause of the problems I'll outline shortly.
I tried to connect a temporary desktop switch to the one port next to this computer, so that both the old XP machine and the new Win7 machine could go online at the same time. This way I can install and update Quickbooks on the new machine while transferring the data from the old system via the network shares. Problem was that if I plugged in the computers via the switch they didn't get an IP address, just APIPA (169.254.x.x). Both computers did this, and I tried with two different switches with the same result. If I would connect either one of the computers directly to the jack in the wall it would get an IP address. So it can't be that the port is configured to only allow a specific MAC address, because the new computer worked fine.
Question is: Why couldn't I get an IP address when going through the switch? (btw: when I checked the Windows 7 Network map graphic, it showed the computer was connected to switch --> switch --> gateway. Is it possible that a third switch is too much?)
OK. So I just connected the new Win7 computer to the jack and used an external HDD to transfer the files over. The computer connected fine to the Internet and I installed and updated Quickbooks, Office etc. I mapped a network drive to their network share and could access it fine, but I can't copy anything to it. If it's a very small txt file it would go ok, but anything larger than that would just take very long. It would say something like Discovering files..... in the copying status window, but would just hang there. I checked the permissions on the main computer being used as their file server, and Everyone was allowed full control, both on the NTFS permissions, and the share permissions.
Another problem came up when trying to use Quickbooks, which I believe is related to this problem with accessing the network share. The company file is located on this network share. I launched Quickbooks, opened the company file via the mapped drive, and after a while it opened on this new computer. Problem is, every time I try to do anything in Quickbooks, it hangs for a while and then errors out due to connection loss to the server or something, and I have to abort. It seems that the slow connection is causing Quickbooks to error out, and is the same thing causing problems with writing to the share.
Another issue came up with the printer. I installed the printer locally and shared it out to the others. After installing the printer on the other machines (it took a while for them to discover this printer on the network) it prints fine as long as the new computer does not try to open Quickbooks. Once QB is opened on the new machine, the other printers take forever to print to it.
The new computer is really high spec for a business machine: i7, 8GB, Intel Gigabit NIC, dedicated graphics, etc, so it's not the machine.
If the jack is to blame, why did the old XP machine not have these problems? Would the router be limiting speeds on a new PC connected to it?
I checked all the advanced sharing options in Windows 7 and they are set to allow basically everything, just like on the other Win7 systems in this office.
I'm going by tomorrow to replace another of the XP machines with a new Win7 system. What should I check when I'm there? I'm going to try a different jack just in case and I'll bring along a USB-Ethernet adapter just in case. What else should I look at?
Thanks in advance.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Sorry if I missed something...I'm skimming the thread quickly, but did you uplink this temp switch you brought it to their main switch...or the Sonicwall? Is it a gigabit switch or hundred megger? If hundred megger may need to look for an uplink port....or use a crossover cable..if it's being plugged into another 100 meg switch or the back of the Sonicwall. Back in the pre-gigabit days...the early days of 100 megs, and older...you needed to use an uplink port, or a crossover cable. These days if any device is gigabit it's auto MDI-X so the need for uplink or crossover cable is gone extinct.

 

[tek9]

Thanks for responding, I was hoping you would.
The switches are being linked to the wall jack, which goes into a switch (which goes into another switch, according to the Windows Network map). The infrastructure seems to be 100MB, not Gigabit. First I used an old Linksys switch they had lying around which was 100MB and I used the Uplink port for that. When that didn't work, I thought the switch might be bad, so I tried a new Gigabit switch of my own which doesn't have an uplink port, so I just used the first port on that. Nothing doing.

 

[Martyn]

My first thought is why are you using a shared usb port for a printer when the specs tell me it's a networkable printer? Print files can every large and can slow the hosting computer. If you have no print server just get each computer printing direct via ip. I would also look at packet loss with the slowness of the network as well as bad nics causing a broadcast storm. Maybe get Wireshark on there and see what's going on. Maybe ping a few destinations and look for packet loss.?

 

[BrentfromZulu]

Can you reformat? It's a bit hard to read...

If possible, I would try and simply the setup. It might be a hub or something in there, and it needs a switch instead. Or a switch might be 10mb/s.

 

[tek9]

My first thought is why are you using a shared usb port for a printer when the specs tell me it's a networkable printer? Print files can every large and can slow the hosting computer. If you have no print server just get each computer printing direct via ip. I would also look at packet loss with the slowness of the network as well as bad nics causing a broadcast storm. Maybe get Wireshark on there and see what's going on. Maybe ping a few destinations and look for packet loss.?

The printer was the first thing I told him to change to network, but we have the same problem with no available ports to plug it into, and a new switch doesn't work for now. The hosting computer is very high spec, so I doubt it's the cause of the slowdown.
I'll check for packet loss when I get there. If there is packet loss, what can fix it? New NIC? New jack? New cable? New switch/router?
Either way, why did it work until I installed the new computer? and why can the new computer access the Internet with no issues, and I can login via Teamviewer with no lag?

 

[Martyn]

The printer was the first thing I told him to change to network, but we have the same problem with no available ports to plug it into, and a new switch doesn't work for now. The hosting computer is very high spec, so I doubt it's the cause of the slowdown.
I'll check for packet loss when I get there. If there is packet loss, what can fix it? New NIC? New jack? New cable? New switch/router?
Either way, why did it work until I installed the new computer? and why can the new computer access the Internet with no issues, and I can login via Teamviewer with no lag?

It's a case of breaking down to see what is working and what isn't. Swap cables, ports etc. I've seen problems with ports and autosensing issues. If it is packet loss then you can isolate it by the method I said.

 

[tek9]

Can you reformat? It's a bit hard to read...

If possible, I would try and simply the setup. It might be a hub or something in there, and it needs a switch instead. Or a switch might be 10mb/s.

Sorry about the rambling post. I just wanted to get it down before I forgot anything.
I'll check their networking equipment tomorrow to get a better idea of the situation. I don't think anything is 10mb/s because the link speed reported is 100mb/s.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Confirm DHCP is running on the network...I'm assuming it is because you say that if you plug a single computer into the wall jack it works OK. But just check...go to any of the other workstations and confirm TCP is set to Obtain Auto...DNS too...
If not...perhaps DHCP is disabled on the LAN, and each workstation is manually assigned the IP/subnet/gateway/dns. (for some reason that probably doesn't make sense..but if you didn't setup the network...anything goes!)

My hunch though is your uplinks.
Don't forget with many of those older switches (and hubs)...if it has an uplink port, the standard port next to it may be a "shared port". Example...say you have a 5x port hub or 100 meg switch...and it has a 6th port which is labeled uplink...if you use the uplink port, you can't use the 5th port. They're shared...can't plug two devices into both. It's one or the other.

Technically if you tossed a gigabit switch in the mix...it should have worked...because it will auto MDI-X the port you linked to the wall jack. But...sometimes need a few power cycles to get things going. Or perhaps the existing ethernet cabling in place is not good enough to give a gigabit switch a good connection. Even though "on paper" it means should just downshift to 100 megs...I've seen offices with existing wiring where using a new switch or even a workstation with a new gigabit NIC....just won't work. Even if manually stepping it down to 100 meg half duplex or 10 meg half duplex.

Able to take a long fresh good ethernet cable and just run it down the hall from this desk with 2 computers and a switch...and use that to uplink to the main switch or Sonicwall? Just for a temporary test to rule out the wall wiring.

 

[tek9]

Confirm DHCP is running on the network...I'm assuming it is because you say that if you plug a single computer into the wall jack it works OK. But just check...go to any of the other workstations and confirm TCP is set to Obtain Auto...DNS too...
If not...perhaps DHCP is disabled on the LAN, and each workstation is manually assigned the IP/subnet/gateway/dns. (for some reason that probably doesn't make sense..but if you didn't setup the network...anything goes!)

My hunch though is your uplinks.
Don't forget with many of those older switches (and hubs)...if it has an uplink port, the standard port next to it may be a "shared port". Example...say you have a 5x port hub or 100 meg switch...and it has a 6th port which is labeled uplink...if you use the uplink port, you can't use the 5th port. They're shared...can't plug two devices into both. It's one or the other.

Technically if you tossed a gigabit switch in the mix...it should have worked...because it will auto MDI-X the port you linked to the wall jack. But...sometimes need a few power cycles to get things going. Or perhaps the existing ethernet cabling in place is not good enough to give a gigabit switch a good connection. Even though "on paper" it means should just downshift to 100 megs...I've seen offices with existing wiring where using a new switch or even a workstation with a new gigabit NIC....just won't work. Even if manually stepping it down to 100 meg half duplex or 10 meg half duplex.

Able to take a long fresh good ethernet cable and just run it down the hall from this desk with 2 computers and a switch...and use that to uplink to the main switch or Sonicwall? Just for a temporary test to rule out the wall wiring.

I checked the other computers and they were set to get their network info automatically, DHCP & DNS. I'm seriously thinking it's a cabling issue, and will try that temp long cable tomorrow.
Thanks.

 

[tek9]

I went by today and installed the second new Win7 PC. That one didn't cause any problems at all. I connected my laptop to the first new computer's jack and it didn't get an IP address. Tried 2 different cables with no change, so now I know that jack isn't good.
I connected an old switch they had lying around to the second new computer's jack which was good and connected both new computers to the switch. At first I was using a 50' CATe cable I had to test it but it didn't even register that it was connected. I figured maybe it's too long so I made my own cable and everything hooked up perfectly.
Now the network shares, Quickbooks, printer etc. all's working great!
Thanks to all who chimed in with suggestions.