Noisy Network Line
We have a workstation in our organization that is experiencing very slow network connection. The connection is standard and resembles every other in the vicinity (it's wire goes straight to the closet). The port on the switch does not appear to be a problem and the hardware on the workstation also appears to be completely functional.
Any ideas?
Software/Hardware used:
Software/Hardware used:
ASKED:
September 18, 2008 6:54 PM
UPDATED:
October 2, 2008 6:04 PM
Answer Wiki:
Try switching another computer with the problematic one. If the second system is still slow (and NOT slow in its original location, try connecting to another switch port, or running another wire (I have a 100' length of CAT 5e for just this purpose, its been run down just about every hallway and through every door in the building) check duplex settings on the networks cards as well. Make sure you have the most recent drivers for the card as well.
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I echo to check the duplex setting. This is often the cause of poor network performance on a computer. Please post the results of connecting this computer to another port to see if the problem moves with the computer. Also, check the punchdowns, maybe something happened at one end of the cable run or the other. A good continuity tester would be useful for this. Try putting a hub with a sniffer between the computer & LAN. See if there are CRC errors or other errors indicating network issues on this link.
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These seem like reasonable solutions…however…
The driver is up to date (the hardware has not changed) and everything was running fine under the current configuration, literally nothing has changed but performance.
Everything in the closet seems fine, no punch down problems, no connection problems from punch down to switch.
-Schmidtw
Did you check the port on the switch for errors? CRC, runts, giants, etc? Is it a managed switch that you can put SNMP on to watch some of the stats? Is it really a network performance issue or a resource issue on the computer? Does another computer have the same problem attached at the same location as the troubled device?
Is the performance issue only present with network activity, or does has the entire system seemed to slow down? Just yesterday I had a system that did a sudden slow down on all functions, both network and local machine activity. Network connection was fine, and no spyware or virus or anything like that. When I brought the compter to the IT room (which is MUCH quieter that the system’s usual home) and connected it on the bench the hard drive was sounding like a coffee grinder. I cloned the system’s original drive to a spare using This free ware disk copy programand the system was fixed. So you might want to check for a failing hard drive.
It appears that this computer is the only issue of the poor performance. All computers in the vicinity go to the same switch, but none of them seem to be problematic. It is not all of the functions, just network access and connectivity.
-Schmidtw