Poor Network performance with WHS

[Jim Sanchez]

I just installed Win 7 HP on an I5-750 based system. It is a high
performance configuration but the network performance stinks. The
motherboard (Gigabyte) uses a realtek network chip and the network is
all gigabit. My older computer using exactly the same network and server
was about 10 times faster to transfer large files.

Anyone have any ideas?
Jim

 

[SC Tom]

I just installed Win 7 HP on an I5-750 based system. It is a high
performance configuration but the network performance stinks. The
motherboard (Gigabyte) uses a realtek network chip and the network is
all gigabit. My older computer using exactly the same network and server
was about 10 times faster to transfer large files.

Anyone have any ideas?
Jim

You don't mention the MB model, but it may not support Gb transfer. You can
add in a Gb card and disable the on-board NIC. Cards can be picked up for
less than $20.
Did your older computer have the same MB?

SC Tom

 

[Jim Sanchez]

You don't mention the MB model, but it may not support Gb transfer. You can
add in a Gb card and disable the on-board NIC. Cards can be picked up for
less than $20.
Did your older computer have the same MB?

SC Tom

Sorry I was not clear enough. The current MB is a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P
which has two onboard Gb ports. My previous MB was an ASUS A8-SLI
Premium which also had two onboard Gb ports. It had an Athlon-64 3600
processor. I suspect both support Gb transfers unless you have data to
the contrary.

Jim

 

[SC Tom]

Sorry I was not clear enough. The current MB is a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P
which has two onboard Gb ports. My previous MB was an ASUS A8-SLI
Premium which also had two onboard Gb ports. It had an Athlon-64 3600
processor. I suspect both support Gb transfers unless you have data to
the contrary.

Jim

No. I would think it would support Gb transfers as is. I assume you got all
the latest 32- or 64-bit drivers (whichever you need)from Gigabyte for it?
Have you tried the other LAN jack? Or are you teaming the two?
What are you running for a firewall, or is all of that on your server? If
the firewall is external to your workstation, have you tried disabling the
local firewall? Has anything else changed, such as new software or hardware
on the server?

SC Tom

 

[Jim Sanchez]

No. I would think it would support Gb transfers as is. I assume you got all
the latest 32- or 64-bit drivers (whichever you need)from Gigabyte for it?
Have you tried the other LAN jack? Or are you teaming the two?
What are you running for a firewall, or is all of that on your server? If
the firewall is external to your workstation, have you tried disabling the
local firewall? Has anything else changed, such as new software or hardware
on the server?

SC Tom

Latest drivers installed and the other LAN jack has a metal tab
(removeable) covering it. No teaming - obviously - windows firewall
nothing has obviously changed although Power Pack 3 installed itself on
the server but it was during Win 7 install.

Jim

 

[SC Tom]

Latest drivers installed and the other LAN jack has a metal tab
(removeable) covering it. No teaming - obviously - windows firewall
nothing has obviously changed although Power Pack 3 installed itself on
the server but it was during Win 7 install.

Jim

Do you have anything unusual showing in the event log?
Is your antivirus set up any differently? Try transferring a large file with
it off (a trusted file, of course) and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Jim Sanchez]

Nothing in the event logs, however, upon further testing I have
discovered that sending a file is very fast (600Mb/S) but receiving is
only about 10Mb/s. I may have to uncap and enable the other port to see
if this changes anything.

Jim

 

[Jim Sanchez]

It seems that the Realtek chip is the problem. I downloaded a newer
driver from their web site which improved the performance but not by
much. I dug through my parts and discovered a Trendnet Gig card and
installed it. Surprise, it had the same chip on it but the performance
was now symmetric - 600Mb both ways to server - and it uses the same
driver! I have a case open with GB so we'll what they have to say.

im

 

[SC Tom]

It seems that the Realtek chip is the problem. I downloaded a newer
driver from their web site which improved the performance but not by
much. I dug through my parts and discovered a Trendnet Gig card and
installed it. Surprise, it had the same chip on it but the performance
was now symmetric - 600Mb both ways to server - and it uses the same
driver! I have a case open with GB so we'll what they have to say.

im

Kinda what I thought. I've never had much luck with the onboard NIC's. I
have a Netgear gigabyte card that also has a Realtek chip, but has been
rock-solid for at least 2 years now. The onboard NIC on my Asus board
(Nvidia driven) quit being reliable about 2 months after I installed it.
Glad you got your transfer rates back where they should be!