PeteBrant

Right, so, I have a DG834GT which works lovely as a wireless modem/router - the 360/PS3/PC's and various gizmos all hook up to it fine, and the speed from the outside world is stable.

However, the LAN performance is absolutely dismal... It would be quicker to download a 200MB file from the interweb, than it would be copy from one PC to another over the network.


It makes no sense!


Any ideas?

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

are these file transfers via wireless connections?
are both machines wireless?

If both are wireless then you are effectively halving your bandwidth (afaik). As both machines are going to be competing for the same wireless bandwidth. When you are downloading from the internet then only one machine is using the bandwidth as the data from the web is coming into your house via a wire.

A wireless connection should not be this slow, but it can depend on your setup. What distance are the machines from your router, how many walls, are other wireless networks in operation in your area? Wireless networks have channel numbers (frequencies). Changing the channel can move you into an area that has less interference and improve speed.

PeteBrant

Yuo both machines are wireless.

The channel setup is optimum i.e. both machines have the strongest possible signal (both 60%+)

Assuming that under normal conditions, you would, say get an average 20Mbps from a 54g router, then even if half that for two machines, that's still 10Mbps - I am lucky to get 1mbps across the network, and I average about 5 down the phone line. What's more, I can have both machines downloading from the internet and even then I am getting better speed than if I went machine to machine.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

OK, well that is all good info Normally issues with wireless stuff is to do with interference or signal strength.

It sounds like it could be a networking issue with your machines, which can be an "interesting" problem to fix. The reasons can be more diverse than our climate.

Suggestions would be to make sure that the network card/dongles whatever is fully compatible with both your machines and your OS. In addition try and obtain newer drivers. There are firmware updates available for that router, so that is also something to consider. Its hard to say the issue is xyz, so best start with the easy and probably useful things to do anyway first.

The last time I came across an issue like this it was with a Dell machine that was running XP. It was a brand new machine and had originally been supplied with Win 98. Although Win XP was not complaining about any incompatibilities a closer look at the drivers identified that the card was being recognized as something slightly different. To make matters worse, there were no XP drivers for this network card and the owner had to bin the card....5 days old (Dell would not take a return)

I have heard of wireless incompatibility issues between certain cards and chipsets. Have a quick search on the web for your kit (not the router, the router is fine).

Another good thing to try is to hook up both machines to the router via cables. It matters not if you have to move the router away from the phone line for the test.

Another thing to think about is if you have used any of those hellish optimiser pieces of software. The things that promise to tune up your machines, clean your registry etc. My experience of those things are that they are about the fastest way to break a machine. They turn off and tweak all sorts of services and networking things causing no end of problems.

P.S. oh, should have asked this first...has it ever worked well? If so then its settings on your machine(s) that have changed and using System Restore may help.

PeteBrant

One machine is an XP one is a vista - Both desktops, both using Netgear WG311T USB adapters.

I have done a bit of searching and come across someone recommending removing a registry entry from the XP machine; i'll back it up and give it a try.

The only things I use in terms of "optimising" software is stuff like cleanup4 for removing .tmp,.dat and various other temporary files and HijackThis to keep an eye on start up items and settings that msconfig doesn't find.

One of these days i'll probably bite the bullet, and channel the walls, stick some cat5 in with some back plates and never have to worry about bloody wireless

I mean it's not desperate - Just annoying, you know?

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, I know, but there is an issue somewhere.

It would be really nice if you could just pick up the machines and connect up via wires (remember you cannot just use one cable directly between two machines unless its a special crossover cable).

Once you have more idea where the issue is then it can be tackled

PeteBrant

Yup ive got a cross over somewhere from when I used to use ICS to hook up my old xbox to live, i'll dig it out and give it a try.

Sonic'

Using Wireless you will only get circa 10Mb (I think Half Duplex) equivalent LAN Speed

Download Ixia Endpoint software Qcheck - Network Performance Measurement :: Ixia - Leader in IP Performance Testing stick them on both laptops (its free) run a test between the two, LAN to LAN should be around 95mb, Wireless to Wireless will be around 9 or 10mb