Diagnose performance issues with network hardware
24 September 2003 by Snakefoot | Comment » | Trackback OffSeveral factors can affect the performance or the connectivity of a network:
- If using Ethernet and mixing Half-Duplex with Full-Duplex (Or using Automatic Detection / Autosense)
- If using a hub force all to use Half-Duplex
- If using a switch force all to use Full-Duplex (If using a Switch with management software then remember to check that the ports are configured properly)
- If using Ethernet and connecting more than 8 people to a Hub, then collisions will come at higher load because the Hub broadcasts
- Use a Ethernet Switch instead, which doesn't broadcast, if needing a larger network
- If a single computer is experiencing connection dropouts or slow speed:
- Check the connection to the network. Try a different cable that have proven to work, Try a different port on the hub/switch that have proven to work, Try a different network adapter.
- If the computer has an IDE hard disk installed, then check that the IDE HDD is configured properly.
- If slow file copy performance then try other file transfer protocols like FTP, HTTP, Microsoft Network etc., as problem can be caused a misconfigured file sharing protocol.
- Test the overall network performance using the very simple PING protocol, by launching multiple large packet PING commands against the machine to test its network bandwidth capabilities:
ping 10.0.0.5 -l 65500 -t
- Check drivers and operating system by uninstalling the network adapter along with network protocols and reinstall it again (Maybe check for ghost devices)
- Check for hardware/software conflicts. If an addon Network Adapter, then try to place it in a different PCI slot so it doesn't share IRQ. If onboard, then try to disable other unnecessary onboard devices and rearrange PCI addon cards.
- The cable from your computer to the router/modem might be bended and disturb the signal
- Check whether messing with the cable improves things, or if possible change it with a new one
- The cable from your router/modem to the wall outlet might be bended and disturb the signal
- Check whether messing with the cable improves things, or if possible change it with a new one
- Other devices attached to the same wall outlet or placed nearby might disturb the signal (A phone can disturb a modem or DSL line)
- Unplug unneeded devices like speakers, phones, television to see if it is the case
- The cable from your wall outlet to the ISP Central might be of bad quality and lower the max bandwidth
- Usually on request the ISP can measure the quality of the connection quality of the line
- The ISP is having problems with its own servers or routers (Affecting a large group of customers)
- Check the ISP maintenance web-page, newsgroup or telephone to see if it is the case (Usually it is solved within an hour)
- Test the connection to a public server (like Google or other local ISP) to see if there is a problem with a router (ping drops, slow ping times no connection beyond it) using a combined tracert and ping tool like WinMTR
- If using a DialUp-modem, then it might be configured to use options not supported by your ISP
- Contact your ISP support and ask them for how to configure your modem to match their configuration
Tags:
- lan, wan, internet, tcpip, network-switch, network-router, dialup-modem, network-performance, network-diagnostic, network-interface-card
Category:
Updated: 31 October 2007