Bottleneck? Ethernet File Transfer slow at 300kb/s

[Steve Davies]

I've just upgraded my desktop and moved my old computer to the basement as a file server. I'm in the process of writing a big (12gig) file from the Desktop to the Server, and it's going very slowly (windows reports 300kb/s). Does anyone have suggestions where I should look for the bottleneck? And are there recommended monitoring tools for a home network?

Technical details:
LAN:
* Desktop --(Cat6 cable)--> Trendnet 5-port gigabit switch (Switch1)
* Switch1 --(generic old ethernet cable)-->Trendnet 8-port gigabit switch in the basement (Switch 2)
* Switch 3 --(Cat 6 cable)--> Trendnet 5-port 5-port switch (Switch 3)

> The only high-speed (presumably 100gb) connection lights lit on the switches are the ones between the switches
> There's also a Cisco wireless router that sits between Switch 1 and the cable internet connection.

DESKTOP: New system with i5 processor, lots of RAM, Windows 7. Qualcomm Atheros Gigabit controller.

SERVER: Older AMD processor, 4 gig ram, Windows 8, 3TB Seagate Barracuda -- not a fast drive , but I tested writing to an old drive in the Server, and it was no faster.

 

[brett1042002]

Are all NICs operating @ 100Mbps,1Gbps(if supported) / Full Duplex? If both are set to Auto Negotiate, try forcing to 100Mbps or 1Gbps and Full Duplex. Try matching both.

It is possible one or both systems are auto-negotiating at 10Mbps and/or Half Duplex, creating a bottleneck.

Let us know

 

[dbhosttexas]

From the hardware percpective, each uplink from switch, to switch, to switch is a bottleneck, as is the "generic old ethernet cable".

Solution to that? Well it will incur cost and effort, but toss those 5 port switches, and replace them with a single 16 or 24 port switch, and pull cat 5e or cat 6 cable from one central point.

However that is NOT enough to cause your file transfer to drag that badly unless the network uplinks are otherwise saturated. (streaming media, file transfers etc...). So then that poses some questions on the hardware of the workstations involved. (technically, if your machine is running Windows 8, it is NOT a server, it is a workstation...). What NICs do you have, what is the speed / duplex setting on them? What does the link speed report as?

If everything is 100 mb/s full duplex either manually set, or successful auto negotiation, then give SERIOUS consideration into the following...

- Check for viruses and / or spyware on one, or either of the machines in the mix.
- Check overall network utilization. How you do this will vary on your specific configuration / router options available etc... Is your network getting flooded by a game console or something like that?