Internet Connectivity POOR (LAN issue?)

[KennyBoy_2000]

I have a small home office LAN with two computers connected over an Ethernet Cat5 wired network. Recently, my LAN speed has gone to a crawl. I've gone through all the normal Gateway reboot processes. After some experimentation, I find that when I unplugged my Windows 2003 server, my speed came back.

I suspected one of these systems (Windows 2003 server) had a NIC board failure because my Internet speed fell off a cliff. It went from 2 1/2 MPs to 3 MPs down to .25 approximately on the downstream side. If I unplug my 2003 server, and then run a speed test on the other workstation, all is fine. Here are my particulars.

ATT ProS service (5 sticky IPs)
Advertised as 3 MB down and 768 kb up.
Gateway Router - ATT (Netgear) 7550

Computer 1 (primary workstation)
Windows 7 / ASUS P8 Z68-V Pro motherboard
Intel i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40 GHz, 3.40 GHz
8 core
16 GB Memory

Computer 2 (server) - running a very light load.
Windows Server 2003/ Enterprise Edition (SP2)
Intel Pentium 4 3.00 GHz
2 core
1 GB Memory

NETWORK TOPOLOGY - ATT Gateway ->CAT5 -> Netgear dumb hub -->CAT5 -> Netgear switch GS698 v3

...and on the switch:

• Netgear switch GS698 v3 -->CAT6-> Computer 1 (pimary Windows 7 workstation)
• Netgear switch GS698 v3 -->CAT5 -> Computer 2 (2003 server)
• Netgear switch GS698 v3 -->CAT5 -> incoming

When this problem first occurred, I assumed it was a problem with the NIC card and Windows 2003 server, so I replaced the card with a D-Link DFE-530TX+PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev.F). I disabled the inbuilt network connection in the device manager. This seemed to help the problem initially, but it is back, big time now.

The problem still exists in when both systems are connected, my Internet speed goes to a crawl.

I have moved the Windows 2003 server over to the dumb hub without any change in results.
I switched out the Cat5 wiring links to eliminate those as a possibility.

I have a little bit of background as I've been around technology circles most of my life but I'm really application developer, not an IT specialist and really not sure how to analyze this problem outside of what I've already done.

I have an legacy application running on the Windows 2003 server which needs to be available online and would be very difficult to move.

I also have a couple of iPads hitting the gateway over wireless. They experience the same connection latency if the Windows 2003 server is plugged into the LAN as well.

So, I'm looking for some brilliant minds to help me solve this problem or point me in the right direction.
It certainly can't be that difficult - but so far it has been for me.

Any comments and suggestions are graciously appreciated. Where do I look next?

Ken

 

[Popeyedcookie]

No real answer for you right now, but if it was me I would first try to plug the sever that's obviously causing issues back in, and then run wireshark and see exactly what that server is doing. Who knows maybe it has a virus or something. Happens quite of bit, it just sounds like the server is throwing out so much junk that it bogs down your network.

 

[Popeyedcookie]

Also their is some quite useful videos on wireshark and how to use it, because unfortunately it can be real difficult for someone with no experience using it.

 

[KennyBoy_2000]

Popeyedcookie,

Thanks for the suggestion. I am not familiar with that utility but I'll grab it and give it a go. That will be an evening chore.

I'll let you know what I uncover, if anything.

Thanks!

 

[KennyBoy_2000]

Popeyedcookie,

I installed WireShark this evening and did a fairly quick 20 minute review. Wow, that sure is a sophisticated tool and maybe too complex at least for my evaluation. I try to read docs over the weekend. Any guidance "macro" might be helpful OR any other methodologies?

Thanks ~ Ken

I'll try to find videos...

 

[Popeyedcookie]

No real answer for you right now, but if it was me I would first try to plug the sever that's obviously causing issues back in, and then run wireshark and see exactly what that server is doing. Who knows maybe it has a virus or something. Happens quite of bit, it just sounds like the server is throwing out so much junk that it bogs down your network.

Popeyedcookie,

I installed WireShark this evening and did a fairly quick 20 minute review. Wow, that sure is a sophisticated tool and maybe too complex at least for my evaluation. I try to read docs over the weekend. Any guidance "macro" might be helpful OR any other methodologies?

Thanks ~ Ken

I'll try to find videos...

Get the IP Address to your server and on the wireshark capture apply a ip add filter so you will see just stuff talking to and from that certain ip add.
IE: ip.src==10.0.0.5
so just replace the 10.x.x.x number with your ip address to that server!

 

[KennyBoy_2000]

Yes, that is a great idea. I was thinking the same about filtering it's IP to really get an idea if the box is flooding the LAN. I'll let you know. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

I'm getting to this thread pretty late in the game, but in seeing what was already posted I have a few questions.

1. What is "Netgear dumb hub"? - I am kind of assuming that this is a confusion in terminology, but I can't be sure. What is the model number of this device? What role does it play on the network? If there is nothing plugged into it, side from the cable to the switch and gateway, you shouldn't need it, unless it is cutting a long ethernet run in half.

2. What is this? "Netgear switch GS698 v3 -->CAT5 -> incoming". Is this the link to the gateway?

3. You mention both LAN and WAN issues. Can you confirm this, is LAN traffic actually being affected, or only internet traffic?

If your internet speeds are terrible, it is most LIKELY because something is utilizing the bandwidth. The BIGGEST misconception about internet speed tests is that many people think they tell you what the account service speed is. In reality, what speed tests do is show available bandwidth on the link at the time the test is run.

Aside from that, any update on the issue?