I have a tcp/ip local network with 3 machines connected via a hub all running win98. One machine downloads files from the other machines extremely slow - 20 secs for 1 Mb. The other machines downloads files just fine from each other and the 'slow' machine. I can ping the slow machine without delay. The network was set up 6 months ago and worked ok back then, but it has not been used for a while. As far as I can see, there are no programs running which interferes with the network. I reinstalled network card drivers and tcp/ip-protocol, but it didn't help. The slow machine is a Dell Inspiron 7000 using win98 SE - the others are using win98. I'd appreciate any help or suggestions on how to locate the problem.

A few questions: 1) Have you replaced the NIC? The NIC card would be my first choice of problems to look at. Try replacing that card. If you don't have an extra card, try swapping the cards from two of the machines and see how that works. 2) Are these machines the only machines on the network? Computers in a local networking like that are comunicating with NetBIOS anyway. They could care less about TCP/IP. The NETBEUI protocol is faster (as a matter of fact, this is probably the ONLY time I would consider using it) and there is nothing to configure. 3)Are they connected to the Internet? You'll need TCP/IP if you are connecting to the Internet. You can still install NetBEUI and have both protocols running. I still say it the NIC, though... Good Luck!

Thanks Eric I'll try switching the network card. We need the tcp/ip for network games though(which runs very unstable currently when the slow machine is involved). And yes, these are the only machines on the network. Internet connections are done on each machine individually using modem.

Any chance the NIC is sharing an IRQ with another board ... i.e., it worked fine 6 months ago and two months ago someone threw in a second printer card or the like.... Might check for that as well...

Hi John No additional hardware has been added.

i fixed the same problem on mine by cleaning up the network.vbs worm virus. check out www.pchell.com to find out how. fixed it quickly.

I have a similar problem as described above, three machines etc. I swapped the nic and swapped hubs, and replaced cables. The slow machine stell gets constant collisions on the hub. Other machines running through the same hub have no problems.