How to determine bottleneck

[imported_TDOG]

I've been fighting with the network at our office for a while now because it is slow beyond belief. It consists of 8 Windows Machines, 3 large format printers on an HP JetDirect Print Server, and an IBM RS/6000 server that is about 7 years old. It is connected like this.

Wireless Internet----> Linksys BEFW11S4 Router----> SMC 10/100MBS 16 port Switch, then the windows machines, print server, and the RS/6000 are plugged into the switches ports in no particular order. (Not a single cable is labeled and it is a mess)

The server is only used for one application and serves no file or internet sharing purposes. So I am fairly confident it isn't responsible. The windows machines are networked in a simple workgroup for file and printer sharing. If more than one person is on the internet everyone else grinds to a halt and receives timeouts and are constantly forced to refresh until it loads or give up. Our internet connection is 768 kbs down and 128 kbs up which is plenty because the internet is rarely used for anything more than mainly text websites, but even if someone transfers a small document or spreadsheet everyone else screeches to a halt until it has finished. Today I transfered a 45 kb spreadsheet from one system to the other and it took 45 seconds and anyone that was on the internet or printing something complained about how badly it slowed down.

Any places on where to start would be great. BTW all of the cabling was professionally done and is cat5e. I really need to figure this out before I pull my hair out.
Travis

 

[rustynails]

I would look into some virus and spyware cleaning options. This is hardly a comprehensive network and for it to slow to a crawl makes me suspect you have many affected machines.

~nail

 

[imported_TDOG]

I ran AdAware, Spybot, and all of the PC's virus scanners (Trend Micro) all with current definitions. No problems found. I'm beginning to think it is the Linksys router but I just don't know if it is able to handle 8 connections at the same time without slowing everyone's internet access down. File transfers are back to normal speed now but the internet is still terrible so that makes me wonder about the router. Any tips on what to check next? Thanks.
Travis

 

[rustynails]

What type of OS are you using. Also are there any ip conflicts that you may not be aware

 

[imported_TDOG]

All are Windows XP home. Checked the Ip's and couldn't find any conflicts. I don't know if it is normal or not but all of the Ip's start with 209.118.xx.xxx, I always thought that they started with something similar to 192.168. etc. Is there an easy way to check the actual router/switches or the hardwiring for problems easily? Thanks for taking the time to walk a newb through these steps.
Travis

 

[yukichigai]

Have you made sure the switch is functioning properly? Most enterprise-grade switches are made such that if power is cut to them they still function as hubs, allowing data to be transferred between computers, but at a much slower rate when multiple machines are communicating due to collisions. This sounds like what's happening. Check to make sure some genius didn't unplug it and that the thing hasn't blown a fuse.

 

[imported_TDOG]

Thanks for all of the help guys. I got to digging around upstairs where all of the wiring is and found out the "Professionals" that installed it had no clue what they were doing. They ran it looped around electrical wires and didn't staple anywhere so everything is loose.There are kinks everywhere in the cables and I'll just have to rip all the old out and redo it the right way myself. Here are some pics of the terrible job they did. Off course to continue being professional not a single cable is labeled.
Cable Splice
Cables Going to Switch
Cable Runs
The first pic is the connection that goes to the computer that has been having so many problems. I wonder why lol. Thanks again for the help.
Travis

 

[BespinReactorShaft]

Originally posted by: TDOG
Cable Splice

lol. classic...

 

[nweaver]

OMG!!11!

Please post the company name, so that if I ever see their truck on the freeway I can run it off the road...for the good of humanity.

 

[imported_TDOG]

Originally posted by: nweaver
OMG!!11!

Please post the company name, so that if I ever see their truck on the freeway I can run it off the road...for the good of humanity.

LOL. The company that did it is just a local computer company that we no longer deal with for obvious reasons. They also built us some desktop workstations that are terrible that I spend time fixing and replacing parts in constantly. The funniest thing they did was try to tell me that a good modem on dial-up internet will outperform a dsl connection when it is shared in our office. I'm glad I handle the computers now except for the fact that I am slowly redoing everything they tried to do LOL.
Travis

 

[thirdlegstump]

Originally posted by: TDOG
Cable Splice

Is this a joke? Har!

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: deathkoba

Originally posted by: TDOG
Cable Splice

Is this a joke? Har!

It happens more than you know. I'll have to tell you about the time a small business asked me to take a look at their network - it was running painfully slow.

All the patch cables were phone cords. Not cat5...just a regular RJ45 phone cord. Some with multiple splices and wire nuts twisting the wires together.

 

[casper114]

Originally posted by: nweaver
OMG!!11!

Please post the company name, so that if I ever see their truck on the freeway I can run it off the road...for the good of humanity.

I second that motion

 

[deftech]

If all your workstation ips are 208.x.x.x then I'd make sure you got firewalls on all those machines, it looks like they are all direct on the internet. Your a good target for zombies! Turn on NAT!

 

[imported_TDOG]

Originally posted by: deftech
If all your workstation ips are 208.x.x.x then I'd make sure you got firewalls on all those machines, it looks like they are all direct on the internet. Your a good target for zombies! Turn on NAT!

I wondered about that because it seemed like an odd IP address. My only concern is our server must keep the address it has now because our remote stores access and transmit their reports to it using that address. The workstations wouldn't be affected by an IP change though. I would do a firewall but they are so fussy and the last thing I want is half the office yelling at me because some of their programs are denied internet access LOL.