[RESOLVED] Network problem for an expert!?!

I have two systems networked via hub.

1) AMD K7-600 w/160 Meg ram
FIC SD-11 MOBO(VIA chipset)
Win 98se
3Comm Etherlink III NIC

2) AMD K6-2 550 w/128 Meg ram
Asus P5A-B MOBO(ALI chipset)
Win 2000
3Comm Etherlink III NIC

Here is the problem. I can play games networked and all is well. I can and have internet sharing setup and it works fine. I CANNOT transfere files from one machine to the other without locking up the K-7 machine.(hard lock, have to reboot to fix.)

I have no conflicts or IRQ's shared on the K-7 machine. There are also no conflicts on the K-6(I understand Win 2K shares interupts well!)

I have tried everything, even clean installs of OS's. Including the same OS on both machines. Changed NIC's.

This is driving me NUTS, so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!!!

Thanks

this is prolly a longshot but can you disable dma on your hard drive (through device manager/hard drive settings)? i'm not sure if the NIC is a busmaster or not but it could be trying to move data directy to your hard drive via dma.. dma has been buggy in 98 inthe past..

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=-iateyourcat-=

Thanks for the reply!

I went into Control Panel>System>Device Manager>Disk Drives and unchecked DMA. Rebooted the machine and tried to copy three 2 Meg files from the K7 to the K6 and locked up the K7.

I think you are correct about the DMA problem, but I believe it has more to do with the VIA chipset than anything else. It worked flawlessly before I upgraded to this FIC SD-11 MOBO. This board may soon find itself in the alley. It has been a problem ever since I built this system!!!

Also the NIC's are Etherlink III Bus-master PCI Adapters.

If you have any other suggestions I am certainly open. But I believe my best bet is to buy a new MOBO, possible with ALI chipset(Tyan Trinity 762A).

You may be having a problem with security compatibility. Check for patches on Win98SE and Win2000. Check the K7 mobo to see if the IRQ is either enabled or disabled in the bios setup verify that both mobo's have the same setting. Check for bios update on the FIC mobo.

You did load the Via 4-into-1 patch right?

I love it when I see a subject title like that. It's like the proverbial red rag.

I've seen something like this a couple of times before. Simple check first.. Check the network cable to the K7, I had something a little while back with a system I was looking at it for hours and it turned out the RJ45 plug was slightly broken.

The first thing I thought was about 98, I could swear 98 does this with a dodgy 3com driver. But it threw me when you installed both same OS unless you used 98 on both??? Anyway go into file and printer sharing and change LM announce and browse master settings and try again.

VIA Patch I used was 4.26(4in1).

When I tried both OS's the same I used Win 2k on both machines. The K7 would not run in UDMA mode only PIO with Win 2k!

In the bios both machines are set to assign IRQ's(I think!!!)

I will try your suggestions on "file and printer sharing" and let you know what happens.

Also, tried without the hub, tried different cabling between the two machines. I even tried swaping the two NIC's between the two machines. The drivers for the 3Com cards are from there site; only ones I could find.

Thanks for all the help!!(I still think that there is some conflict with the chipset on this FIC MOBO.)

Well, I tried changing the settings in "file and printer sharing". Changed "Browse Master" to disabled and changed "LM Anounce" to YES. Just the opposite of what they were.

Copied one 8 Meg file with no trouble so I tried copying about 10 two Meg files and crashed the K7! Locked up and had to reboot.

Two other things I have noticed that may be trouble are...

1) It takes for ever for the K6 to find the K7 in Windows Explorer under Network Neighborhood. But if I am working on the K7, it finds the K6 almost instantly.

2) Just recently the K7 has been giving the equivalent of two posts. One short beep then 4 or 5 seconds later another longer beep.

I had none of this trouble before I upgraded to the K7 and this FIC MOBO. Then I encountered every problem imaginable!!!

Is it time to play MOBO frizbee!? Perhaps MOBO skeet?

NIC drivers can be flakey. Make sure you are using the actual 3com drivers and not the ones built into Windows. Also check your IRQ settings, even though it should work, sharing and IRQ with a NIC can be a bad thing. Move things around if you have to and make sure each NIC is using its own IRQ and not sharing one. Double check your duplex mode. Some cards don't support full duplex, so if its on, try turning it off. This can be done in network settings...

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Net Appliances: The Next Generation... The USB Toaster.

At this point i'd say it's not the NIC....it looks as if your K7 system has a serious file-transfer problem, if it will only run PIO in Win2K. You'll wanna check the memory first (since PIO takes out direct memory access), then your motherboard. Inthe K7 system that is.

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Bryan Pizzuti
CompTIA A+, CNAP
[email protected]
ICQ # 8525092
Yahoo Messenger: npaladin_2000

A thought. You dont have a diamond (s3) V770 do you?? I've had that combined with 3com card today and according to 3com there is a conflict between the drivers??

Cheers
Scutter

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And Control Enter STILL wont let me post a reply.
:)

No, my video card is a Maxigamer Xentor32(TNT2 ULTRA).

System Specs...
FIC SD-11 MOBO w/600Mhz Athlon(classic)
160 Meg Ram PC-133
TNT2 ULTRA
10g Seagate HD
SB Live
3Com Etherlink III
Supramax 56k modem
Win 98SE
Latest MOBO Bios,latest drivers for everything including 4in1 VIA(4.26)

No conflicts or shared IRQ's according to Windows.

I suppose I should check FIC's site for conflicts with hardware. I don't think I will be purchasing any more FIC boards, usually buy Asus and have no trouble.

My K6-2 550 is built on an Asus P5A-B, running Win 2K, and I have never had any trouble with it.

Thanks for all the help, really do appreciate it!!!

Dude had exact same problem. I add a brand new pc to my network would run fine except as soon as you tried transfering files of any significant size the pc would lock solid, I also noticed it was corrupting data as well. this was a Duron 750 O/C to 1Ghz on an abit kt7a I did all the above. I even disabled the l1 cache, with this diabled ran with no problems just took a week to do anything but never crashed turned out to be faulty mobo. When I took it back to the retailer I met someone with the exact same problem same mobo and chip. Got new board and just to be safe they gave me a new chip no probs ever since.

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You can run, but you will only die tired!

I've had my suspicions for some time that the MOBO may be the root of all evil.

Now all I have to do is decide on a good quality replacement(this one is out of warranty!!)

It's between the Asus A7V and the Iwill KA266. Either way I decide I will also have to replace the CPU. Nice time to upgrade to a 900 or 1 Gig!!(Don't tell my wife)

I can get the Asus w/900 CPU for about $295 plus shipping, the Iwill with the same CPU will cost about $400(that includes new DDR memory). The Iwill also has the new ALIMagic1 chipset and a 200Mhz FSB.

Does anyone have any other suggestions or ideas?

I would go with an Asus A7V133 (KT133A)
or the Epos EP-8KTA3 which is cheaper and does the job just as well.

going with a KT133A chipset will save you big $$ on DDR RAM and will give you UDMA100, stable PC133 with the option to use cheap SDRAM (make sure you get Name Brand 133 CAS2! )


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Computers do exactly as you tell them - not what you want them to do ...