Different speeds on same network with XP and 2000

[jelaine]

On our network we have several Dell GX 280 XP SP2 Pro pcs and several Dell GX 270 W2K SP4 Pro machines. They all have 512MB memory. The XP machines have 3.2 GHz Intel processors, the 2K machines have 2.8 GHz processors. They have pretty much the same software load. The hard drives (40GB) are about 25%-35% full. The testmy speed for XPs on our 6Mbps connection is consistently close to 6Mbps, but the 2K machines are consistently 2.0-2.5 Mbps. Running testmy test on the 2K machines running in Safe Mode with Networking gives results around 4.0-4.5 Mbps. Any idea why this difference?

[jared]

Welcome to the forums jelaine.

You might have some adaware on your 2k systems. You can either download Microsoft Defender or Adaware and scan those systems.

You also may want to download Cablenut. Link here: http://www.testmy.net/forum/t-2097

Hope that helps!

[richcornucopia]

Do you have any type of antivirus running on the computers? If so that could be slowing it down.

[jelaine]

I have Symantec Antivirus Corp edition, but it is running on both the XP and 2k machines. I've checked for adware, spyware, etc. There are 50 of the XP machines and 150 of the 2k machines. There are virtually no differences between the computers except the processor speed (2.8 vs 3.2) and the OS.

[FallowEarth]

That SMwN test shows double that of normal mode, you can safely say there is a software load slowing the 2k machines.  We also use 2k and XP workstations at my workplace, and 2k tends to be very slow over the network in comparison with XP.  It must be something within the networking implementation of the OS (2k pro i assume). 

Also, do you use a proxy?  Do you have XP machines mixed in with the 2k machines, or are they each on separate network segments?  Do they connect to the same switch/router?  Are the NICs the same in both machines?  What OS does your server run?

[jelaine]

Yes, we're running 2k pro. xp and 2k mixed on same network connected to same router. Server is 2000.

I had to re-ghost a 2k this am (replaced a crashed HD) and found that it was twice as fast as the other 2K machines (running around 4.0 Mbps) when I was finished updating, etc. I checked a couple of others that had been ghosted not too long ago, and they were also faster. So, even though it doesn't appear there is any difference between the 2k computers and even though downloads, installs, etc. are prohibited, there obviously are differences. I'm going to try re-ghosting a couple other 2k machines and see if I get the same results.

[FallowEarth]

You may be interested in setting up a schedule of Disk Cleanup daily, and Disk Defrag weekly.  You can do this in scheduled tasks on the host machine.  Here is a walkthrough on how to do so in XP (I imagine 2k is very similar):

http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/tasks/sch_disk_cln.htm

[jelaine]

Thanks--I will try your suggestion. The disks on the slower 2k machines had very little defragmentation. And the faster ones (recently ghosted) actually had slightly more disk space used than the slower ones. I defragged the slower one and saw no change in speed. I will keep an eye on the ones I recently ghosted that are running faster and see if they begin to slow down and then see if I can determine why.

I appreciate your suggestions and help. Thanks.