[Samba] (Repost to list) Copying large files xp pro -> Samba very slow

[James Richardson]

I previously posted this to the linux.samba mailing list. I'm not sure
that was the right place, so here it is again. Apologies if you've already
seen it.

Hi,

I would really appreciate any hep with a big problm I'm having with XP
(Pro / SP1 ) transferring to a samba share.

The transfer starts off OK, using about 66% of my 100Mbs network.
Then, after about 10-15 seconds, it drops off to 25%, then after abuot
30 seconds, drops off again to close to zero.

After some amount of time ( perhaps 30 seconds to a minute ),
sometimes the speed picks up again. (following the pattern above )

The two computers are linked via a netgear 100Mb hub. The XP box has a
3com etherlink PCI card ( set to auto sense media / 3c???c ), and the
samba box is running a netgear FA311 ( I think I remembered the code
OK! ) 100Mbs, which seems to use 100Mbs-HD. I am using Kernel 2.4.20 /
Samba ( latest - downloaded yesterday in case this was a samba problem
).

I have tried forcing both cards to full-duplex, and this results in
complete network failure on the XP side, but normal operation on the
linux side.

I am seeing 'browser election' messages in the xp event log, when i
force the full-duplex setting, but not in auto-sense mode.

I'm running this network for my fiance, a photographer, and we are
looking at transferring >40Gb across this link.

I have checked the QoS settings in XP, and they appear to be ok.

I dont have another XP box on which to test XP->XP speeds, so I dont
know where the problem may lie.

Any suggestions would be most gratefully received!!

Thanks!

James