Suspect Win7 network issue

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Suspect Win7 network issue

CYaBro

4582 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#68437 21-Sep-2010 22:14

Hey,

I just built three machines for a client that seem to have a network issue.
All machines are exactly the same specs except one, which acts as the server/workstation.

They are Intel i3-530, 2GB DDR3 (server has 4GB), 500GB HDD, Win7 Pro 32-bit, Gigabyte GA-H55M-D2H mainboard with gigabit LAN and onboard video (server has 512MB ATI)
They are networked with a LevelOne Gigabit switch.
They also have an existing HP workstation which is a Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM running XP Pro.

They are running a program called Orion - Dealer Management Systems (www.sam.co.nz)
All the workstations have a mapped network drive to the server/workstation and the Orion program just runs an exe file on this mapped drive - i.e it is not installed at all on the workstations.

On the server/workstation and the XP Pro machine Orion runs great and switching between the modules inside the program is quick.
On the two win7 workstations Orion runs OK and most things work as expected except switching to one module (the workshop one) causes a delay of about 10-15 seconds before the screen comes up but switching back to the main menu is quick.
With task manager running there seems to be nothing going on while this delay is happening, no CPU activity or network usage.
If I copy the Orion software to either of these win7 workstations this delay is not there which is why I suspect a network issue.

Testing the network however shows that it is running great - file transfers between workstation and server transfer at around 100MB/s as they are connected at 1.0Gbps on the LAN.

The SAM / Orion guy was onsite today and he blames the computers (of cause)

Anyone have any ideas on what to try to fix this?

I have checked that the network card drivers are up to date and have gone through most of the settings, for the network cards, in Device Manager (Receive & Transmit buffers, jumbo frames etc)

Cheers

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

1 | 2

808 posts

Ultimate Geek

#383209 22-Sep-2010 15:00

Take a look at your antivirus and see if it is causing any problems. Have seen Symantec do some similar things

Do surveys for Beer money (referral link) - Octopus Group

Link for buying beer (not affiliated, just like beer) - Good George

CYaBro

4582 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#383225 22-Sep-2010 15:26

gjm: Take a look at your antivirus and see if it is causing any problems. Have seen Symantec do some similar things

Duh! Thanks for that. I did think of that but don't why it I missed it.
Will go back and try with NOD32 disabled.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

gjm

808 posts

Ultimate Geek

#383941 24-Sep-2010 10:01

Did you sort it Bro?

Do surveys for Beer money (referral link) - Octopus Group

Link for buying beer (not affiliated, just like beer) - Good George

CYaBro

4582 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#384235 25-Sep-2010 09:21

No. Disabling nod32 didn't make a difference.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

trig42

5809 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#384241 25-Sep-2010 09:43

I take it that the Orion software is on thee Win7 Server/Workstation machine?
Have you changed the access rights on the folder it sits in. I find that allowing the user group 'everyone' full control of the whole folder (and sub-folders) can make a difference in situations like this.

You could also try running the .exe in compatibility mode for windows xp and setting it to run as administrator.

Also, have you disabled UAC to see if that makes a difference?

Lias

5589 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#384297 25-Sep-2010 12:39

I've also noticed that windows 7 seems to introduce lag on running executables over the network. I suspect its some new security measure, probably related to UAC, but I've never really paid much attention.

I'd deifnitly try XP compatability mode for the app as mentioned above.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

BrassBalls

45 posts

Geek

#384827 27-Sep-2010 11:09

Hi All;

I am the Sam\Orion guy as referred to in the first post.

The only reason I pointed in the direction of the pc's is because that company's specific data runs fine on our network, using a Win7 (32-bit) workstation as a server and accessing the data from another Win 7 (32-bit) machine.
I am not here to play the blame game. I am here to sort out the site so they can successfully use the software going forward. We don't blame the pc's (of COURSE), we look at facts so we can resolve our clients issues. If it points to the software then it needs to be fixed and vice versa. Moving along, I have outlined below what I have tried and tested thus far.
My tests: I have plugged my Win7 laptop into the site's hub\switch and accessed their data and got the same issue. Slow going from one part of the software into the Workshop module, up to 22 seconds at one stage. We use McAfee Antivirus on our machines and I disabled this and the Windows firewall....no difference at all. Running the same data locally works perfectly. No speed issues whatsoever.
I have also copied their complete program and data files on our network on a Win7 pc (acting as a server) and running across a 1Gbps network from another Win7 machine. There are no speed related issues at all.

If there is something else I should be testing from my side, please let me know.

I am at the site in a week and will do some more checking and post here.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Ragnor

8219 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#385019 27-Sep-2010 16:27

Some additional things to do:

- Run wireshark on the client and server to analyse the network traffic
- Use various sysinternals tools to have a look at what is going on under the hood (network, process and file wise) on the client.

jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#385353 28-Sep-2010 10:04

Interesting:

I had the same issue with MYOB on a site I had just moved to Win7 and Server 2008. slightly different in that when one person was working in it the sofware reacted fine, however as more connected it got slower.

I changed the switch to a new Gigabit switch and it helped the problem, but did not cure it. There are still issues with the system.

Now, this system was working fine on Windows XP and Server 2003. So that rules out an issue with the MYOB software.

What fixed it in the end was adding the program.exe to the DEP exclusion list on each of the PC's and turning off the UAC on each of the PCs (including the server)

Hope this helps you.

jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#385355 28-Sep-2010 10:05

Just in case anyone is looking for where to adjust DEP:

http://www.itechtalk.com/thread3591.html

CYaBro

4582 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#385387 28-Sep-2010 11:29

UAC is disabled on the two win7 workstations.
I booted one of the machines in Safe Mode with networking and the problem was still there too.
The shared folder on the server has full access to Everyone and I also added the Guest and gave full access.

I did look at changing the Compatibility mode to XP but because the exe file lives on another machine all the options are greyed out.

@ BrassBalls: The impression I got from the client was that you guys were blaming the hardware so sorry if that is not the case.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#385393 28-Sep-2010 11:37

Did you try adding the EXE to the DEP exclusions list?

CYaBro

4582 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#385395 28-Sep-2010 11:43

jaymz: Did you try adding the EXE to the DEP exclusions list?

No not yet, will try and update here.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#385400 28-Sep-2010 12:06

When you disabled NOD32 was that on the "server"? The server seems to be the common element here as the support win7 laptop has presumably worked OK at the vendor site.

BrassBalls

45 posts

Geek

#385420 28-Sep-2010 12:46

@ BrassBalls: The impression I got from the client was that you guys were blaming the hardware so sorry if that is not the case.

@ CYaBro: No issues Dude. Let's work together to sort the site.

@graemeh: The support Win7 laptop had the same problem as the two Win7 workstations: slow going from one module to the workshop module when plugged in at the client site but no speed issues when using the client data on our network (which is also Gigabit)
I disabled the windows firewall and McAfee antivirus on the support laptop and plugged into the 16 port gigabit switch which is virtually next to the Win7 server at the client's site. This made no difference at all where speed is concerned.

1 | 2