I hate network problems - Win 7 specific

[D-Dan]

When I upgraded PC1 to Win 7 (NVidia chipset) I started getting loss of Network connections, which I eventually pinned down to network drivers. An update fixed it.

I did a clean install on PC2 (VIA chipset - that's why it's PC2) and everything was fine until yesterday when I tried to transfer a particularly large file (or collection of files to be more precise) from PC2 to PC1, and PC2 started losing the connection. After much playing, I eventually dropped the port to 10 Mbs from 100 Mbs and it worked, but took forever (about 9 GB of stuff).

Tonight I did some more testing with network adapter settings to try to get it running at full speed (already using the latest drivers) and eventually - it seemed to be working. Until I got to where I am. At 23% transfer (which is a record - I was bombing at under 5% yesterday) the whole machine has frozen

Latest drivers etc. Don't you just love networks? 

[somanyholes]

sorry to say this if you have already done it, but have you nailed the duplex setting to full instead of auto?

[D-Dan]

Yep - tried that. I think it's probably a driver issue, but to rule things out and since it's PC2 with nothing of import on it, I've re-installed. I'll see what happens now.

Steve

[somanyholes]

doesn't sound like a nice one this After reading what you have done so far the only other thing I can think of is using a crossover between the machines, this would at least rule your switch out of the equation (as in the ati nic not likeing the switch nics). Beyond that it sounds like another nic is your only way forward for the moment.

[D-Dan]

I decided to try more options. Despite Device manager telling me I was using the VIA network drivers on PC2, I thought I'd test this. Uninstalled, rebooted and let Windows install it's own drivers (Device manager confirmed the change) - tried a transfer - and lost the connection in seconds.

Went to the MSI website and dug out my MB box to be sure of the model. Downloaded the network drivers and installed (no reboot needed - wow - it's nearly Linux). Device manager confirmed back to VIA drivers.

Tried to transfer the same file again at 100Mbs - and it's worked.

Seems like Win 7 lies about which drivers it's using. My own guess is that, despite what it told me, it was using MS drivers and that was causing the problem.

May be a useful tip for people with driver problems under Win 7 - don;t trust what you are told and go through the whole uninstall/re-install process anyway.

Steve

[Rik]

Thanks for that, Steve.