HELP! OS X to OS 9 Network SLOW...
I've got a simple network between a G4 dual 800 (3rd party upgrade from original 400Mhz proc) running OS X 10.2.6 and a G3 400Mhz (upgraded from an 8600/300 and a 100T ethernet card) running OS 9.1 via a 100 based T Hub and the connection is VERY slow. I'd guess an average of 1MB/Minute - it's equal to maybe a fast 56K Modem connection.
I've tried turning on and off File sharing on both machines to see if it would work faster going from G4 to G3 or visaversa. No luck. I suspected that it could be that I'm not using OS 9.2.2, but I've had a hard time upgrading to any OS higher than 9.1 (all installers I've tried come up with an error saying they can't be run on my machine - any suggestions on this are appreciated)
I do use the Hub to connect to a DSL Modem, and download speeds on both machines from the Internet are relatively fast (peaks of 90-100k/sec). I haven't tried setting up an FTP on one machine, which I will as soon as I'm done typing, but even if that works faster, I shouldn't have to do that and it still won't be as fast as the LAN should be.
I worked in a corporate environment for many years and was kinda the defacto Mac network guy (cause IT couldn't be bothered, I knew enough to be dangerous) but OS X is relatively new to me and to be honest I haven't dealt with a network in quite a while and I've forgotten a lot. But I do remember having MUCH faster transfer speeds than this using a pre-9 OS and 10 based T connections.
Anyone have any suggestions? I know there are a bunch of variables I haven't touched on (yes, I've turned on allow TCP/IP connections!) so if you need more info, please ask.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
fish
I've tried turning on and off File sharing on both machines to see if it would work faster going from G4 to G3 or visaversa. No luck. I suspected that it could be that I'm not using OS 9.2.2, but I've had a hard time upgrading to any OS higher than 9.1 (all installers I've tried come up with an error saying they can't be run on my machine - any suggestions on this are appreciated)
I do use the Hub to connect to a DSL Modem, and download speeds on both machines from the Internet are relatively fast (peaks of 90-100k/sec). I haven't tried setting up an FTP on one machine, which I will as soon as I'm done typing, but even if that works faster, I shouldn't have to do that and it still won't be as fast as the LAN should be.
I worked in a corporate environment for many years and was kinda the defacto Mac network guy (cause IT couldn't be bothered, I knew enough to be dangerous) but OS X is relatively new to me and to be honest I haven't dealt with a network in quite a while and I've forgotten a lot. But I do remember having MUCH faster transfer speeds than this using a pre-9 OS and 10 based T connections.
Anyone have any suggestions? I know there are a bunch of variables I haven't touched on (yes, I've turned on allow TCP/IP connections!) so if you need more info, please ask.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
fish
Comments
I would also check the firewall in OS X. I have found that when the firewall is turned on in Mac OS X network file-transfers can become painfully slow. I don't understand why this would happen, maybe the firewall does individual packet inspection, or maybe Apple just doesn't have it set up right.
Anyhow find out if there is a difference in speed depending on which machine is serving, and check if OS X's firewall is on.
Originally posted by Scott
This isn't going to help but I think I remember that file sharing over apple talk was slow between my OS 9 and OS X machines. Not modem slow but not ether fast.
Sometime AppleTalk will default a network number of 65280 and node of 128 for multiple Macs on the same net, slowing things down. Try manually coming up with unique numbers if AppleTalk is still on.
ifconfig -a (press return)
You should see something like
media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>) status: active
on the OS 9 box start the system profiler and under network over view your buil in ethernet should show speed 100BaseTX and Full Duplex.
If you see half duplex then this will slow down the speed of the network.
Check the appletalk node numbers as these should be unique for best performance.
Are you connected via a crossover cable or hub etc?
Dobby.
Originally posted by dobby
on the osx box open the terminal app and type in
ifconfig -a (press return)
You should see something like
media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>) status: active
on the OS 9 box start the system profiler and under network over view your buil in ethernet should show speed 100BaseTX and Full Duplex.
If you see half duplex then this will slow down the speed of the network.
Check the appletalk node numbers as these should be unique for best performance.
Are you connected via a crossover cable or hub etc?
Dobby.
I am connected via an LinkSys 100T Hub (incidentally, the hub sees both machines connected at 100T). However, when I check with Terminal as suggested, it shows <half-duplex>. The system profiler on the OS 9 machine gives me "n/a" for the Ethernet card (it's a PCI card from Farallon, who are now defunct, but I believe I have the correct driver installed). In addition...
Originally posted by JimDreamworx
Sometime AppleTalk will default a network number of 65280 and node of 128 for multiple Macs on the same net, slowing things down. Try manually coming up with unique numbers if AppleTalk is still on.
Appletalk is OFF on the OS X machine, but on the OS 9 I get the 65280/node 128 numbers.
Obviously these are problems from the info I've gathered so far - how do I proceed?
Thanks for the info - as before, any help is appreciated.
fish
Originally posted by fishcarp
Thanks for the feedback - a couple things...
I am connected via an LinkSys 100T Hub (incidentally, the hub sees both machines connected at 100T). However, when I check with Terminal as suggested, it shows <half-duplex>. The system profiler on the OS 9 machine gives me "n/a" for the Ethernet card (it's a PCI card from Farallon, who are now defunct, but I believe I have the correct driver installed). In addition...
Appletalk is OFF on the OS X machine, but on the OS 9 I get the 65280/node 128 numbers.
Obviously these are problems from the info I've gathered so far - how do I proceed?
Thanks for the info - as before, any help is appreciated.
fish
Not to worry about it being half-duplex. Hubs can only connect computers at half-duplex, you would need a switch for full-duplex. I doubt this is the cause of your problem though.
(tig)