SLOW Performance

[powlaz]

Our existing network is set up like this:

6 PCs all running Windows XP Home SP2 and Office 2003 Professional
Cable Modem
|
4 Port Switch
|
24 Port Switch (DLink) (not sure why)
| | | |
2 Computers + 2 VOIP Phones + Network HDD (Buffalo) + 16 Port Switch
|
3 Computers + 3 VOIP Phones + 8 Port Switch (Belkin)
|
1 Computer + 1 VOIP Phone

• All of this "stuff" is connected via CAT 5 or CAT 5e cable between two small rooms. The wires were run over doors and around corners. Nothing fancy.
  
• All of the computers are connected through the Polycomm VOIP phones. The phones are then connected to a switch.
  
• All of the computers are set up in a Workgroup.
  
• On the Buffalo Link Station I have a small Access program installed. A toolbar full of shortcuts to the different components of the program is installed on every computer.

Recently something changed on our system and I'm not sure where to start looking.

• The computers nearest to the cable modem (also the least used) run the Access well.
• The further "away" from the first switch the computers are the worse they run the Access program. The 3 computers on the Netgear switch (3rd switch in line) can take over 2 minutes to load the program. It's nearly impossible to run it.
• Just a week ago I didn't have any problem running the program from any of the computers. The installation hasn't changed.
• Also, the Access program runs well when installed locally on every one of the computers.

So I'm pretty sure that I have a network related issue. I don't anticipate changing my equipment but if I were to consider getting a server would XP Home computers work with Windows 2003 SBS?

Are there "tweaks" I can apply to Windows XP Home to improve the network performance in addition to making whatever adjustments are needed to fix my problem??

Thanks for the help and ideas. So far all I can come up with is to remove one or two of the switches but seeing as they have always been there I don't know if that's the right plan.

Po

[johnwill]

Well, you can simply take the 24 port switch out of the picture and see if that helps. Personally, I'd have all of the devices wired directly to a central point by home runs, makes network configuration and debugging MUCH easier. You say they're in a pretty small space...

Short of that, you will probably have to start swapping components. Since you have a redundant 24 port switch, if it doesn't help to remove it, simply use it to replace each of the switches in turn and see if one of them is defective.