Slow SMB, but only on specific devices

[jonadagi2@yahoo.ca]

I need help diagnosing slow SMB shares from my "Media-Server" PC streaming to wired devices WDTV Live & Openelec HTPC (netbook). My "Media-Server" PC runs Win 7 Pro x64. The two devices constantly buffer videos that are max 700KBps bitrate. Even a poor wireless connection can stream without buffering.

I can get "full speed" when reading from "Media-Server" on all other devices on my network including another Win 7 desktop, iPads, Android tablets and even the same HTPC (netbook) booted into Win 7 32bit.

I also get "full speed" on my WDTV Live & Openelec HTPC devices streaming from a share on my Win 7 Desktop PC. Why can't I get "full speed" from my "Media-Server".

By "full speed" I mean 78 MBps on wired gigabit devices, 11 MBps on 10/100 wired devices and 3 MBps for Wireless N devices.

My network is wired through a gigabit router.

Both my "Media-Server" PC and my Desktop PC are running Win 7 Pro x64 and both have built in gigabit network adapters and connected to a gigabit router.

I am going crazy trying to figure out why the shares are slow only to these two devices from my "Media-Server" PC only.

I've also tried several SMB tweaks I found online, to no avail. Thing is I've done nothing special to my Desktop which works perfectly.

I've even re-installed Win 7 on "Media-Server" to make sure there weren't any programs causing the problems.

Here's an example for clarity:

Media-Server -> WDTV Live = slow (<700KBps)
Desktop PC -> WDTV Live = fast (11MBps)
Media-Server -> Desktop PC = fast (78MBps)
Media-Server -> HTPC booted to Openelec = slow (<700KBps)
Media-Server -> HTPC booted to Win 7 = fast (11MBps)
Media-Server -> Nexus 7 = fast (3MBps...fast for this device)

I don't know what else to do to diagnose the problem.

Please help.

 

[htismaqe]

Have you tried to eliminate SMB as the source of the issue? Try doing some FTP file transfers and see if the problem persists. That could help identify whether the issue is the protocol or the machine, or both.

 

[azazel1024]

Agreed. At a guess though, protocol.

The WD-TV and the Openelec I bet are using old SMB protocols (probably 1.0).

At a guess, the media server has something going on with its SMB configuration (or some other nit within the registry or configuration) that is causing this incompatibility to show up.

Try this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223140

Set the size to 65535. I had an issue with an app on my phone that is utilizing SMB1.0 and it was going VERY slow, until I tweaked that setting on my Windows 8 server. Speeds went from 500-600KB/sec to 4MB/sec over wireless from my phone afterwards.

Just remember to reboot after the change.

 

[jonadagi2@yahoo.ca]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'll try FTP and see what happens. I'm also going to try an ethernet adapter in case it's the built in NIC causing the issue.

I've thought about the older SMB protocol on the WDTV Live being a problem, but shares from my Desktop PC with the exact same Win 7 operating system do not have this issue. Regardless, I'm so frustrated I'm willing to try anything.

I bought this PC (Refurb) just to use as a file server and I can't get it to work properly with my two main media players.

FYI, my "Media-Server" PC is an HP xw4600 workstation tower.

 

[jonadagi2@yahoo.ca]

I tried the tweak suggested by azazel1024, but it made no difference.

FTP works fine though. It took me an hour to get the FTP server running properly (firewall issues), but once I did it runs perfectly well on my openelec HTPC.

If I can also get FTP access on my WDTV, I will at least have a back-up in case I can't figure out the SMB problem.

I wasn't able to try out my PCI NIC adapter since I forgot that I got rid of it two weeks ago...after having it for more than five years and having gigabit built in to my PCs I thought I would never need it again.

 

[htismaqe]

At least now you've positively identified SMB as the cause and you know exactly where to look.

 

[jonadagi2@yahoo.ca]

True, but I still can't figure out why SMB works fine from my Desktop that has the exact same operating system and default settings as my Media Server, but my Media Server doesn't work right.

The only variable I can think of between the two is the NIC / network driver.

Anyone have any idea what to target as the possible cause?

 

[azazel1024]

That is at least possible. One of the other things you can look at is firewall/firewall settings as well as go in to the registry and compare between the two the actual LANMANServer settings between the two.

A last pain in the butt, you can reinstall the OS on the one "broken" machine and see if that fixes it.

 

[jonadagi2@yahoo.ca]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

One of the things I did before posting on here was to re-install the OS, but it made no difference

I've been using FTP since I set it up as part of the troubleshooting and it's doing the job just fine. It's just frustrating that I can't figure out why SMB isn't working.

Since I have a working alternative I'm giving up on finding a solution to the SMB problem.

I'm just going to file this under Windows 7 "Features" and try not to think about it anymore...it was driving me crazy.

 

[azazel1024]

Sometimes things can do crazy crap. Last night I stuck a new HDD in my desktop to move towards completing my migration from many/old drives in my server and desktop (replacing a 2x1TB RAID0 array and a 500GB drive in my desktop with a single 3TB drive and later get a second for 2x3TB RAID0 array. Server had 2x2TB RAID0 with one iffy drive, now just a 3TB drive and later a 2x3TB array like my desktop).

Installed it after yanking the 500GB drive for room (all my drive slots are filled, and I just pulled the data from the server to repopulate instead of pulling locally for what was on the 500GB drive). Formatted and started the transfer...kind of slow. I was only hitting 108-110MB/sec max...which didn't seem right. Both 3TB drives should hit >160MB/sec on the outer tracks (and possibly up closer to 200MB/sec based on reviews of the Seagate 3TB drive I've seen...and heck, when I transfered stuff to the server I was seeing in the mid/high 160MB/sec range with some spiking up around 200-210MB/sec). I shrugged and figured whatever.

A bit more transfering later and still perplexed by the seeming slow speed. RDP'd to the server and tried a transfer initiated from the server...180MB/sec...wtf?!? SMB Multichannel down? Rebooted my desktop, tried to transfer a bit folder again...oh, hai, full speed now (140-170MB/sec for transfering my music folder over the network).

So, I guess for whatever reason, Windows did not like having the drive added and formatted or something, because ANY target on my desktop was slow if initiated from my desktop, but initiating from the server was allowing full speed (either network or disk limited, I have SMB Multichannel rolling between machines, which means ~235MB/sec is my max network speed). A reboot later, and things were back to working order.

I have seen this "SMB Multichannel does not seem to be working when started from one machine, but fine when started on the other" a couple of times before. Reboots seem to always fix it.

I realize that has little to nothing to do with what you are experiencing, but Windows and networking (really ALL networking) can be wonky as heck. It could be an issue going on with the adapter in just that machine having some kind of a hang up with SMB. It could even be the WD Live TV itself that is causing the issue with just that one machine.