Delay when accessing files on a network drive

6 May 2009 9:05 AM

Networking Finn

Hello,

I have a problem regarding file access on a network drive. When I try to
open a file on a network, the associated program starts up, but before
loading the file, there's a long delay, maybe 30-60 seconds. The delay length
seems to be somewhat random. Here're some details:
- During the delay, there's no network traffic and the processor isn't
stressed
- After the delay, the file seems to load at normal speed
- The client is XP SP3, the server 2003, located in the same domain
- The problem doesn't seem to be related to the program used. For example,
the delay occurs when loading both DOCs and PDFs.
- None of the other computers in the domain have the delay, so the problem
should be in the client computer.
- The ethernet connection doesn't report errors.

Since nothing's happening during the delay, I'd guess the computer is
waiting for something to timeout before continuing with the loading. My first
guess was DNS, but it is configured correctly.

Thank you for your help.

6 May 2009 8:02 PM

John Wunderlich

=?Utf-8?B?TmV0d29ya2luZyBGaW5u?= <Networking
F***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
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news:AE251D6F-F924-4ECA-BACD-2F9769329790@microsoft.com:

> Hello,
>
> I have a problem regarding file access on a network drive. When
> I try to
> open a file on a network, the associated program starts up, but
> before loading the file, there's a long delay, maybe 30-60
> seconds. The delay length seems to be somewhat random. Here're
> some details: - During the delay, there's no network traffic and
> the processor isn't stressed
> - After the delay, the file seems to load at normal speed
> - The client is XP SP3, the server 2003, located in the same
> domain - The problem doesn't seem to be related to the program
> used. For example, the delay occurs when loading both DOCs and
> PDFs. - None of the other computers in the domain have the delay,
> so the problem should be in the client computer.
> - The ethernet connection doesn't report errors.
>
> Since nothing's happening during the delay, I'd guess the computer
> is waiting for something to timeout before continuing with the
> loading. My first guess was DNS, but it is configured correctly.
>
> Thank you for your help.
>

You're probably right in that it is most likely waiting for a timeout.
Try installing freeware Wireshark

<http://www.wireshark.org>

and have it capture packets during the delay period. You should be
able to figure out from the network traffic where the delay originates.

HTH,
John