Q: Ok, in my home LAN, I have 2 Windows 98 and a win2k machine connected to a switch. They share a DSL router that Linux is connected to the DSL modem.
The 100mbps switch and all network cards are auto-sensing. The Linux box is running the Coyote Linux distro. Its also serve as a DHCP server and point all three machines with an internal IP.
Here s the problem: I added the third week
Last machine, which is to win 98 machine on the network. Plugged in and is all the necessary networking. TCP / IP and Netbuei are enabled and so is sharing files. The machines can see each other ok and can share files. Speed transfers in the LAN are fine. The Linux box assigned to the 3rd PC with an IP and everything and its on the Internet. But the program is dropping packets like crazy. Can hardly connect to the internet and when I try to connect to a web page, but a timeout. I have a ping, and it is like 3/4ths of the packages on the average. This happens when half the time. If I can not get online, I reboot and sometimes it works. I checked the settings and everything and it seems ok. I added the second win98 computer and the network last week and it was fine.
Can someone tell me why this problem with a win98 computers TCP / IP connection to have!? It is also using a Netgear NIC and the drivers are installed and everything is ok detected.
Re:It's just one machine that I added to the LAN that is dropping packets. Here's what i've done in trying to isolate the problem:
1) reinstalled NIC drivers and network protocols
2) switched port for known good port
3) swapped cat 5 cables
THe only thing i haven't done is physically remove the NIC. I think i'll give that a try and swap in a known good one. THe computer was problem free today; it got online ok. This happens randomly. Usually, I say 3/4th of the time, the computer will time out when connecting to the net.
I'm going to double check if the LAN transfers are ok. SHould i use TCP/IP file sharing? thanks for all your replies 
Re:If no problem seen on any other machine, I'd check stuff in this order
* Try a different switch port for the problematic machine
* Replace the cable for the problematic machine with a known good cable
* Double-check IP settings on the problematic machine
* Uninstall, then reinstall NIC and Windows networking components on the problematic machine
* Replace the NIC in the problematic machine
HTH
Re:Is the third computer the one that is dropping packets to/from the internet? Or is it all of them?
If it is just that one computer, than I would replace the cable first then the NIC.
If it is all of them, you might want to replace the cable that connects everyone to the internet or replace the NIC that goes to the internet.
Re:Woops! I see your LAN transfer rates are fine. Does that computer work fine on both uploading and downloading on the LAN? Have you tested that yet?
Re:I'd say try another NIC. Is it confirmed to be good? You are using DHCP which means it'd be getting the same settings all the other computers are. I would think there would be symptoms on all the machines if there was some sort of routing error or DNS problem.
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