Solved XP to Win 7 Printer sharing

[Britton30]

I have a gigabit NIC but It never runs that fast, always 100Mbs. The router with two PCs and a Bluray player cuts my nice 25 Mbs connection to 10-12 for both computers.
But I'm confused, a print server would cut that even more then?

 

[2xg]

You will then need to buy a Gig Switch, your router may not support gigabit.

Also, Internet Speed has nothing to do with your Network's speed (transfer rates to be affected).
If your Internet is running slow, your network shouldn't be affected.

Sounds like there's an issue with your Broadband if you are signed up with a 25mbits, the 2 PC's shd run close to 25mbits. Have you updated your router's firmware. Are these 2 PC's hardwire to the router or wireless connected?

 

[Britton30]

This network and sharing is new to me in the last few months, so I'm still learning. Comcast has always said the router will cut internet speed, I dunno.

I have everything hard wired, ethernet or USB. I'll have to look up my router's capabilities.

 

[MilesAhead]

I have a gigabit NIC but It never runs that fast, always 100Mbs. The router with two PCs and a Bluray player cuts my nice 25 Mbs connection to 10-12 for both computers.
But I'm confused, a print server would cut that even more then?

I was in a similar situation. New PC had built in gigabit wired but the old PC had only 100 mbit wired. I had the 2 connected with 100 mbit router. When I updated to a gigabit card in the old PC I started looking for a gigabit router. Way too expensive. Someone told me just hook the machines to a gigabit switch, then connect the switch to the router.

Works fine. Only configuration change was to change my NICs from speed negotiation to starting at 1000 mbit. Everything between the 2 machines is at gigabit speed. Only stuff connected to the router, internet, is limited to 100 mbit.

Other than that I may have played around with buffer settings on the NICs to optimize the throughput. Just a bit of trial and error to see what gave me the max sustained transfer across the machines.

 

[2xg]

That's the way to go, just some minor tinkering would do the trick. You can get a 5Port Gig unmanaged Switch(similar to one of the links that I gave Britton) for $25.

When I updated to a gigabit card in the old PC I started looking for a gigabit router. Way too expensive. Someone told me just hook the machines to a gigabit switch, then connect the switch to the router.

Works fine. Only configuration change was to change my NICs from speed negotiation to starting at 1000 mbit. Everything between the 2 machines is at gigabit speed.

 

[MilesAhead]

That's the way to go, just some minor tinkering would do the trick. You can get a 5Port Gig unmanaged Switch(similar to one of the links that I gave Britton) for $25.

When I updated to a gigabit card in the old PC I started looking for a gigabit router. Way too expensive. Someone told me just hook the machines to a gigabit switch, then connect the switch to the router.

Works fine. Only configuration change was to change my NICs from speed negotiation to starting at 1000 mbit. Everything between the 2 machines is at gigabit speed.

You misunderstand. I've been running the gigabit switch for several years now. Just relating the fact there's no rocket science involved. Connect the machines to the switch instead of the router. Connect the switch to the router. Should still be quite awhile before 100 mbit router becomes too slow for my internet bandwidth. By that time I'm hoping gigabit routers are cheap.

 

[carwiz]

All routers will decrease the bandwidth somewhat because you're creating a Local Area Network (LAN) with the router and members all share the bandwidth. BUT... It's not at the same time. Each device communicates in packets. And the router itself has control and security functions that lower bandwidth.

The switch pictured in the second drawing is only needed if your adding more devices than you have sockets on your router. The switch just expands the number of Ethernet sockets for a router and addressing is automatic. The switch can be placed anywhere. They're cheap too. ($20-$30)

For Ethernet capable printers, it's the easiest and most dynamic method to share one or more printers. Each user is able to set the printer options for their print job. When you originally said your printer was networked, I assumed it was Ethernet capable. Sorry.

 

[Britton30]

It's OK Ken, I should have put more info in the first but being a network/sharing novice, didn't know what was needed.

At least I now know what a network switch can do. 2xg's print server idea looks good as well.