I set up a network with Diamond HomeFree 10Mbs network cards.  The internet host machine is an IBM PIII 600Mhz machine running Windows 98SE, and the first client is a Compaq Presario 5220 with an AMD K6-2 450Mhz and 64MB Ram running Windows 98 (original).  I am using WinGate as the proxy.  It is the Home version, and therefore I cannot do much configuration on it.

The problem I am having is a slow internet connection on the Compaq.  The internet host has a 256k DSL connection using a Cisco 675 router.  The third machine is a Sony Viao PII 266, and it has a better internet connection than the Compaq.  Watching the transfer rates while the Compaq is online I see the data transfer burst-and-halt.  It will get a quick burst of up to 10k of data in a shot, run quickly for another 10k-20k of data, and then halt for as much as 20-30 seconds before the next block of data comes through.  Some web sites have choked things up so much that the computer actually freezes and needs to be rebooted.

One issue is the NIC is on IRQ 11, but so is the modem and the video adapter.  No amount of IRQ reservation and finageling will keep all three of these devices from grabbing the same IRQ at the same time, which Windows 98 seems to share without too much trouble.  Could this IRQ sharing cause this slow internet problem?  Is it possibly the proxy server, and can I do anything about that?  The best speed I can seem to manage is around 28-36kbps.

Diamond suggested I remove a registry key on the host machine, which I did, but it did not seem to have any effect.  I even tried using a different hardware profile and disabeling the modem in the alternate profile.  All to no avail.  Any solutions suggestions would be welcom.  BTW, there are only two PCI slots on the motherboard filled by the modem (needed for the users banking software) and the NIC.  Swapping the cards between these two slots yeilds no better results.  Oh, and I tried running without the firewall on the host machine;  this did nothing to change the circumstances.

I know I have asked for help on other problems with this setup, but I really want to find an answer to this one.  Thanks in advance.

Kyle Elmblade
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