1 workstation troublesome - hardware?

[tornadof3]

I have a network of 1 server and 8 PCs, all running CentOS 5.2. There is one workstation where I have tried several PCs and I still get the same problem. I can take a computer that is working fine when plugged in somewhere else, and plug it in at this workstation into this network port etc and the same trouble exists:

runs ridiculously slow, services particularly such as "NFS statd", "avaihi daemon", "cups" and "system message bus" take a ridiculous amount of time (Avahi daemon norally fails), network logins (via LDAP) fail or take ridiculous periods of time, and system is generally unusable. This 'dodgy' computer successfully gets an IP via DHCP, can ping server fine, and name resolution of the server appears fine too.

The rest of the computers are fine. Using OpenLDAP & NFS without problem. What could be causing this - is there an obvious solution (it evades me?) Many thanks for any help

[glennzo]

Seems obvious to me that the LAN cable is junk or the router / switch is junk. Something that is common to all computers that are used at that station. I'd change the cable and see what I get. If the cable has been routed through the ceiling of otherwise basically hidden then just run the new cable across the floor on a temporary basis. If that doesn't work I'd go for the router or the switch or whatever device you are using.

[tornadof3]

Ah; good idea. I will try that and report back.

[tornadof3]

So after trailing a cable across the floor between 3 rooms and plugging directly into the hub, the same problem occurs, so what gives? After hacking around and finding an interesting log file in /var/log, I noticed on the server's dhcpd.leases file that some interesting hostnames were popping up. Bottom line: more than 1 PC on the network had the same hostname, causing services like NFS lockd and LDAP to fail or run slow. I ensured each machine had a unique hostname in /etc/sysconfig/network and /etc/hosts, and this seems to have done the trick!

[glennzo]

Awesome! Problem solved. And all because of me Oh I'm just joking. But at least you've got the issue solved and we may have both learned something here.