10.4.10 update slows down SMB traffic?

Question

Hi all!
This is my first mac-post. Forgive my mac-related ignorance, I'm trying to learn.. It's kind of an old-dog-new-tricks deal..
Anyway, I've been researching a clients recent complaints that reading and writing files to and from their Windows Small Business Server 2003 server suddenly (a few days ago) slowed down immensely - to the point where it's almost unusable. They use VectorWorks for CAD and loading/saving a 20MB file will take several minutes on their 100Mbit/s network! Also playing video from the server is choppy.
I've been researching the problem, and I've tested and checked out the normal networking problems like cabling, switches, server NIC, speed/duplex settings etc.. I've also tried various solutions to slow SMB traffic from other Mac-forums, like disabling TCP/IP v6 and disabling ACK delay on the macs, seeing absolutely NO improvements.
I believe, however, that I've isolated the problem to the recent 10.4.10 update:
* Their 1 Macbook with the 10.4.10 update has this problem.
* Their 4 iMacs with the 10.4.10 update has this problem.
* Their 1 iMac still on 10.4.9 DOES NOT have this problem.
* Their 1 Mac Pro with the 10.4.10 update DOES NOT have this problem.
So, it looks to me like the 10.4.10 breaks "something" on the "little" Macs while the Mac Pro seems unaffected.
What can I do to rectify this problem? My client complains about lost efficiency and I'm at a loss about what to do next. Can anyone help me out?

Answer 1

{quote:title=BDAqua wrote:}
Not exactly clear where we are right now, but did Applejack report any fixins?{quote}
Ok, I'll try to summarize todays findings...
* AppleJack was run in interactive mode, ran all five tests, found nothing (as far as I could see)
* Rebooted twice, still no better.
* AppleJack was run in the AUTO mode. Same result.
* I tested the transfer speed with smbget, it starts at 100kbps and rises to about 700kbps as the transfer progresses. On a 100MB Ethernet, I'd expect to see at least 1MB to about 10MB.
* Then I downloaded Pacifist and installed everything that matched a search for "smbfs" in the install files, which are OS X 10.4.3 (or was it .7?? argh.. I forget, check tomorrow).
* I was now out of luck, as the previously created aliases failed and a connection to the server through Finder was impossible. Smbget still works though!
* The kextstat -b com.apple.filesystems.smbfs command now only displays infoheader, but no info.
* Now, I'm looking at a backup of a few files and a complete reinstall of the Macbook to see if that does the trick.
My client hasn't seen the bill for these hours of troubleshooting yet, but I have a feeling I'll have to throw in the towel real soon. Ooops, I sent him the link for this thread, maybe he's watching!?