Why does Media Player on Windows Vista, take FOREVER to add files to the playlist that are on the network?

Question

First I just want to say I am well versed in networking, and computers in general. My job is being wholly responsible for maintaining a network of 30+ PC's, 3 linux servers, and 130+ dumb terminals. I just want to make it clear that, though I may not be a computer genius, I for sure know what I am doing, when it comes to home networking.

I just installed Vista on one of my PC's. I have a PC (Win XP) on my network that shares all my media files. With previous versions of windows like XP or even Win2k, I have NEVER had a problem like this.

I have the drives on the data server mapped on the Vista box. So lets say I navigate to the album I want. And drag the 12 or so tracks to the playlist in media player. Media player stops responding for literally 30-60 seconds until it finaly shows the songs on the list. 2-3 albums and I give up waiting after 2-3 minutes.

The data is on a defragged SATA 2 drive. The PC's are the only 2 on a 100Mbps network.

WHY is it doing this?

BTW: IT'S NOT BECAUSE MY COMPUTER CANT HANDLE VISTA.

The PC with Vista has a AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ 2.0Ghz CPU, 1GB RAM - 250GB SATA2 hard drive.

It handles everything that actually uses resources just fine. I have all the visual stuff active, and it runs nice and smooth.

ALSO -- if I watch the CPU meter while media player is all frozen, it's just sitting at 2-3%. There isn't an large network activity, and the RAM usage doesnt seem to change, so I'm not understanding where it is bottle necking.

BTW -- I also disabled everything I could find that might take time when adding files. Like adding files to library when played -- getting additional info off of the internet etc.

Also - in case it make any difference, I have the 64 bit version of Vista installed.

Answer 1

I understand that you tried to transfer somthing from another computer in the net and that computer is not vista.
maybe thats the problem, maybe if the other computer is vista the problem might gone, but i can tell you, vista has many bugs, it is a new operating system so it must has bugs, so maybe your problem is just another bug ;)

Answer 2

Ok, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but vista? Why? It's the worst operating system I've ever used, Yes it is very pretty, but it uses up a lot of space, and isn't compatible with many xp programs, I had to download I don't know how many drivers for it. Plus watch out for viruses, my friend had it and she ended up with more viruses than with xp, and yes she was using virus protection. I just ended up formatting my computer and reinstalling xp because of all the problems I had with it. Good luck, I had 2 computer guru's helping me, 1 a computer programmer and the other technician, and both of them looked at me and laughed saying they must have develpoped it in 2 hours.

Answer 3

Could it be a firewall problem? Have you tried something other than windows media player? just get an mp3 player?