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Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
#9336 04/08/10 08:01 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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I have some files that take literally forever to open up on my home network. Is there anything I can do. It's beyond frustrating. thanks.

Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
kevs #9342 04/08/10 10:26 PM
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More information please.
  1. Where are these files physically located?
  2. are they on a work station or a server?
  3. what kind of files are they (ie. what app opens them)?
  4. how big are these files?
  5. what is your network configuration WiFi, ethernet, what?
  6. If WiFi is it 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.22n? If it is ethernet is it 10/100/1000 mbps?


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

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Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
joemikeb #9348 04/09/10 03:04 AM
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Joe:
thanks.
Excel file.
2mb
One my imac hard drive
Trying to open up on my macbook in other room.
Through the dsl based / router/ I think it's wifi right?
not sure on wifi number.
Total agony.

that said an Excel file of 500k has no problem.

Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
kevs #9403 04/11/10 01:58 AM
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instead of opening it while it's on the other computer's share by double clicking it, try dragging it to your computer and double clicking the local copy.

it's possible excel isn't playing smart with the file and is trying to do a flood of piddly IO on it, expecting it to be local, and it's not working out well over the network.


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
Virtual1 #9410 04/11/10 03:24 AM
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Actually I got an incredbly in depth answer over here, but still working on this:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2395141&tstart=0

Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
kevs #9419 04/11/10 05:05 PM
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With all respect to the responder in your other thread, he provided you with background information about the factors influencing your data transfer rates, but not yet with a specific solution of your current problem. But given his suggestion of a potentially restricting WiFi connection, there is a way to find out if your current WiFi speed is indeed a limiting factor, and that's exactly what Virtual1 suggests.

If just copying the required file to your Mac (to work with it there) is faster than than opening the remote copy over the network, it would seem that the latter approach adds 'overhead' (possibly caused by Excel) in addition to simply transferring file data. In that case, increasing your WiFi speed to 802.11n would not likely help you much, but you would have some idea of where the problem is located.


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Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
alternaut #9421 04/11/10 06:12 PM
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Alt,
thanks, yes I was waiting for him to recommend a new router.
but what is your opinion:
is this normal for files to open up painfully slow?

Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
kevs #9422 04/11/10 07:31 PM
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No, I don't think this is normal for a 2MB Excel file. Still, you want to do that little copy test V1 suggested and see how long that takes. Then add to that the time it takes opening the copied file on the local Mac to give you a baseline comparison with the time it takes to access the file on the remote server.


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Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
alternaut #9423 04/11/10 07:56 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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A
did not understand the copy test. Was he saying to just put a copy on the desktop on macbook and open it? No need, it would open just fine, being on the hardrive of the macbook. The whole slowness issue is that it's wireless.

Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
kevs #9427 04/11/10 10:48 PM
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The test was to determine if the problem was
  1. A really slow WiFi connection
  2. A quirk in how Excell itself is handling the file over the network
  3. Something in the file itself that is making it load slowly
All of these are possibilities.

Last edited by joemikeb; 04/11/10 10:49 PM. Reason: spelling error

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

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Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
kevs #9429 04/11/10 11:31 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
- Was he saying to just put a copy on the desktop on macbook and open it?
- The whole slowness issue is that it's wireless.

- Yes, that was what he was saying.
- You cannot say that the wireless part is the problem until you show that a wired connection doesn't suffer any such slowdowns. If a wired hookup is both equally slow while remotely accessing a file AND slower than regular file copying (as in the test we're talking about), THEN it may be that Excel's handling of a remote file (as opposed to handling a local file) is the limiting factor, as V1 suggested.

This approach is all about asking questions the (unambiguous) answers to which allow you to exclude certain possibilities, and to hone in on more likely sources of problems. Does that make sense? (It seems to me that you already answered the copy question, but not the wired vs wireless question.)


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Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
alternaut #9434 04/12/10 12:07 AM
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kevs Offline OP
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Joe,
thanks,
I emailed the Excel file to my mabook. Then download to the macbooks desktop. It opened in 2 seconds.

Is that what you mean by wired, being on desktop?

Any ideas on this? Its not the file and it's not excel. All files takes long time to open wirelessly and the bigger the file, the longer it takes. It becomes unbearable after the files get to 1mb

Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
kevs #9437 04/12/10 12:45 AM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
Is that what you mean by wired, being on desktop?

No, with 'wired' I mean accessing the file on the remote server by way of wired ethernet only, and NOT via a wireless link. There are 3 conditions you'd like to get data on: (1) copying the file to your local machine, and accessing the file on the remote server, either by (2) an exclusively wired network connection, or (3) a connection involving one or more wireless links.

- If the wired connection doesn't show the problem, that excludes Excel's handling of the remote file as the culprit, because it shouldn't matter if the hookup is wired or wireless. Instead it would point to the wireless link (as the remaining variable) as the most likely source of the problem. However, in that case simply copying the file should be slow as well, which is not what you say you see.

- If the wired hookup also shows the problem, that would include Excel's file handling as a possible source.

Still, you need to get the info on all 3 conditions to be sure. After all, we may be missing yet another possibility, and you want to base your troubleshooting on real observations, not on conjecture.


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Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
kevs #9438 04/12/10 01:04 AM
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Well that appears to narrow the problem down to the speed of your WiFi network itself. There are three levels of WiFi all based on different versions of the 802.11 standard. The original and slowest is 802.11b which is theoretically capable of 11 Mega Bits per Second data transfer rate while 802.11g can get up to the 50 MegaBit range, and the latest and still not finalize version 802.11n is, again theoretically, capable of up to 150 MegaBits per second. Which of these standards you are using depends on your wireless router and how it is configured and which your laptop is capable of.

Those are, of course, all theoretical maximums and you will seldom, if ever, achieve the maximum. Your actual speed is a function of:
  • your network configuration (what devices you have and how they connect to your local network)
  • the actual 802.11 hardware and/or software in either computer
  • how far your computer is from the router/base station
  • the construction of any wall, floors, etc. between your computer and the base station
  • the construction of major pieces of furniture in the direct path between your computer and the base station
  • interference from neighbor's WiFi signals that are on the same band and channel you are using
  • interference from household devices such as cordless telephones and microwave ovens
  • even a problematic florescent light in the area
In your situation I would start by:
  1. taking your laptop into the same room with the base station and see if the transfer rate improves. If it does then you may need to install some sort of a relay device such as an Airport Express to improve the signal in your other room
  2. get a software utility such as AirRadar or iStumbler to check and see:
    1. exactly what variety of 802.11 you are running
    2. what is the effective signal strength at both computers
    3. if there are any other WiFi networks in your area using the same channel you are
This is still diagnostic and any solution will depend on what you find.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Excel file take 20 minutes to open on network
joemikeb #9439 04/12/10 04:51 AM
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A:
Hard to understand a lot of that
your wired sounds a lot what I think of wireless.

Joe,
Did you see the apple.com thread? I brought in into the office, no difference.
Air Radar says, no issue with channels.
Don't know what airport express is.

So this is unusal, files taking long time to open up?


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