2nd PC on Nokia router is slow

I realise this is not a wireless issue but I'm hoping someone can help. I've just set up a Nokia M1122 ADSL modem/router and I have 2 PCs hooked to it.
The first PC is connected via a 1m cable and it runs sweet as. Pages load quickly and files download fast.
The second PC (which is in another room) is connected via a 12m cable and it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding.
Webpages take a lot longer to load than should be normal, often they partially load then just stop and I have to refresh to get them going.
When it comes to downloading files they are far too slow, and often stall then time out.
Before I set up this new modem I had an internal adsl modem in the first computer, which was running ICS, and I had the second computer networked to it using a crossover cable. Under this situation everything was pretty much Ok, so I know that the second PC is Ok in terms of connecting to the net.
It's only since installing this router and connecting to it (with a straight cable) that the speed and bandwidth has dropped to a ridiculous level.
Is it an issue with the NIC in the second PC ? It's got onboard network - and it's an AMD XP2700 on a Gigabyte m/b.

The lights in the system tray say that the network is connected at 10Mbps, but I don't think it's doing anywhere near that. How can I test the bandwidth between the PC and the router?

(I have tried plugging it into a different port on the router but makes no difference)

Any help greatly appreciated.

Does the 2nd pc have its DNS settings configured correctly? And is it actually pointing at the m1122 as the gateway?

Good questions. Can you give me some advice as to setting this PC up regarding DNS etc?
these settings have always confused the heck out of me.

thanks

The M1122's in default config act as a DHCP server. So make sure the 2nd PC is gettign its IP address from DHCP.

On XP bring up a command window and type ipconfig -all
YOu should see the default gateway address and the DNS server addresses. These should be pointing to the same address, probally 192.168.1.254.

Remember the Nokia has an Ethernet hub in it not a switch so make sure that your PCs ethernet port is in half duplex mode, Full duplex will cause lots of collisions and SLOW SLOW perfromance.

Other than that check your cable

*puts on teachers hat*

Ok, the DNS servers are what translate DNS names to IP addy's.. the point being that joe.normal or joe.moron is going to have an easier time remembering www.google.com than any of the following: 216.239.57.99, 216.239.57.104, 216.239.57.147, 216.239.57.103

What I think is happening is your second pc is trying to ask the first pc to be its DNS server, and the first pc isnt setup properly to do that (ics is a bitch like that), so DNS requests from the 2nd pc are bouncing around everywhere... so it would pay to check that your DNS is setup correctly.

A gateway is a device that connects you to the internet. A dsl router is a gateway, a computer with a modem sharing via ICS is a gateway, a linux box running as a firewall is a gateway... whichever device or computer is "sharing" the internet among other devices and computers is the gateway.

There are two main schools of thought to setting up DNS:
1) primary DNS server is the same as your gateway (eg let the gateway handle it)
2) take a load off the gateway and do all the DNS passing through your ISP's DNS servers

Personally I dont care.. whichever way works, though I go for #2 by habit

SO

Make sure both computers are on the same range:
pc1:
192.168.1.2
pc2:
192.168.1.3

Make sure they're both pointing to the same gateway:
pc1:
192.168.1.254
pc2:
192.168.1.254

and make sure they're both pointing at the same DNS servers. I don't know which ISP you're with, so let's just say you're on Inspire. Most ISP's should have somewhere on their site listing their static DNS addresses, in this case http://www.inspire.net.nz/questions.htm

pc1:
Primary DNS 203.114.128.1
Secondary DNS 203.114.128.2

pc2:
Primary DNS 203.114.128.1
Secondary DNS 203.114.128.2