XP SMB frames different from 98SE...

Howdy, y'all,

I'm attempting to determine why a 98SE client can
retrieve files from another 98SE file server via a peer-
to-peer connection more quickly than can an XPPro client.
Even though the 98SE client is an old 166 MHz laptop,
retrieval of Paradox tables is almost instantaneous,
while the 1.3 GHz XPPro client is noticeably slower,
though not unusably so; response is 10-15 sec. slower.

Using Ethereal (highly recommended for packet analysis)
to capture frames, I see that SMB frames issued by the XP
client definitely look different from those issued by the
98SE client. For example, when requesting a list of files
in a shared folder, the XP PDU contains contains a wild-
carded directory spec like "<drive-letter>:\<top-
dir>\<sub-dir>\>>>>>>>>.>>>". The same keystrokes at the
98SE client result in a wild-carded directory spec in the
PDU that looks like "<drive-letter>:\<top-dir>\<sub-
dir>\????????.???".

OK, so what, you ask; the result is the same. Well, I
wonder if there's somehow a lot more code in the XP
implementation of SMB over NetBIOS so that it takes
longer to execute, and results in slower performance. I
don't see anything else that might be wrong.

Any ideas? TIA.

APJ.

P.S. SMB signing is disabled, so that's not the problem.