Intra Net packet loss?

Hi, im on a powerconnect 3248, latest firmware. all ports are on vlan 1.. I have a 10/100 5 port netgear switch in a different room, the uplink port on that is plugged into a normal port on a  5 port netgear gigbit switch (non managed) which is then plugged into a normal port on the 3248 from the uplink port on that gig switch.  I have 8 other computers plugged into various ports on the 3248 and they have no packet loss or latency problems (sub 1ms) with pings to each other.  However if i ping a host on the 10/100 net gear switch i get like 8% packet loss but the packets that do go through have sub 1ms ping.  also, if i download via ftp from a machine i have attached to that 10/100 switch it goes fast (10mbit),  but if i upload it goes around 20-30K/sec.

 

if i plug the 10/100 directly to the 3248 the packet loss is ~50% so thats why i go via the gig switch then to the 3248 (but as i stated above i still get packet loss).

 

now if i plug in host "X" to the gig switch (while its connected to the 3248, and the 10/100 is plugged into the gig switch) i get no pakcet loss from host "X" to host Y which is on the 10/100 switch.

 

other than all ports on vlan 1 all other settings are factory on the switch.

 

btw, im using a cheap netgear wifi router that is also plugged into a normal port on the 3248.. even though this router is a trashI dont think this is even connected to the problems im having for reasons i stated above

 

btw, there is no load on this switch from the other pcs, or anything else..(sub 1% utilization, if that)

 

any ideas?  am in missing something big here?

 

thanks!

 

joe