LS-WTGL324 web interface (intranet - LAN access) is incredibly slow

[bpb21]

I've searched for this particular issue on the fourms but haven't come up with anything that matches.  Hopefully someone has had this same thing happen.

I had the LS-WTGL324 attached over a small office network and was using the "web" interface (only via the LAN, not actually from an external connection).  I had mapped some network drives to it and uploading/downloading were functioning as expected.

However, I noticed that the browser access to the configuration was steadily running slower and slower.  Again, I'm just accessing this on the LAN, not from the "internet".

At this point, the device will show the login screen.  I sign in with the correct administrator account and password and I wait...and wait...and wait...and wait...and wait...Any browser I use just says "waiting for [IP address]..." and by the time the page actually loads, the auto-timeout has occurred and I'm asked to log in again.  I do, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait...

At this point, I can leave the page loading after login open all night and it will still be waiting in the morning.  However, the files transfer on the network file.  Needless to say, I've backed them up off of the drive.

I'd still like to save the data and settings on the drive.  Is there a way to reset it to default settings without erasing the drive?  (And without using the browser interface?)  I'm a little hesitant to do even that, since it's probably looking like the drive is going to fail one way or another.

It's not my network.  I've connected the device directly to a PC with a crossover cable: same result.  Plus, I can transfer files to/from it over the network just fine.  I just can't change any of the permissions.  No, I don't know what firmware version it's running.  If I could get into the web interface I'd know that.  But then I wouldn't have a problem in the first place.

Anyone have any ideas before I trash this **bleep**?