OOracle 9i vs Oracle 8.1 and a slow connection

I am a network admin, I dont know much about Oracle, I am trying to help our developer with a problem. We have two servers running oracle, both are 2k boxes. One is 9i and the other 8.17, Our oracle with 9i has service pack 3 installed while our the box running 8.17 has service pack 2. Our developer can connect to the server relatively quickly to both boxes, however the box with 9i and service pack 3, once connected to the server accessing the files takes an extremely long time. Is there any problems oracle has with service pack 3 that I may not be aware of. Is there a white paper on oracle dealing with service pack 3 on a 2k box
Thanks , any help would be appreciated!