Now what's wrong?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brandi
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Brandi

I have a physical problem I think.

My house is wired with Cat5. The lines all run to a closet where I've
connected the cables with a Linksys switch my son had sitting around unused.
The lights on the switch come on when I plug in the cables for both rooms
where I want te PCs. In one oom, the PC works fine.

But, I've plugged in my laptop (in the other room I'm trying to connect)
which runs at 10M and the switch doesn't not light up the 100M light. When I
plug in the home computer that I normally want to connect in that room the
100M light does come like it should. So it looks like the switch is
recognizing the speed on the network card in bother PCs in that room but
neither PC can connect to the internet.

What might I look for? both PCs used to work in this room and I haven't
changed any configuration. I never ever change anything on my laptop. What
can I test? I've already tried swapping cables and using different ports on
the switch - same results.

It's a DSL connection that goes through a router.
 
It would be difficult to diagnose without more information about the O/S's
involved and the tcp/ip configuration. But a good place to start is to try
pinging all devices (pcs, switch, and router) and some internet sites and
see what connections are failing. Check your firewall.

Could also be a bad switch, can you try connecting directly to the router?
Or if it is a combo router/switch, connect one pc directly to the dsl modem.
 
Here's my setup. Can someone tell me if there's a major flaw in my basic
layout?

phone line---DSL modem----router-----CAT5 connection into the wall
The CAT5 in each room goes to a closet. I'm using a switch to act like a hub
to connect the rooms.
There's a pc connected directly to the router. This pc works fine. So far.
There's another room with a pc connected to the CAT5 jack on the wall. This
is the PC that I have problems with. Sometimes it's on, sometimes not. I've
used 2 different PCs here and they have the same problem. The lights on the
switch look like it's working and the network properties/Status on the PC
shows it' conencted.
I don't really know what switches do. Am I using it wrong? I didn't
configure anything - just plugged it in.
 
Brandi said:
The CAT5 in each room goes to a closet. I'm using a switch to act like a hub
to connect the rooms.
Click to expand...

If this is what you mean is:

Phoneline---DSLModem---Router---Switch in closet

That is fine.
I don't really know what switches do. Am I using it wrong? I didn't
configure anything - just plugged it in.
Click to expand...

Switches aren't hubs, but for the sake of this discussion,..forget it,...the
switch is doing the same job. Most people have stopped using hubs and have
replaced them with switches anyway.

1. If all machines have their network settings set to "Automatically
Obtain"....
2. If all machines are plugged into the switch as the router should be......
3. If all cables and cable "ends" are good...
4. If you don't accidentally have a crossover cable mixed in....
5. If the switch isn't bad or have bad ports.....

It should all work fine. The order of my "If"s are pretty much the order to
check things in. This covers all the Layer1, 2, & 3 aspects of networking.
Getting the OS on each machine to see each other and share files is a whole
other story and isn't worth worrying about until the previous stuff is
dependable. Windows "workgroup" interoperability between workgroup members
is not required to simply "get to the internet", so deal with that later.
 
I wish I could just draw this out. It would be so much easier to explain
what I mean.

It's not like your "If this is what you mean." It's like this:
In the bedroom I have Phoneline----DSLModem----Router-----PC#1
Also going from the router is a cable to the CAT5 jack in the wall
Inside the bedroom wall that cable goes to the closet
Another cable comes from another room (study) and goes to the same closet.
In that closet, both cables (one from the bedroom and one from the study)
connect to the switch.
In the study, PC#2 connects to a CAT5 jack in the wall.

It sometimes works, sometimes not. Very frustrating.
 
Brandi said:
It's not like your "If this is what you mean." It's like this:
In the bedroom I have Phoneline----DSLModem----Router-----PC#1
Also going from the router is a cable to the CAT5 jack in the wall
Inside the bedroom wall that cable goes to the closet
Another cable comes from another room (study) and goes to the same closet.
In that closet, both cables (one from the bedroom and one from the study)
connect to the switch.
Click to expand...

"Logically" it is still:

Phoneline---DSLModem---Router---Switch in closet

The router has a built in switch, typically 4 ports. So it is at the same
"level" as the switch in the closet so "logically" they behave as one and
the same device. Think of them as being linked "side-by-side". The PC
plugged into the router could just as easily be plugged into the other
switch in the closet and it wouldn't matter,..its the same thing.

Most likely the problem is the cable between the router's built in switch
and the switch in the closet. Either one of the ports on the router or one
port on the closet switch will be labeled "uplink". It is usually the last
port. Some will auto-detect, but others have a small switch or push-button
to adjust them from "normal" to "uplink".

So...to link two switches (or hubs) the cable must run from one "normal"
port on one of them to the "uplink" port on the other. It doesn't matter
which way is which as long as they aren't both "uplink" or both "normal" at
the same time. The way it works is that you can join a bunch of switches
together "in a line" by matching up
"normal-uplink-normal-uplink-normal-uplink-normal-uplink" as you go down the
line.

Back in the "old days" before they invented the "uplink ports" you had to
join them with ""cross-over cables" which were CAT3 or CAT5 cables with a
special wiring pattern in the way the ends were put on them.
 
If this uplink thing were my problem, would the PCs sometimes work and
sometimes not? I was sitting at one PC last night and it was working fine,
next minute it wouldn't conenct to the internet. I changed nothing, moved no
cables, held my tongue the same way, etc.
 
And thanks for all the tips!

Phillip Windell said:
"Logically" it is still:

Phoneline---DSLModem---Router---Switch in closet

The router has a built in switch, typically 4 ports. So it is at the same
"level" as the switch in the closet so "logically" they behave as one and
the same device. Think of them as being linked "side-by-side". The PC
plugged into the router could just as easily be plugged into the other
switch in the closet and it wouldn't matter,..its the same thing.

Most likely the problem is the cable between the router's built in switch
and the switch in the closet. Either one of the ports on the router or one
port on the closet switch will be labeled "uplink". It is usually the last
port. Some will auto-detect, but others have a small switch or push-button
to adjust them from "normal" to "uplink".

So...to link two switches (or hubs) the cable must run from one "normal"
port on one of them to the "uplink" port on the other. It doesn't matter
which way is which as long as they aren't both "uplink" or both "normal" at
the same time. The way it works is that you can join a bunch of switches
together "in a line" by matching up
"normal-uplink-normal-uplink-normal-uplink-normal-uplink" as you go down the
line.

Back in the "old days" before they invented the "uplink ports" you had to
join them with ""cross-over cables" which were CAT3 or CAT5 cables with a
special wiring pattern in the way the ends were put on them.
Click to expand...
 
Brandi said:
If this uplink thing were my problem, would the PCs sometimes work and
sometimes not? I was sitting at one PC last night and it was working fine,
Click to expand...

No, but it should be checked anyway to make sure it is right. The
intermitten connectivity is caused usually by bad cables, connectors, Nics,
or switch/hub ports.
 
ummm, are both your machines able to ping each other? Is
the unused switch working properly?
 
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