View Full Version : Switch issue or me being thick :P
Just setting up my new NAS & using a switch so that I can connect both the NAS & my pc both at the same time.
The NAS & the main PC are both upstairs & the PC connects an external CAT5 cable down to the router which is near the main phone socket.
So I plugged a lan cable from the back of the PC to the Tenda 5-port gigabit switch. Then plugged a lan cable from the switch into the lan socket on the wall, that connects to the router downstairs via the external cable.
But I get nothing, no connection at all. (Yes, the power is on :P )
Took the switch downstairs & plugged it directly into the Router & got a LAN connectivity light on the switch straight away.
So what's going wrong?
The switch has MDI/MDI-X function so it can detect if the cable is Cross over or patch.
Do I need a crossover cable from the upstairs LAN socket to the switch or something else??
Brain's a bit fuddled after an early start at work today so probably missing the obvious.
Tried the following to see what could be the issue.
1st image, which is the setup I want, doesn't work, but the 2nd image shows the switch before the external cat5e cable & ports & works perfect.
Was it gigabit connectivity across your external cable before the new switch?
Do you have a tester to check every pair on the external cable/wall jacks? They should be wired straight, pin to pin. Continuity testing on a multimeter will do. Check 2 patch cables, 1 short and 1 long. Use the short one on a wall jack, long one from the other jack, bring them together and test.
Was thinking if your new switch is gigabit and so is your router (and your ran 100Mb over it previously), then it might get its ******** in a twist as it is trying to negotiate gigabit and not falling back to 100Mb because it requires all 4 paris.. or something :rolleyes:
As your switch is auto mdi capable, you don't need to worry about cross over cables. Keep all the patch leads straight through.
If you lived next door, I could have popped round with a tester and printed you off some jazzy graphs...
Added after 4 minutes:
Hmm, the expletive is slang for female undergarment worn around the mid section :rolleyes:
Without the switch, just after the router the network is only running at 100mb/s due to the Netgear DGN2000 not being a Gigabit router.
With the switch, connected to the router the connection via the lan is 1GB/s
I haven't got a tested for the cables/sockets but it's the same lan ports/cables I am using now and have been for the past year or so without fault.
Now I've just tested another switch, well it's a Netgear DG834GT router actually & that's working spot on as a switch.
Just seems the Tenda switch doesn't like connecting to a 100mb/s network after the external cable for some reason & refuses to work.
I realised that my Netgear DGN2000 router doesn't have Gigabit ports so it can't run at 1gb/s but it still doesn't explain why the switch didn't work at all upstairs.
Thanks for posting the update... I read the thread but couldn't really think of anything constructive to put, so I didn't :D
Other than doing what you've done, which is to replace parts outside the "known working" bits... Glad you got it mostly sorted :thumb:
If you move your NAS downstairs, and use the switch there, does it work?
I'm thinking the external cable might be the issue here, like Space boy said
I'm thinking the external cable might be the issue here, like Space boy said
I do believe you have misconstrued me kind Sir.
I think the outside cable is one of the "known working" bits, and something else might be the the culprit :p :D
Maybe, hmm
But what I'm thinking is, the router... i dunno. I still think you should try the nas downstairs,
btw, why do you have the nas next to you? Shouldn't it be stuffed in a cupboard somewhere? :lol:
I do believe you have misconstrued me kind Sir.
I think the outside cable is one of the "known working" bits, and something else might be the the culprit :p :D
My finger is still pointing at the external cable connection.
Gazanimal said on the first post that by taking the switch downstairs and plugging it directly in to the router bypassing the exterior cable worked?
If this is correct, then my guess at this stage is there could be a short within the exterior cable or the face plate with the lan jacks on the 2 pairs that are not used for 100Mb.
My theory:
- Gigabit switch to run at gigabit speeds will require all 4 pairs to be connected.
- Router is 100Mb max would have only 2 pairs wired up to its circuit board.
Shorting or incorrect termination of the exterior cable affecting the 2 pairs used for gigabit causing the switch's auto-mdi and auto-neg to fail.
Not sure if that reads right... Just got back in and I'm steaming :D
Well I stuck the switch downstairs & plugged it directly into the router & then connected the external cable to it.
Then connected the main pc to the upstairs lan socket which is fed by the external cable & got 1gb/s speeds.
So presumably the cable is fine to connect at 1gb/s
Also, I checked the upstairs lan port cable terminations & all 8 wires are connecting & working fine it seems.
That is interesting! I wouldn't have thought that would work...
I'm not sure what to suggest now. In your position, I would have borrowed a certification tester from work to see what is happening with the whole cable run including patch cables. Not sure if that option is open to you?
Some NIC's have basic wire connectivity checking builtin. I've never used that function so unsure what it does exactly. It probably just uses TDR to work out wire lengths. Long shot as you validated continuity across the 8 wires already.
Is the external cable straight through connection and not crossed in anyway including all your patch cables?
It probably is something glaringly obvious :rolleyes:
Everything is straight through, no cross-over at all.
Checking the terminations in the lan ports they are all in B terminals as they should be.
It's had a few people scratching their heads on various forums to be honest, but just seems odd that the Netgear DG834GT which is acting as a switch works spot on...lol.
How about trying to bodge it slightly. Disconnect the 4 wires that are not used in a 100Mb connection at one or both the wall jacks.
Maybe that would force it to 100Mb?
Check if your routers is set for assigning 'DHCP'. If not you may need to give the NAS and PC a static IP. Easier to have router assign IP's and have the nodes accept it.
In the scenario where it works, the IP given by the router is assign to the PC.
When you have the NAS and PC ocnnected to switch, i suspect they're fighting for the single IP.
The router is assigning the IP's but I manually set & reserved the IP's anyway so there's no conflict.
I've ordered a dedicated Netgear gigabit switch to see if there's still an issue.
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