Network Outage :mad:

[ByteDown[H]ard]

I have been having trouble the last few weeks with network outages in my little 17 node home network. I am using a 16 port Linksys switch and a 5 port linksys switch. The gateway(running windows ME, yea, I know) is connected to the 5 port switch along with my main machine. The 5 port switch is connected to the 16 port switch where all the other machines, (all running ME or XP Pro), are connected. Now and then all the machines loose network connectivity, EXCEPT the two machines connected to the 5 port switch. If I power down the switches for a few then bring them back up, everything works fine for a few hours/days/week. then it starts all over. I thought the problem might be the 16 port switch so I used several 5 port switches it replaced, same problem. I don't have a cable scanner so I all I can test is the continuity of the cable connecting the two switches and it comes up green on all pairs. Not sure what else to try aside from rebuilding each machine and taking care of the network settings manually instead of letting microsoft do it automatically, not sure if ICS is the culprit.... Any suggestions would be appreciated...

 

[Majic]

Was worried about you man. I would say check for firm ware upgrades for the switches, man. They might be getting smacked to hard? Set them on a different port? Make sure they are cool! Maybe just once a week turn them off and back on as a preventive reset sounds like a pain but better than nothing! Hope this helps though one of these network guys might help out more!

 

[MN Scout]

Sometimes my hubs just stop working. I just turn them off and everything goes back to normal. I really should try to find out what is happening but the time it would take to fix it is longer then just flipping the switch every once and a while.

 

[m0unds]

i've got the same problems with my switches-- they like to just..stop working. i have to power them down and then back up, and then all is right again.

 

[Killer[MoB]]

Seems the problem is in the 5 port switch or the cable connecting the 5 port to the 16 port. If possible, move the gateway to the 16 port switch until you figure out the problem. That way you would be only losing the computers hooked to the 5 port instead of the bulk of the farm that is hooked to the 16 port.

 

[FLECOM]

Originally posted by ByteDown[H]ard
The gateway(running windows ME, yea, I know)

i dont think i even have to say it

if you need to run a non NT os use 98se, but god please not ME..

 

[LPerry]

I've had this issue many times... I now just replace the cable and the problem goes away. Even though the cable appears to test good, it doesn't seem to be able to "keep" a good connection. Not sure why, but I just swap out old for new now and forget it.

The only OS that really gave me a fit was Win2K... its default setting is to "disconnect" the user after x minutes ... what a pain in the ass. I now just disable that stupid feature... no more issues from then on... except the cable thingy of course.

 

[ByteDown[H]ard]

Well, I re-terminated both ends of the cable thats connects the 2 switches until I can get hold of 70 feet of cat5e, rebooted each machine and updated any critical updates available. As of now everything can see the gateway/internet. So we'll see how long this lasts... Have to scrounge at work for some almost empty spools of cable that usually get tossed..

 

[Celerator]

I've got an SMC Barracade, 4-port switch. Every so often, it needs to be "recycled" by removing the power for a few seconds,
then reapplying the power. Interestingly, I've had three switches and they all behave the same. The cable problem is a real
possibility with which I will need to experiment.

 

[gnewbury]

Same problem here with a Linksys wireless.