Pre-wired Home Network--not working please help!

N

Nixxon

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
149
I just moved into a house that has pre-wired CAT5 (Maybe 6) in every room. Its all connected by two Netgear FS116 switches in the attic.

According to my landlord I should just have to plug in my modem into any ethernet port, and internet will be present at every jack.

I've plugged into several of wall jacks and none of them seem to work. Sometimes for a random reason they will work, but the connectivity is so poor that I can't even load webpages. Connecting direct to the modem I receive excellent download speeds.

I am not 100% the cabling is correct, and don't know of any way to test if they are good besides plugging in my modem, and then seeing if my computer gets connectivity.

Is there some easy way I can troubleshoot this? Am I missing something major that I need to accomplish? Like go into the switch and change settings?

Thank you to anyone who helps.
 
i wouldnt mess with his networking stuff, let him fix it

sure theres tons you *could* do but in this case you dont want to unless you want to own all that equipment

are you sure you have disabled any wireless adapter in the pc to be sure you are connected via wired?

did you connect internet service to the home?
 
your modem that would recieve service from your ISP needs to be connected to the Dmark then to the switch. and then the switch will distribute the service to the jacks in the house. I am not sure who told you to plug the modem into the wall and to get service that way.. but that wont work, and if it does as you found.. it is intermittent at best.
 
id get the isp's tech ou there to get the modem working and on line first before you do anything, after that is accomplished, then you can start from there.
 
Well since you say you get intermittent connection I assume you have a combo modem-router. So connecting to any port should then share with the others. If it were just a modem then this would be a problem and you would need a router between the modem and the prewired home network. But you also wouldn’t get anything when connected to the prewired home network.

And you said things work correct when connected right to the PC so the modem-router unit seems to be configured correctly.

If we assume the prewired home network works properly. You could test this just by connecting 2 computers and seeing if they can connect to each other or not.

Other things that could be wrong is the cable you’re not using when connecting the PC directly could be faulty. Maybe the network cables you are using to connect to the home wiring are excessively long and when the run in the wall is added to it, you are beyond spec?

I don’t think you mentioned if you are using DSL or cable but either way when you are connecting direct you aren’t moving anything causing you to use a different outlet or cable are you?

About the only thing already said that I agree with is don’t touch any of the landlords gear.
 
Entirely CPE related. OP says it works fine direct to the modem. Telling OP to contact the ISP is a waste of OPs time and OP may incur a charge for a service visit if one is requested.

The blurb about the demarc point doesn't matter -- those switches don't have a dedicated uplink port.

Odds are the modem isn't a router. A typical cablemodem is only going to give one IP address to the first device that initiates a DHCP request after the modem has been powered on. In that instance you'll need to get a router. Would need to arrange it as MikeTrike mentioned. Modem <-> Router WAN/Internet port. Router LAN port <-> any Ethernet wall jack. If you need connectivity for another hard-wired Ethernet connection in that room, you can use any of the spare LAN ports on the router.

I wouldn't put the modem/router in the attic. Not sure what your temps are but ambient temperature in the attic has got to be killer in the summer.
 
MikeTrike said:
Modem --> Router --> Netgear Switch
Click to expand...

This. I saw no mention of a router anywhere in this.

My thoughts are when the modem is plugged in, whatever computer is first is getting the lease. When another one is plugged in, it goes home.

I'd re-evaluate the equipment and chase it down to the jacks.

Is the modem also a router? If not go to next step.
Buy/add router after modem, and before network.
Profit.
 
xnoodle said:
Entirely CPE related. OP says it works fine direct to the modem. Telling OP to contact the ISP is a waste of OPs time and OP may incur a charge for a service visit if one is requested.

The blurb about the demarc point doesn't matter -- those switches don't have a dedicated uplink port.

Odds are the modem isn't a router. A typical cablemodem is only going to give one IP address to the first device that initiates a DHCP request after the modem has been powered on. In that instance you'll need to get a router. Would need to arrange it as MikeTrike mentioned. Modem <-> Router WAN/Internet port. Router LAN port <-> any Ethernet wall jack. If you need connectivity for another hard-wired Ethernet connection in that room, you can use any of the spare LAN ports on the router.

I wouldn't put the modem/router in the attic. Not sure what your temps are but ambient temperature in the attic has got to be killer in the summer.
Click to expand...

ISP works fine. Direct from the modem/router combo from my ISP I get great connectivity. Its only when I try to use the pre-wired house network when I run into issues.

The modem/router is a combo from the ISP. It has 4 ethernet jacks on the back and is DSL. (Modem-Router)->-Switch->- Computer is the way it is hooked up. Modem/Router goes to the wall, wall runs up into a port in the switch, I connect my computer to the wall which goes to another port on the switch. I looked on the switch and couldn't see a router/wan/internet port. My landlord has two of these in the attic jumpered to each other on port 16 of one to 1 of the other.

I'm stationed in England so its actually not very hot in the summers. M



sc0tty8 said:
This. I saw no mention of a router anywhere in this.

My thoughts are when the modem is plugged in, whatever computer is first is getting the lease. When another one is plugged in, it goes home.

I'd re-evaluate the equipment and chase it down to the jacks.

Is the modem also a router? If not go to next step.
Buy/add router after modem, and before network.
Profit.
Click to expand...

How do I chase down or verify jacks?
 
Nixxon said:
How do I chase down or verify jacks?
Click to expand...

TVR10100.jpg
 
Yeah probably not going to buy something expensive like that to verify my landlords setup is right. He is out of the country right now. Could I do it another way?
 
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Well you need something to verify that the pairs are correct. Can you get to the switches?
 
sc0tty8 said:
Well you need something to verify that the pairs are correct. Can you get to the switches?
Click to expand...

Yeah they are in the attic, I guess I could just go up there and have someone plug into each wall and then check the activity lights in the attic and map them out that way right?

Once I set everything up should I restart all my network equipment?

Also is there a way to get into the switch? Or is it not like a router in that sense?

EDIT: I connected my computer to an Ethernet jack in the wall, and my modem/router into another (these both are connected to cat5 that run into the attic). I had two activity lights that showed connectivity. My computer would still not connect. It said I had connected to an unknown network. I couldn't ping my router.

Thoughts?
 
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Nixxon said:
Also is there a way to get into the switch? Or is it not like a router in that sense?
Click to expand...

The FS116 is an unmanaged switch. For anything you're doing, think of it as nothing more than a splitter to give you more ethernet ports.

It sounds like something's screwy with his wiring. At a previous job, the accounting program was getting an error so they called support. Support said that it was going really slow and the error message indicated network errors. We had never experienced any problems with the network, but I checked the wiring and found out it wasn't kept in pairs. I reterminated all the ends to 568B and everything suddenly worked and went much faster. It's possible that your building is wired up incorrectly and causing problems, but close enough that it kinda-sorta sometimes works.

At this point, I think you (or the landlord) really need to get a cable tester and verify the wiring. You might be able to look at the terminations to make sure it's not obviously incorrect.
 
its no big deal to get a cable tester and some ends and a crimping tool and re-do the ends
 
Nixxon said:
Yeah they are in the attic, I guess I could just go up there and have someone plug into each wall and then check the activity lights in the attic and map them out that way right?

Once I set everything up should I restart all my network equipment?

Also is there a way to get into the switch? Or is it not like a router in that sense?

EDIT: I connected my computer to an Ethernet jack in the wall, and my modem/router into another (these both are connected to cat5 that run into the attic). I had two activity lights that showed connectivity. My computer would still not connect. It said I had connected to an unknown network. I couldn't ping my router.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

For shits, try to power cycle the switches. Is there a cable connecting the 2 switches? Try to bring them down by your router/pc and test to see if the switches are good. If they are good, then it might be the wiring. Can you manually config your IP and use the switch and hit the router?

dashpuppy said:
don't post the lin to the actual product to buy or more info tho k :)
Click to expand...

uhhhh....I don't know what brand/model it is. I got the same one in my tool bag. Google images showed me a site where they want $300 for it:eek:.
 
Found out what was wrong.

I should have distrusted the cabling more. Forgive my noobness.

Cables ends are connected w/o, o, w/b, b, w/g, g, w/br, br
Wall jacks are connected w/o, o, w/g, b, w/b, g, w/br, br

Should have known :/ Now I'm off to recrimp 25 ends. Thanks for the help guys!
 
and make sure to charge your time to the landlord on next months rent....

orange and green (pairs 2 and 3) are what are used for 10/100. the other two pairs only come out to play in gigabit networks.
Cables ends are connected w/o, o, w/b, b, w/g, g, w/br, br
Click to expand...
thats not even T568A or T568B....

if you dont have a router though, fixing your cable problems wont fix all your issues. make sure a router is between the modem and switch(es), or only one computer at a time will be able to hit the internet.
 
ghost6303 said:
and make sure to charge your time to the landlord on next months rent....
Click to expand...

Wrong. Internet is not a right, nor is it an acceptable thing to fix something non-essential your way without even giving the property owner a chance to fix it, and then expecting him to pay for your eagerness to work on it.

Sorry, but any landlord I have had would tell you to suck it if you told them you were going to dock their lay to fix something, anything, without getting authorization from them first.

That's why my first response was "let the landlord fix it". Because that's how life works. You fix your own crap they fix theirs. And unless its roof, power, plumbing, etc....in other words no matter how they presented it when they showed it to you, if its not a basic necessity or doesn't pose a health issue, then they don't owe you Jack.
 
nobody_here said:
Wrong. Internet is not a right, nor is it an acceptable thing to fix something non-essential your way without even giving the property owner a chance to fix it, and then expecting him to pay for your eagerness to work on it.

Sorry, but any landlord I have had would tell you to suck it if you told them you were going to dock their lay to fix something, anything, without getting authorization from them first.

That's why my first response was "let the landlord fix it". Because that's how life works. You fix your own crap they fix theirs. And unless its roof, power, plumbing, etc....in other words no matter how they presented it when they showed it to you, if its not a basic necessity or doesn't pose a health issue, then they don't owe you Jack.
Click to expand...

Well, I've been trying to contact my landlord for over a month now with no success for other issues, not to include this one.

The house was presented as "Pre-Wired ethernet throughout the house, just plug in your modem/router".

So basically.... I'm paying for a service that does not meet what was aggreed upon.
Would you pay for a filet steak dinner, but was instead brought out a chuck steak? Probably not.

He does owe me, not just for this, but for the other issues he's failing to correct. I just wish I could do something about it.
 
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