everything disappears

[markuskidd]

At some time in the night, my home network ceased to function somehow. Though all of the PCs say that they have a valid LAN connection, none of them can see each other (be pinged or show up in Network Neighborhood). The PC that I'm using as a router still has working access to our cable modem account. The switch looks the same as usual, and all of the right lights are on, but what else could there be causing this other than a hardware problem? I've tried just having different pairs of PCs on at a given time to reduce the chance there's an address conflict (using static IPs though anyway) but it still seems like there's nothing out there..

 

[Lord Evermore]

Are any of the machines behind the gateway able to ping the gateway machine? I assume not.

Is the gateway connected to a regular port on the switch, with all the other machines also connected to regular ports? Does it make any difference if they're moved to different ports (especially one that wasn't in use before if possible)?

It's probable that the switch has just failed. The gateway machine doesn't need to use the switch in order to work with the cable modem (I assume the machine has a separate NIC for the modem). The physical link may be working, but the processor in the switch that actually forwards the packets may have failed.

 

[markuskidd]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
Are any of the machines behind the gateway able to ping the gateway machine? I assume not.

Sorry, should have made that more clear. No, they can't ping it.

Is the gateway connected to a regular port on the switch, with all the other machines also connected to regular ports? Does it make any difference if they're moved to different ports (especially one that wasn't in use before if possible)?

They're all plugged into regular ports. Doesn't seem to be making any difference if I switch things around.

It's probable that the switch has just failed. The gateway machine doesn't need to use the switch in order to work with the cable modem (I assume the machine has a separate NIC for the modem). The physical link may be working, but the processor in the switch that actually forwards the packets may have failed.

Yeah, the modem is on another NIC. It sounds like there's nothing else to try to troubleshoot Time to head over to hot deals to look for a new switch.

 

[Oaf357]

I would head over to hot deals and look for a router.

 

[markuskidd]

Any specific reason that would do me better in these circumstances than another switch?

 

[Oaf357]

Your network is dependant on one computer and it seems that is a problem in most circumstances. Also, a lot of routers nowadays are as cheap as a switch.