Grrrr frustrating Network issue. Bad card/switch/cable?????

[mikable]

Ok, having a Real frustrating time troubleshooting my network.

Computer 1
2 linksys 10/100 pci cards
SB live
Starband connection (shared)
winXP sp1

Computer 2
1 linksys 10/100 pci
Isdn connection (NOT shared)
WinXP sp1

computer 3
1 linksys 10/100 pci
Win98

And a Linksys 10/100 5 port switch


Computer 1 shows messages every now and then labeled, "local Area Connection 2," with the message, "Cable unplugged." This happens then it goes way to come back several minutes to hours later. Has been going on for several months and I never thought anyhting about it. Thought it might have been a software configuration issue I was to lazy to troubleshoot.

All of a sudden I can't access the computer or the shared Internet connection from either of the other computers. So I go and break out the WinXP disk and upgrade Computer 1 from win98 thinking it'll solve all problems. HA, who put the rose colored glasses on my face....

I'm still getting the same "cable unplugged" but now in WinXP style :disgust:

This computer is closest to the Starband dish, the installer would have charged me extra$$$ to run the cable to MY computer. Can't use a Router between the Dish and the Computer. Starband Modem 360 hooked to one nic, the other nic to the switch. Checked for IRQ and other types of resource conficts, everything is ok there. Re, re, re, re installed all drivers and software involved shook cables, unplugged switch, and computers rebooted, reconfigured, re-pulled my hair out. <sigh>


So, could my NIC or Switch, Or the Cable itself be bad? What should I replace first card, cable or Switch. Or should I just chuck the whole Mess into the street and run it over with a semi?





:disgust:

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

why can't the dish be hooked up to a router?
First, how long are the nic cables? try diffrent ports on the witch, try different cables. plug power to switch into a different outlet.

 

[mikable]

why can't the dish be hooked up to a router?

Not that Starband lets us know... I believe it has something to do with DCHP translation and protocol support. Starband uses a propritairy protocol to deal with the lag issues, straight tCP/IP doesn't cut it. If I tried to connect without the "satillite accelrator" I'd get a throughput around ohhh maybe 5Kb/sec...

First, how long are the nic cables? try diffrent ports on the witch, try different cables. plug power to switch into a different outlet.

25' from computers to switch. Yea tried different switch ports plugs, outlets, and such, don't have any other cables or switches. I do have a netgear RT314 but figure it would only add to my woes to try it out at the moment.

 

[dszd0g]

First of all to confirm the impression I am getting, this issue is only occuring with one computer or all of them?

If it is only happening with one computer have you tried swapping the network cable with another?
Have you tried swapping which port it is connected to on the switch with another?

I noticed it is the computer connected to Starband that is having the issues? Did they have you install special software? (I bet they did, to hide/deal with the latency) If you uninstall the software (can you?) do you still have the issue with the local network?

If this issue is happening with all the computers, it is most likely the switch.

Satellite Internet stinks. How do you like your 800ms to 2s+ ping times? That's the problem with using satellites in geosynchronous orbit (23,000 miles away) and the speed of light what it is. With no overhead the theoretical best one can get if it was a vacuum is around 500ms, around 5 times worse than a modem. In practice it is around 800ms best case, 8 times worse than a decent modem connection. The bandwidth is higher, but the latency just kills it IMO.

 

[mikable]

the "starband" computer is not comunicating properly to the other 2 computers. Yea I have special software on the Starband machinne. However it's worked fine for the last 14 months other then the "cable unplugged" message popping up on the starband machine. No issues browsing, downloading e-mailing, or newsgrouping. another interesting item when I open up the lan connection status for the problem connection, the starband computer has not sent or received any packets but the hardware apears to be operating properly. On my computer the corosponding connecting show many packets sent but none received with the same for the third computer.


I can still use the starband computer to access the 'net through the dish, the other computers can't even see the starband computer now.



Yea the latency bites but here in the boonies I'll never see DSL or cable. heh our local co-op uses a satillite based cable system with 16 channels from 2 BUD's (Big Ugly Dishes) on the edge of our subdivision, and I'm over 10 miles from the TelCo's CO heck my ISDN's got several repeaters on it. Starband's great for downloading and browsing large websites, but my ISDN connection rules for gaming, VPN, IRC and other latency weak uses.

 

[dszd0g]

Originally posted by: mikable

Yea the latency bites but here in the boonies I'll never see DSL or cable. heh our local co-op uses a satillite based cable system with 16 channels from 2 BUD's (Big Ugly Dishes) on the edge of our subdivision, and I'm over 10 miles from the TelCo's CO heck my ISDN's got several repeaters on it. Starband's great for downloading and browsing large websites, but my ISDN connection rules for gaming, VPN, IRC and other latency weak uses.

O.K., I guess it makes sense if you only use it for Web browsing and you can afford ISDN in addition for everything else.

Can Computer 2 and Computer 3 communicate without any issues?

Have you tried any of the things I mentioned in my previous post?