Need help with Gigafast 8-port switch

[Wedge1]

Posted this at HardOCP so if you see it there, yes I am the same guy.

I just bought the Gigafast 8-port EZ800-S Switch.

I'm attempting to hook it up, but maybe I'm misunderstanding what it does. Here's my network:

The Gigafast switch receives my internet connection (port 1).

4 computers.

2 of them are connected to a router. The WAN of the router is connected to the Gigafast Switch. Both of these PCs are connected to the internet. No problem.

2 other PCs. I have them directly connected to the Gigafast Switch but they are not connecting to the internet. One of these PCs is XP, the other 98SE. Aren't these 2 PCs supposed to be able to connect directly with the switch for internet access?

Sorry if it seems a stupid question, but I don't know the complexities of networking. I just purchased this thing thinking it would work in the way I have described. I thought the clients could be direct connections to the PCs, or any routers (and like I said, the router works fine).

Help is appreciated. My router doesn't have enough ports to connect the other 2 PCs to the internet; otherwise, I would use it for that purpose.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Well, it seems clear to me that you've connected this incorrectly! You need to connect the broadband modem directly to the WAN port of the router. Connect one LAN port of the router to the 8-port switch, and then connect all of the computers to the remaining LAN ports on the router as well as the remaining ports on the switch. All of the computers should now have Internet access, as well as local file/print sharing capability if so configured.

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: gunrunnerjohn
Well, it seems clear to me that you've connected this incorrectly! You need to connect the broadband modem directly to the WAN port of the router. Connect one LAN port of the router to the 8-port switch, and then connect all of the computers to the remaining LAN ports on the router as well as the remaining ports on the switch. All of the computers should now have Internet access, as well as local file/print sharing capability if so configured.

Tried this, too, but only the computers connected to the remaining router ports connected to the intenet. The other 2 computers were connect to the Gigafast switch, but would never make an internet connection.

Gonna beak down the hardware just in case it helps to "ring a bell" with anybody that has experience with this particular hardware:

Router = 3 port, wireless D-Link DI-713P
Switcher = 8-port, Gigafast EZ800-S

Does it matter which port of the router the switcher must connect?

 

[Wedge1]

Hmm.....I have a source at HardOCP telling me I shouldn't connect any of the PCs to the remaining router ports. He says use only the switcher ports for connecting PCs to the internet.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Your expert is wrong, at least IMO. There is nothing special about the switch port on your router that precludes using them. Obviously, if all your PC's can connect to the 8 port switch, that's marginally more desirable, since there's one less switch in the path for a lower propagation delay. OTOH, unless you're doing some hair-splitting network benchmarks, you'll never notice the difference. This is a non-issue.

I use several of the Gigafast 5-port switches, which look to be identical in design to the 8-port model, and they work just fine. One is connected to a LAN port on my D-Link DI-614+ router, and I can assure you the machines connected to it find the Internet with no problems.

Have you moved one of the non-working machines to the router ports to see if it connects there? Is there a possibility that the switch is just defective?

 

[ScottMac]

Internet--->(cable modem) --->Router --->****---> Gig Switch---> All your PCs

**** = straight through cable going from an uplink port to a "regular port," or a crossover cable from regular port-to-regular port (or uplink-to-uplink).

The router gets the (probably) only address you get from your provider, ofers some protection via NAT ("Firewall") and maybe some stateful inspection. The LAN (siwtch) side of the router provides DHCP addresses and path information to the PCs.

By putting all the PCs on the GiG switch, as you add Gig NICs in the PCs, they can all connect to each other (hopefully) faster. The Speed to the Internet is FIXED ... it wouldn't matter if you had a ten gig switch, the speed to and through the Internet would be the same, by virtue of the Router, which is connecting at a couple Megabits at best.

If this setup isn't working, it's probably because the provider caught the MAC address of the first device up on the switch (and it wasn't the router) and that's the one it wants to send to. Shut down the system (at least the cable modem and the router) for a while and bring up the cable modem first, once you're sure it's up and ready, light up the router. The router should get an address from the provider and everything else should be working.

Functionally, plugging onto the router switchport won't be any different than the Gig switch port, but you'll be speed limited (10/100), even with a Gig NIC because that's the highest speed that switch can handle..

Good Luck

Scott

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

ScottMac, the Gigafast 8-port EZ800-S is a 10/100 switch, not a gigabit switch. Gigafast is the brand...

 

[ScottMac]

OK, Ignore the Gig references, and follow the diagram anyway. Everything else still applies.

Good Luck

Scott

 

[deran]

Just making sure to use crossover cable or use uplink to connect your switch to the router.

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: deran
Just making sure to use crossover cable or use uplink to connect your switch to the router.

I have a crossover cable. That's what I need to use from an uplink port on the router to connect to the switch, correct?

 

[deran]

If you are using crossover cable then don't using uplink. Just connect to 1 of the port from switch. The uplink is used when you don't have crossover cable.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by: Wedge1

Originally posted by: deran Just making sure to use crossover cable or use uplink to connect your switch to the router.

I have a crossover cable. That's what I need to use from an uplink port on the router to connect to the switch, correct?

Actually, the Gigafast switch is autosensing, so you can use standard patch cables all around, it'll figure it out for you.

 

[deran]

The crossover cable or uplink is require for the following:

Hub to Hub
Switch to Switch
Hub to Switch
Switch to Hub

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by: deran
The crossover cable or uplink is require for the following: Hub to Hub Switch to Switch Hub to Switch Switch to Hub

Try reading my post a little more carefully.

The switch in question auto senses the connection, and will work with either a straight or crossover cable from any other connection. We're talking about a specific configuration here, not giving generic advice. :frown:

 

[Goosemaster]

DAMN did this guy get bad advice.

<---pulls up his sleeves and gets ready to head over to hardocp and kick some ass.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
DAMN did this guy get bad advice. <---pulls up his sleeves and gets ready to head over to hardocp and kick some ass.

I've never been over at hardocp, but if connecting your switch to the WAN side of the router is a sample of the expertise over there, I think I'll stay FAR away!

 

[Wedge1]

Here's where I am....

modem ---> router ----> 8-port switch ---> 2 PCs working (for now)

The router is a Linksys with 4 ports, which defeats the entire purpose for my buying the 8-port switcher (well almost). I have 4 PCs that need internet connection and this router alone could provide that function. But I will be adding one more PC soon, so the 8-port switch is still going to be useful.

The other 2 computers are in a room where people are sleeping so I can't report results until tomorrow.

For the 2 PCs that are working, it seemed that XP needed some time to resolve a duplicate IP issue, according to a yield-icon message that appeared in the system tray. So, I let XP do its thing and now my 2 PCs are connected to the net via the 8-port switch. No crossover cable was needed.

As for the D-Link router, I tried this arrangement for it first, but it just wouldn't "take". The 2 PCs working now just couldn't seem to access the net for some reason. Maybe more tinkering with it would get me somewhere. I like the D-Link better than the Linksys. The Linksys was stashed in the closet for a long time because I had issues with it not holding a steady connection with the net (this is a while back, before introducing the 8-port switch into the mix). A little time will tell if the Linksys is reliable or not.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

The connection you have illustrated is basically what I have for my D-Link DI-614+ router.

modem -> router ------>gigabit switch ---> gigabit machines
|
+--------> 8 port 10/100 switch ---> 100mbit machines, print servers, TiVo, X-Box


It's always worked first time, every time. I've had a couple of SMC routers in here, a GigaFast one, and a couple of D-Links, all work the same when it comes to connecting them to the network.

 

[Wedge1]

Ok, things are working as they should. I have to use the Linksys router because I cannot get the system running 98SE to recognize the network connection when using the D-Link router.

 

[Wedge1]

Ok, now i'm having the same old Linksys router problem that kept me from using this thing months ago.

My friends tell me that I keep logging in and out of msn messenger. This has always happened with this router. I'm not even aware of it unless they tell me.

Can anybody enlighten me here? Have I got a defective router or is there some special setting that needs to be explored????



EDIT/ OR..a better solution: I could ditch this Linksys router altogether if somebody can explain how I can configure a system running Windows 98SE with my D-Link router. This particular PC does not want to recognize the network at all when I use the D-Link, but all the other machines (all running XP) recognize it with no problem.

I have tried the Network Setup Wizard numerous times but without even a hint of luck. I have tried plugging directly into an open D-Link router port (circumventing the 8-port switch), but still no go.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

I've never had any special issues with W98 and D-Link routers, and I have a D-Link router. I have a dual (actually triple) boot machine in the corner with Win98, and it connects without issue. You need to setup the TCP/IP on the W98 for automatic IP and DNS address resolution and reboot. When you do an IPCONFIG /ALL at a command prompt (or use winipcfg) you should see the IP and DNS addresses pointing to the router's address. If that's true, you should be able to connect to the Internet.

If you can't get W98 browsing to LAN systems, this is not uncommon. I am lazy, so I just install NETBEUI protocol all around to solve the workgroup browsing issues. Others will start you down a long line of tinkering with the computer browser settings, but NETBEUI is the easy fix.