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[Gaffers]

I have been trying to sort out a rather simple problem which has me purplexed.

At work there are 5 computers connected in a network as follows:

Router (d-link ADSL2+) : 1 x advent running Windows 7

Switch (Netgear 8 port) : 1 x avent running Windows 7
                                     3 x Dell running Vista

The switch and router are connected from Port 1 to 1 and I have tried a normal cable and a crossover.

The computer connected directly to the router connects to the internet no problem.  The others connected through the switch cannot access the internet although the symbol shows it has internet access.

ipconfig on these 4 machines gives: IP address 192.168.1.x gateway 192.168.1.1

If I ping www.yahoo.com I get between 50% and 75% sucess rate.  But still cannot connect.

There is obviously something I am missing, anyone know what it is 

[TheBoy]

Check that the speeds of the router's switch and of the network switch match (or can negotiate OK).

Do the switch connected PCs get their dns from the router?

[TheBoy]

Additionally, check for packet loss between the PCs on the switch, and the one on the router - as its LAN, use large ping packets

[Gaffers]

I have noticed that on the switch port 1 (which connects to the router) is going mental.

[Gaffers]

Pinging between the computers on the switch works 100% of the time.

Pinging normal packets to the gatway is 75% ok

Pinging the gateway with large (65500) packets fails 100% of the time.

Pinging between the computers on the switch and the one directly on the router fails 100% of the time.

Coincidentally the internet has started to work on the computers on the switch but it slows down to a snails pace after 10 mins or so and then fails.

[TheBoy]

The cable from the router to the switch - are you able to plug a PC into that, to prove the fault off the switch an onto cable and/or router port?

[Gaffers]

Plugged a pc into the cable that goes between the router and the switch and I could ping all but one of the machines.

Problem is I cannot get into the router to see what settings are being used.  The idiot person who set it up disappeared without passing on the username and password which he changed for some unknown reason 

[CaptainZok]

Plugged a pc into the cable that goes between the router and the switch and I could ping all but one of the machines.

Problem is I cannot get into the router to see what settings are being used.  The idiot person who set it up disappeared without passing on the username and password which he changed for some unknown reason 

Do a factory reset?

[Gaffers]

Plugged a pc into the cable that goes between the router and the switch and I could ping all but one of the machines.

Problem is I cannot get into the router to see what settings are being used.  The idiot person who set it up disappeared without passing on the username and password which he changed for some unknown reason 

Do a factory reset?

Sorry, forgot to mention he didnt leave the password or the ADSL account details so I cant even phone up BT and get them.  The way the bill is paid for I will have to wait several days for them.

Beware guys this winker went in to IT support after leaving us!

[CaptainZok]

Plugged a pc into the cable that goes between the router and the switch and I could ping all but one of the machines.

Problem is I cannot get into the router to see what settings are being used.  The idiot person who set it up disappeared without passing on the username and password which he changed for some unknown reason 

Do a factory reset?

Sorry, forgot to mention he didnt leave the password or the ADSL account details so I cant even phone up BT and get them.  The way the bill is paid for I will have to wait several days for them.

Beware guys this winker went in to IT support after leaving us!

I don't suppose he's backed up the router config onto one of the pcs has he.

[Gaffers]

Plugged a pc into the cable that goes between the router and the switch and I could ping all but one of the machines.

Problem is I cannot get into the router to see what settings are being used.  The idiot person who set it up disappeared without passing on the username and password which he changed for some unknown reason 

Do a factory reset?

Sorry, forgot to mention he didnt leave the password or the ADSL account details so I cant even phone up BT and get them.  The way the bill is paid for I will have to wait several days for them.

Beware guys this winker went in to IT support after leaving us!

I don't suppose he's backed up the router config onto one of the pcs has he.

I checked that already 

[CaptainZok]

Plugged a pc into the cable that goes between the router and the switch and I could ping all but one of the machines.

Problem is I cannot get into the router to see what settings are being used.  The idiot person who set it up disappeared without passing on the username and password which he changed for some unknown reason 

Do a factory reset?

Sorry, forgot to mention he didnt leave the password or the ADSL account details so I cant even phone up BT and get them.  The way the bill is paid for I will have to wait several days for them.

Beware guys this winker went in to IT support after leaving us!

I don't suppose he's backed up the router config onto one of the pcs has he.

I checked that already 

Pity, mine saves an unencrypted settings file which contains both the admin account details and the dsl login details.

[Kevin Wood]

I have noticed that on the switch port 1 (which connects to the router) is going mental.

This concerns me. I assume they are doing this even when there's no load on the network from the PCs?

Does it start as soon as you switch on the router and hub or is there a delay, or does there need to be some traffic first before it starts?

Ditto if you fire both of them up with the cable disconnected then plug them in?

If that's the case I suspect router and switch are jabbering away to each other for some reason and hogging the physical link, hence the unreliable higher layer connectivity.

I have seen this type of activity once between a PC and a router, but it went away again and I didn't get to the bottom of it.

A really good debugging tool would be a hub (not a switch!) that you can connect between the two, and then plug a PC running Wireshark into the hub to sniff the activity on the link.

I can't think of anything in the router settings that would give you a headache connecting a switch, assuming a computer directly connected to the router has connectivity. A switch works at the MAC layer (layer 2) whereas anything configurable on the router will be layer 3 and above. It should be transparent. That said, it's worth finding out the router password, etc. You never know when you might get a problem that requires it.

Have the two ever worked together correctly?

Just wondering if one or both have an implementation problem that renders them incompatible?

Kevin

[CaptainZok]

Maybe worth getting the wheels in motion to get the login details, then reset the router and start again so you know how it is set up.

[TheBoy]

If its a CentralPlus adsl product (ie, BT consumer broadband), there is no ADSL Userid or PW.

If its a BT Business or non BT ADSL product, then there will be.