Is there a "trick" to plugging in a Switch or did I kill it?

[petrw1]

I have a 5-port Dynex 10/100 Fast Ethernet Switch (I have 4 Computers). The 5th port is for the Service Provider in.

I just moved my "farm" to another room and I think they said it didn't matter which was "in" and which 4 were "out" but just in case I am 99.9999% sure I plugged them in the same after the move.

However now NONE of the Computers get internet access via the switch but all 4 work if I plug them in 1 by 1 so I can't fault the service provider.

The power light is on .... Neither the "Link" or "Act" diodes light up and all 5 green diodes (1 for each port blink OFF / Green every second or so,

Is there some "reset" required?
Is there some magic sequence/process to connect everything?
Is it possible it is just bad timing and it died when I moved it.?

Thx

[paulunderwood]

Not sure about this. It has "mac address auto learning". Not sure what that is. Usually consumer switches are just plug and go. Try plugging everything in but put the power in last. (Maybe there is a reset button.)

Also try ping.

Do you have a static IP system or are you using a DHCP server?

[paulunderwood]

I am assuming you are using Windows DHCP system here. Did you boot the machines and afterwards plug them into the network? My guess: if you did this they all have the same default IP address -- hence there are conflicts. To resolve this just reboot all your machines after everything is plugged in.

[S485122]

This has nothing to do with an address conflict : "Neither the "Link" or "Act" diodes light up". It must be something with the switch itself. I tried to look up de manuals for the Dynex 5 port switches (DX-ESW the other switch is a GigaBit switch) There is no mention of "all 5 green diodes (1 for each port) blink OFF / Green every second or so,"

Although the manual says "The rear panel of the DX-ESW8 consists of eight 10/100 Mbps RJ- 45 ports. All
ports can be the uplink port, so you can disregard the Uplink mark under Port 8." you can try to see if on the 5 port switch there is one port in the rear marked as "Uplink".

Debugging : power on the switch, only the led indicating power should go on. If all the port leds start blinking you know the switch has a problem. If the leds stay off, use a cable you have tested elsewhere and try to connect one computer to all ports one by one, the port led should go up. If all ports show no problems try connecting the uplink, then you can test connectivity. If it is still OK connect your other computers one by one.

It might be a faulty cable but I am afraid the symptoms point to a faulty switch.

Jacob

[EdH]

Just in case you haven't, try powering off and on (after ~5 seconds) the router that assigns the addresses. I occasionally have to do this to clear troubles.

[Madpoo]

Originally Posted by petrw1

I have a 5-port Dynex 10/100 Fast Ethernet Switch (I have 4 Computers). The 5th port is for the Service Provider in.

I just moved my "farm" to another room and I think they said it didn't matter which was "in" and which 4 were "out" but just in case I am 99.9999% sure I plugged them in the same after the move.

However now NONE of the Computers get internet access via the switch but all 4 work if I plug them in 1 by 1 so I can't fault the service provider.

The power light is on .... Neither the "Link" or "Act" diodes light up and all 5 green diodes (1 for each port blink OFF / Green every second or so,

Is there some "reset" required?
Is there some magic sequence/process to connect everything?
Is it possible it is just bad timing and it died when I moved it.?

Thx

An el-cheapo desktop switch like that won't have any fancy features.. it merely switches and that's it. One some switches they may label one of the ports as a WAN and the rest as LAN, where the WAN port would hook up to your router or whatever. In theory a port can be setup to behave exactly like that but in practice those cheap 5-port switches don't really care, in my experience.

In a managed switch, the WAN / LAN ports can be configured with different options for security, performance, etc. Things like making sure you're not creating loops by using spanning tree protocol (STP).

I guess if you're having any doubts, make sure that 5th port (or 1st, whatever) goes to the router or another switch...however it was before. I doubt it matters but I've never used a Dynex before. I've seen them on the shelves at Best Buy or whatever so I know they're consumer grade and just a basic model so I'm probably right.

The uplevel router that it plugs into is probably related to the inability to reach the internet. Was the router unplugged or moved as well? Try turning it off and then on again? LOL

I guess there's a remote chance the switch just up and died on you. I don't know if you were able to ping between computers connected to that switch, or if your router was providing DHCP addresses and if they can't connect to the router, they're not getting IP's either.

If that's the case, just statically assign IP's to a couple computers and see if they can reach each other through that switch, just to confirm.

Like I said, that Dynex is probably one of those bottom shelf consumer things so I wouldn't be surprised if it had been running okay but all it took was one more power cycle before it released the magic smoke. Not to knock the Dynex brand, because it is what it is (cheap and mostly okay), but if you do end up getting a new one, I've had good luck with those 5-port Netgear switches for small setups (home offices with a handful of systems). I think my most recent home switch purchase was a TPLink with 8 ports (4 of them are PoE). It's been pretty good too. This model I think:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833704173

Anyway, troubleshooting a network setup can range from super easy (loose plug or bad cable) to extremely difficult, so best of luck... just start with the simple things like checking those cables/plugs, power cycling everything, doing a basic "one machine to another" ping, and work from there.

[petrw1]

Thanks everyone.
What I know so far....
- At least 1 PC was rebooted with no luck
- NONE of the 4 computers can access the internet so think that rules out 1 bad port)
- I tried I with IN the first port and also IN the last port... no difference
- Haven't tried rebooting the router (provider owned) .... but I know the line is good because it works plugged directly into any PC

From the online manual

Dynex DX-ESW5 and DX-ESW8 Ethernet Switches Troubleshooting
A port's Link/Act LED is not on when a device is connected to the port.

• Make sure that the network cable jacks are firmly plugged into the
switch and the device.
• Make sure that the connected device is on and that its adapter is
installed correctly and is working.
• Make sure that the cable is less than 328 feet (100 meters) long.
• Try another cable that you know is good.

My thoughts to each point in order:
. I think if this was the issue one or two but not all 4 would be failing
. Device did NOT change at all ... only moved
. Possibly 100 feet but not 100 meters
. Works directly plugged in so I think it works

Bottom line ... its 11 years old ... not sure something this old is worth fighting with.)

[EdH]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried moving it back to where it originally worked? And, have you tried static addressing instead of DHCP?

I think Madpoo may have mentioned this, but I'll hit it anyway. If you set up a different static address on each machine, you should be able to connect between any two directly without the switch. Then if you add the switch between two machines, you should still have connectivity, even if the switch isn't communicating with the router. The router hands out the dynamic addresses, but if you have static addresses, it doesn't need to.

[error]

Could be a problem with the power supply (bad capacitor).
I had similar issue and found solution from this link:
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...-switch.46452/

I replaced one 1 mF capacitor in my device and everything was fine again.
The most tricky thing is to open up the AC adapter.

[henryzz]

We also have problems every so often with our switch. We have two pcs and a router connected. The way I solved it yesterday was to unplug one pc and then take the power out on the switch temporarily. Once rebooted the pc still plugged in worked. I was then able to plug the remaining pc back in.
I would recommend booting all pcs and plugging them in one by one after rebooting the switch. Everything was fine until I bought a new pc. There are no settings on the router or pcs that aren't standard for windows 10. The switch doesn't have settings.

[petrw1]

Originally Posted by EdH

Just out of curiosity, have you tried moving it back to where it originally worked? And, have you tried static addressing instead of DHCP?

I think Madpoo may have mentioned this, but I'll hit it anyway. If you set up a different static address on each machine, you should be able to connect between any two directly without the switch. Then if you add the switch between two machines, you should still have connectivity, even if the switch isn't communicating with the router. The router hands out the dynamic addresses, but if you have static addresses, it doesn't need to.

Can't move it back yet....the switch and all 4 PC's had to be moved to another room to accommodate renovations.

You mention static addresses between 2 machines.... I have 4. Will static IPs still help?

Thx.

I don't think it is the switch power supply because the Power light comes on....just NOT the Link/Act lights.

I could try rebooting all but 1 already has been with no luck.

Also the process I followed after I moved them was:

1. Plug in switch
2. Attach Provider line to switch,
3. 1-by-1 move, connect to the switch, and power on each of the 4 PCs.