Upon reading your original email I see that you have successfully connected the distant (switch1 to the cable modem using your twisted pair cat5) - correct me if I am wrong (So it works as long as switch 2 isn't in the chain). I am assuming there are PC's/devices connected to switch 2 (besides the server).
If there isn't any other device connected directly to switch 2 you could try and hook the server right into the home made cat5 cable (Does that work? (I know you hooked it up directly to the cable modem). If you plan on having other devices on switch 2 it becomes problematic (And maybe people here can suggest other things). It sounds like that either the length of the cable in the wall is an issue and/or there is interference. Just the added switch and cable exceed the threshold for a good signal. I would see if you can borrow another switch (from another manufacturer) and try to replace one of your existing ones. Its possible that a different brand *might* be able to fix the problem. Secondly you might want to try replacing one of your switches with a hub. Hubs regenerate the originating signal and broadcast it on all the ports. A hub on one side might improve the signal enough to work in your situation. The more expensive proposition if all else fails is to place repeaters between the switches (or buy ethernet repeater hubs). This could be a costly proposition compared to what you have spent already and I would exhaust all other alternatives first. I would bet you a beer that if you replace the switches with hubs it MIGHT just work for you. Mike On Fri, 2004-03-19 at 17:39, Jon Copeland wrote: > Hi Michael, > > Well this is making strides. Firstly, thanks for replying I appreciate > it, Secondly, I tried what you suggested, connecting the two switches to > each other with a very short (5m) CAT5 cable and the PC's could see each > other and ping each other without packet loss. AKA no problem. > > Let me further explain the network setup. My house here in Cranston SE > was built without networking in every room, there is also no tube from > the top floor to the basement so I couldn't run a cable. The basement is > where the firewall/server and the cable modem sits. The only other > solution was to use the existing phone line in the one room upstairs, > which is rated at CAT5, I simply re-wired it to 568B standards* to > cascade (daisy-chain) two switches because there are two PC's upstairs > but only one wire (the old telephone wire) So the switch was needed for > this activity. Since each port on both switches supports auto-mdi/x > there was no reason to make the cable a crossover cable. > > So the answer to your question is, the length of the cable between the > two switches is about 35ft. The SMC-EZ6505TX-CA switch was purchased > from london drugs and the Eusso was purchased from techtronics, both > switches operate perfectly when used standalone, IE no cascading. > > -j- > > *568B = from left to right - orange-white / orange / green-white / blue > / blue-white / green / brown-white / brown > > Michael Petch wrote: > > Hooking up 2 switches together generally is not a problem. > > > > But I have to ask. What is the length of cable between switch 1 and 2? > > I'm thinking that if one of the switches is not boosting the signal that > > the intermittent problems might be related to the length of one of the > > cables. Would be curious to know what types of lengths we are talking > > about. And whether it is possible to connect the 2 switches up (As a > > test) sitting next to one another with a very short cat5 cable. > > > > Mike > > > > On Fri, 2004-03-19 at 15:36, Jon Copeland wrote: > > > >>I'm having some difficulty finding out what could be the problem in the > >>following scenario. > >> > >>http://members.shaw.ca/jonno/Images/misc/lan_diagram.jpg > >> > >>Switch1 is attached to Switch2 via a straight CAT5 cable, the Switches > >>each have Auto mdi/mdix capability and are both different brands (SMC 5 > >>Port and Eusso 5 port). Any PC attached to Switch1 that tries to ping > >>the server will receive intermittent replies. > >> > >>http://members.shaw.ca/jonno/Images/misc/the_ping_results.JPG > >> > >> From the server you can ping anything on the internet. It has 2 NICs > >>in it, one connected to the cable modem and the other connected to > >>Switch2 (eth0 and eth1 respectively) (NOTE: The server is *NOT* where > >>the problem lies, my suspicions lie with the communication between the > >>two switches.) <-- The reason for these suspicions is because when I > >>plug the CAT5 cable that connects these two switches directly into the > >>cable modem I can get an IP address from my ISP and browse the internet > >>normally. This is how I'm able to send this message. (The cabling is > >>fine, all the wiring has been crimped according to the 568B wiring > >>standard. And since I can see the internet when Switch1 is directly > >>attached to the cable modem it can't be a wiring problem between Switch1 > >>and the Cable Modem or Server) > >> > >>Since both Switches support auto-crossover (mdi/x) on each port they > >>should be able to be daisy-chained together using a normal cable (I've > >>also tried a crossover cable). So in essence any PC's connected to > >>Switch1 *should* be able to talk to any PC's connected to Switch2. And > >>this is not what is happening, well, the ping replies shown above tell > >>us that communication between Switch1 and the server is happening > >>intermittently for some obscure reason. This is where the problem is. > >> > >>I have swopped the two Switches around and I get the same problem. My > >>conclusions lead me to believe that the problem arises when the two > >>switches are connected with each other, IE, any PC on Switch1 cannot > >>*fully* talk with any PC on Switch2. > >> > >>Previous to this the network was working fine as all the PC'S including > >>the server were attached to one Switch so there was no 'daisy-chaining' > >>involved. > >> > >>Is there something that I'm missing out or something that I'm not doing? > >> > >>-j- > >> > >> > >>_______________________________________________ > >>clug-talk mailing list > >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca -- Mike Petch CApp::Sysware Consulting Ltd. Suite 1002,1140-15th Ave SW. Calgary, Alberta, Canada. T2R 1K6. (403)804-5700. _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca
