Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler This Linksys switch has outsmarted me….

I have a wired Lan throughout the house. I’ve been using a Linksys four port router for the past few years, but needed to heat up more jacks, so I bought this eight port switch the other day and can’t figure out how to configure it. The instructions it came with are pathetic and I don’t know where I put my router instructions. I’m sure some of you know just exactly what I need to do….I hope.

I have a makeshift hub for all my communication wiring in my office (cable, phone and Lan). For the Lan, I have 12 port patch panel that I use short patch cables to connect the jacks to the router. I am limited to space, so I was figuring that I could get away with the four port router and eight port switch and activate eleven of the house jacks. I thought I could use the four router ports and seven of the switch ports. I’m not so sure I can do this now…. Dangit.

I have my DSL router connected to the Linksys router and the Linksys router patched to the 12 port patch panel. That works fine. When I add the switch to the chain, I loose internet connection. I’ve tried numerous different port to port configurations and couldn’t get the switch to work. I even tried making a crossed-over patch cable and tried the connections again...still no luck.

Can one of you IT network guys just tell me how I’m supposed to rout my cables and if what I thought would work, will actually work?

Your configuration should work fine. The problem might be the "device" that serves up IP addresses, the DHCP server. I'm assuming your router already does this since it's been working already. Now when you add a switch, it may have that set up as default when you use an uplink port to the router. Then both the router and switch are trying to control IP addresses and then you have problems.

Check to make sure that DHCP is not enabled on your switch. It may be called bridge mode as well (as it is in the Apple Airport Extreme). You want the switch to be set up as "dumb" as possible to start with.

Where do I find the router and switch control panel to check these settings??

I think I got it working. Well, it is working, but I don’t know if I did it right or not because it worked for years in a different configuration.

I did have the DSL modem connected to the router via the uplink port. Out of curiosity, I connected the modem to the router via the WAN port. I then connected the switch to the route by plugging a straight cable into the router’s uplink port and port # 1 on the switch. I then plugged the switch into the LAN patch panel with the next available port on the switch. So far it appears to be working.

Are you sure Randy is not up in Alaska in vacation for some reason?

Your description now sounds right. Sounds like it's working, no need to change anything.

Generally switches don't have DHCP servers. You did set it up correctly this time. Last time was incorrect.

Thanks guys....

No, I haven't seen Randy. He isn't allowed anywhere near my electronics as long as he has that dam gremlin following him around....

I really have to see this northern abode of yours!

I stand corrected. You said you connected a switch, not another router.

I was wondering if we read the same thing.