Network using switch

[hvoltage]

Hi everyone!
I'm kind of new to this forum...well, actually this is my first post!


The problem is simple (as a matter of fact might be too simple) but spending a couple of hours googling it didn't seem to help. My last resort was this forum (well obviously!) since I've had found some useful pieces of information on forum before and I decided to finally join!!

well, we have a few PCs (around 12) in the office and I'm using a switch and a wireless router/modem to connect the PCs and also wireless devices such as laptops to the network to share files and also access the internet. and actually everything is already done.

The problem is that the internet access on some (randomly) or all of the computers comes and goes, I mean everything is looking fine but suddenly the internet access gets disconnected, local area connection is OK though, meaning that computers can see each other but no internet.
I made sure that the internet connection was stable from the ISP (the internet LED on the router is also on all the time)

This is REALLY!! annoying specially in the middle of a busy day (just imagine!) and any help is greatly appreciated (as usual )

Thanks.

 

[Celegorm]

What router are you running? 12 computers/devices can be a lot for a cheap or old router.

 

[hvoltage]

The switch is a 32-port Cisco and the router a 4-port Linksys, I can provide the exact model if necessary but in my opinion, the problem should be related to the network settings rather than the hardware inside,

thanks for the reply.

 

[Celegorm]

Randomly getting disconnected isn't usually a settings issue. If you are thinking that, you could try running the router and the switch (if it's configurable) to defaults and see what happens.

 

[hvoltage]

STATIC IP... That's the key!!!

Finally, after trying a lot of different stuff, I decided to shut everything down at lunch time and start from the beginning. Started the router and connected my PC directly to the first Ethernet port on the router, then I configured my PC to use a static ip address and did the same for every PC one system at a time using the router's open ports and then the switch. Then finally configured the router's DHCP server to start right after the addresses already used for devices that would need to connect to the network temporarily (like laptops). Everything is working fine now for 6+ hours.

I hope this helps someone dealing with such problem.

thanks for all the replies.

 

[Dngrsone]

If your router is running a firewall, then you might have to shut off any firewall software running on the client computers. Also, it may be helpful to set the DNS server address to the IP of the router-- that may speed up your internet access times.

As Celegorm said, having a dozen devices trying to access the internet over a little Linksys router designed for casual home use is going lead to problems fairly quickly. I'm making an assumption there, of course, but it is something which must be considered if that is indeed the case.

 

[hvoltage]

I agree, they should have gone with a router designed for use with several devices but since everything was already purchased and hooked by a third-party "technician", refund wasn't an option and well nobody wanted to spend extra money on another router.

Nevertheless, everything's been working without any sign of the issue the last couple of days. My best guess is some sort of IP conflict might have been causing the whole thing for some god-knows-what reason.

The computers only use the default windows firewall and I checked the firewall config on the router, nothing out of the ordinary. So I don't think it could've been the source.

 

[Dngrsone]

Considering how Windows remembers the last IP assigned and tries to reuse it, regardless of what DHCP might have planned, I agree with you that Static IP is a good fix.

Be sure your bosses note your warning, though-- that baby router is going to choke when everyone in the office decides to hit the 'net at the same time.

 

[hvoltage]

Word!!!

Well, I think they're gonna have to understand one way or another.