Linksys EZXS16W Switch + BEFSR11 Cable/DSL Router Problems

For starters the MDI/MDIX setting on the switch is only if uplinking to another device from the switch. That shouldn't be an issue in this situation. In this case you are uplinking from the routers LAN port. In your case either setting on the router should work since the EZ16 has auto detecting ports which might be why you don't see any difference.

Just for a hip shot here I'm gonna say your connections seem ok but it sounds more like something running on your LAN is causing your router to be swamped thus causing the issue. Are you running any P2P apps from any computers behind the router? That is what this situation sounds like is happening. Perhaps you didn't see this before because a Hub does not use the same bandwidth as a Switch. A Hub splits the bandwidth while a Switch allows your network to use it all. If that is what is happening many P2P apps flood cheapo SOHO routers with too many simultaneous connections and can create router lockups causing what you are seeing.

I see. I guess I misunderstood that. I was thinking that because I was "uplinking" to my router from the switch that I needed to have the MDI/MDIX depressed. You're saying that this is only if I was using it to uplink another device to the switch.

That means the button should *not* be depressed so it functions like a regular port, right?

That would make sense, based on what I'm observing.

No, I'm not doing anything like this. The connection problems occurred when I wasn't even doing anything network intensive -- e.g., some email and browsing.

I'm wondeirng if my only issue was the incorrect setting on the MDI/MDIX? Or does that simply make port 16 crossover vs. straight thru?

Basically it's this way, you are Uplinking to the Switch From the Router not the other way around. The MDI/MDIX(the X is for Crossover) switch on the EZ16 is only for Port 16 if you are running a cable from the EZ16 port 16 to another device like another Switch.

That confuses me as well. I think the Crossover vs Straight-Through selector on the Router is dependent on cabling and device connecting too. That Router is a bit older now and most devices now have Auto detecting switch ports and can "electronically" work with either straight-through or crossover cables. The EX16 Lan ports can determine whether they are being used as an Uplink or standard switch port. I think they are designed to be used with either cables but again the switch selection on the Router throws me for a loop. It might not matter either.

As far as your Router problem that has me stumped. Not sure what it could be. Can you try hooking one computer to the Router Lan port and see if you see the same thing happening?

The problem only exists with the switch in the picture. I can connect directly to the router and everything's fine. I used my old hub instead of the switch for about 10 hours today without a single incident.

About 90 minutes ago, I tried putting the switch back in (removing the hub). I toggled the MDI/MDIX setting on the switch to make port 16 work as a normal port. Everything seemed to work fine for almost an hour. Then I had a problem again. This time, it was a little different. Previously, I've completely lost connectivity to the router from anywhere on the LAN. This time, the router was alive and responding, but had lost its WAN IP address.

I suppose it's possible that this last problem is unrelated. It seems suspicious that it happened less than an hour after I put the switch back in the mix, though.

I restarted the router and it managed to get a new IP address and now everything has been okay for the last 30 minutes or so. I'm not convinced that it won't happen again, though.

After reading a little bit what I can add is to use a Straight-Through cable, which you said you were using, from the Router LAN port to port 1 of the EZ16. The port # really doesn't matter with the exception of port 16. Set the Router switch to Straight-Through since that is the type cable being used. Port 1 of the EZ16 should detect it is being used for uplinking from another device. It all should work from there.

I use a similar setup except I am using a more robust router and am using the EZ8 Linksys switch instead of the 16. I do not see the issues you are seeing. I do wonder if there could be some kind of hardware compatability. You might consider a firmware update for the Router depending on version being used.

I'm currently running firmware version 1.44.2 on the router, as I've had problems with 1.46.2 (latest) and 1.46. Those versions seems to have weird http connectivity issues. I rolled back to 1.44.2 because I heard from others that it was the most stable.

I'm wondering if now I'm running into the DHCP renewal issues that others have discussed. (In fact, I'd swear I saw you discussing it over on dslreports.com a while back!)

I'm keep> After reading a little bit what I can add is to use a Straight-Through

My next thought was to get you to do some more checking the next time it happened. Instead of rebooting router just disconnecting the EZ16 switch and then hooking a system directly to the router and see if it get's issued a LAN IP and see if you can then access the router WEB interface. I'd be curious if it was dropping it's WAN connection or not. The problem is that if you cannot access the router it's kind of hard to tell what exactly is going on with the router. You might try setting a static IP in the system you directly connect and try and access that way.

I used to use a BEFSR41 v2 years ago. After it started develping issues with the 1.45.7 firmware as well as a whoel buttload of others I finally moved away from that router. Mine currently has the 1.46.2 but sits on a shelf. I was thinking the DHCP issue was fixed with this latest version.

Out of curiosity, what kind of router do you have now?

Linksys RV082.

This AM when I checked the router, it had counted down to 0:00:00 without trying to renew the IP. The connection was still up, which is weird, but I had to manually renew via the web interface. Now it's counting down from six hours.

I heard that 1.46.2 fixes the DHCP renewal, but it causes other problems for me. (Like what this guy describes:

So, it sounds as if I'm stuck with DHCP renewal problems for now. I don't see Linksys updating this firmware any time soon.

Grrr....

Thanks for your help.

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@h54g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

About 10 minutes ago the router became totally inaccesible from the LAN again. I tried disconnecting the switch and connecting right to the router, but still nothing. Can't even see the web admin interface.

Powering off / on the router fixes it again.

I took the switch back out since this problem only happens when it's in there. The hub is back in for now.

Not sure if the DHCP renewal is still a problem s> This AM when I checked the router, it had counted down to 0:00:00

>

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@h54g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

I'm curious now whether this is a new issue that has just cropped up and really had nothing to do with the new switch. Guess it'll take some more troubleshooting to help you determine just where and what the problem is. I really just don't see a switch or hub causing the router to lose it WAN IP. I can see the switch losing connectivity to the router though but it appears we'll have to wait to see just what is going on

btw I moved up from a BEFRS41 to a BEFSX41 router. It too has it's share of firmware issues from Linksys.

Actually, the problem that the switch seems to cause is not losing the WAN address. It creates a situation where the router is unreachable from the LAN. Only a power cycle of the router fixes it.

I agree it seems strange that the switch would do this. But this never happened before when usin the hub, and I've had it for years. I've tried hooking up the switch a few times, and within 24 hours (sometimes only 30 min), the problem manifests itself. It's never happened with the hub there.

Now, I can't explain that, but that tells me there's some connection.

(The DHCP renewal problem seems to happen no matter what, though.)

Jbob wrote:

Update: The router managed to renew its WAN IP all by itself. Not sure why it worked. I did a hard reset this AM after it failed to renew the address, but since then I also had the other problem because I had put the switch back in.

Ugh. I'd be thrilled if the router would continue to do the DHCP renewal without incident, but I still don't understand this issue that happens when I hook up the switch.

I'm stick> Actually, the problem that the switch seems to cause is not losing the

UPDATE: Once again, the router managed to renew its WAN IP all by itself. The hub is still in place. I know that as soon as I put the switch back in there will be trouble. . .

Just for a try: What happens when you leave the hub in and add the switch after the hub ?

I suppose I could try that, just to see what happens.

For right now, I'm leaving the hub in and the switch out to make sure things are stable for a few days. I want to be sure that the problem I described before (losing connectivity to the router from the LAN) is really only happening when the switch is plugged in.

The hub has been > snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Everything seemed fine with the hub for about 21-ish hours, so i just put the switch back in. I tried using a different port (not port 16) to eliminate any possibility that it's an uplink port issue.

So, to clarify, the setup was:

Networked PCs | |

**EFAH08W Hub** | | (straight thru cable on port 8 of hub) | | (into LAN port of router) | | BEFSR11 Router | | Cable modem

. . . and NOW it is:

Networked PCs | |

**EZXS16W Switch** | | (straight thru cable on port 15 of switch) | | (into LAN port of router) | | BEFSR11 Router | | Cable modem

Let's see if the weird issues come back.

Well, the switch has been back in for almost 24hrs, and so far I've only had one problem. The router failed to renew its IP address once, but I didn't lose my WAN connection and I didn't lose connectivity to the router from the LAN, either.

Since then, the router renewed the WAN address at least twice.

So, I'm cautiously optimistic at this point.

Frankly, I'm not sure that anything I did really should have made a difference . . . but whatever.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: