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Cat5e/Switch

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  • 01-03-2021 4:26pm
    #1
    Raven_k42
    Registered Users Posts: 351 ✭✭


    Afternoon all

    There are similar-ish threads elsewhere...but this is specific query I'm hoping someone can help with.

    I have Cat5e cabling in the house...twin cables from around the house to the attic. VM hub in the living room, a 16-port TP-Link switch in the attic to manage distribution and I've connected the Hub to the switch.

    I work on a laptop in the attic (as I am now) and Ethernet connection fine most of the time. However...sometimes the laptop reverts to WiFi...and WiFi reception not great in the attic. Happened on Saturday...and I unplugged the switch etc. Connected again this morning and all fine. Why might the ethernet connection drop ?. I've checked the laptop and switched-off the power-save option on the network adaptor.

    Happened quite a few times over the last month. I terminated the attic cables myself (proper crimper and push-through RJ-45 connections)...so always a possibility that I haven't done them perfectly !!. Anything else that might cause this intermittent dropping ?.

    Thanks,
    Kevin


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    #2
    10-10-20
    Registered Users Posts: 6,652 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    Raven_k42 wrote: »
    I have Cat5e cabling in the house...twin cables from around the house to the attic. VM hub in the living room, a 16-port TP-Link switch in the attic to manage distribution and I've connected the Hub to the switch.

    Twin cables, meaning what? Sounds like you might have a loop (double-path to one device). I presume your switch does not support STP (spanning tree).


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    #3
    Raven_k42
    Registered Users Posts: 351 ✭✭Raven_k42


    Thanks 10...

    Sorry I should have been clearer...there are two individual Ethernet cables at each wall-plate around the house...all back to the attic/switch. Standard installation I believe. Thanks, K


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    #4
    rugrat69
    Registered Users Posts: 67 ✭✭rugrat69


    Hi if you have structured cabling in the attic why not put in a decent wireless ap and patch it back to your switch/router from VM. A good wifi 5 or wifi 6 device instslled will give you excellent results. Look at the Ecw120 cloud device fantastic unit which is setup via the Engenius cloud to go App 2 mins install.


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    #5
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 13,990 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    Raven_k42 wrote: »
    Afternoon all

    There are similar-ish threads elsewhere...but this is specific query I'm hoping someone can help with.

    I have Cat5e cabling in the house...twin cables from around the house to the attic. VM hub in the living room, a 16-port TP-Link switch in the attic to manage distribution and I've connected the Hub to the switch.

    I work on a laptop in the attic (as I am now) and Ethernet connection fine most of the time. However...sometimes the laptop reverts to WiFi...and WiFi reception not great in the attic. Happened on Saturday...and I unplugged the switch etc. Connected again this morning and all fine. Why might the ethernet connection drop ?. I've checked the laptop and switched-off the power-save option on the network adaptor.

    Happened quite a few times over the last month. I terminated the attic cables myself (proper crimper and push-through RJ-45 connections)...so always a possibility that I haven't done them perfectly !!. Anything else that might cause this intermittent dropping ?.

    Thanks,
    Kevin

    I would suspect the laptop if, before the connection is dropped, neither laptop, switch or connecting cable have been moved.
    If they have then it might be some dodgy connection in one of them. It might be worthwhile swapping the laptop connection to a different port to see if there is any change.
    Have you tried disabling the laptop wifi connection thus forcing the use of the wired connection?
    I only ever had one switch fail, and then all connections went down forever.

    The router would be my next item ..... but if other devices connected to the switch all stay connected then this would be unlikely unless the laptop connection is set to expire after some time which might cause it to drop and reconnect.


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    #6
    Dazzy
    Registered Users Posts: 594 ✭✭✭Dazzy


    Something to consider as the cause of the problem is the VM hub. In my experience it is not good at managing a large number of connections. As the number of devices on my network grew the VM hub could not handle the load and started to drop connections and block devices. A reboot would fix the problem for a while.

    I put the hub in bridge mode and installed a dedicated router (Ubiquiti Edge Router) and it solved the problem for me.

    Just something to consider.


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    #7
    10-10-20
    Registered Users Posts: 6,652 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    Leave a ping running to the router IP (192.168.0.1, usually), when it happens again check to see if the ping is dropping or the average latency is increasing or not. Also look to see if the link-LED's are lit on the PC/laptop port at the time.
    Then plug into the other CAT6 cable/port on the wall and see if it's the same too.

    If it's the VM router then the direct ping to it should not drop, unless it's rebooting, which you would have to run downstairs to see.
    Also check on your ethernet NIC if you are running at 10/100 or 1Gb speed, the lower speed could indicate a connectivity issue.


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    #8
    Firblog
    Registered Users Posts: 1,979 ✭✭✭Firblog


    How long does your router give out the lease on the IP address for? Would your laptop be switching to wifi while your lan is renewing the lease? Perhaps try giving the lan a static address


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