I KNOW THIS IS LONG, BUT PLEASE READ. IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!
Ok, so I'm the "tech guy" at work, even though I have little 'real' networking experience. Here's the network setup:
The network consists of 9 computers (most running XP Pro) all connected to a switch (Linksys EZXS16W). There is also a wireless router (D-Link DI-784) connected to it so that customers with laptops can wirelessly connect to the internet. There is no server.
Here's the dilemma:
We recently added a computer. I ran an ethernet cable from the switch straight through the floor to the computer, and everything worked flawlessly. Then, one morning, the computer said a network cable was unplugged. I checked everything, and everything was securely plugged in. I reset everything, also. I even made a new jack at one end of the cable where I thought I may have made a bad crimp. I tried different ports on the switch. I tried plugging another computer's cable into the computer and it worked fine. I tried plugging the 'bad' cable into another computer and it didn't work. So I thought it must be a bad cable. But then I plugged the cable into a LAN port on the wireless router instead of the switch, and the cable worked fine. I could connect to the internet, but not to the network. So I tried configuring some things so that it would connect to the network, but nothing worked. Then I ran a short cable (straight-through) from a LAN port on the router to a port on the switch, and played with some configurations some more. Then the computer worked perfect, internet and network, but the rest of the computers lost their internet connection, and couldn't connect to the network! So everything was reversed. After I got yelled at by the boss (he lost a long e-mail he was typing), I disconnected both the cables from the wireless router, reset the switch, and the internet and network connection came back to all the computers. Except for the problem one.
Right now, I'm totally confused by this. Some things are telling me it's a problem with the cable (but how could that happen???), and some things are telling me it's a configuration problem (but the computer has been restored to the factory settings!!!). Any ideas? Remember, the problem happened overnight. Nothing changed, at all. The only difference with that night was that AOL was left connected. But that couldn't have changed anything, could it? And even if it did, the system was completely restored!
Thanks for any help!
Ok, so I'm the "tech guy" at work, even though I have little 'real' networking experience. Here's the network setup:
The network consists of 9 computers (most running XP Pro) all connected to a switch (Linksys EZXS16W). There is also a wireless router (D-Link DI-784) connected to it so that customers with laptops can wirelessly connect to the internet. There is no server.
Here's the dilemma:
We recently added a computer. I ran an ethernet cable from the switch straight through the floor to the computer, and everything worked flawlessly. Then, one morning, the computer said a network cable was unplugged. I checked everything, and everything was securely plugged in. I reset everything, also. I even made a new jack at one end of the cable where I thought I may have made a bad crimp. I tried different ports on the switch. I tried plugging another computer's cable into the computer and it worked fine. I tried plugging the 'bad' cable into another computer and it didn't work. So I thought it must be a bad cable. But then I plugged the cable into a LAN port on the wireless router instead of the switch, and the cable worked fine. I could connect to the internet, but not to the network. So I tried configuring some things so that it would connect to the network, but nothing worked. Then I ran a short cable (straight-through) from a LAN port on the router to a port on the switch, and played with some configurations some more. Then the computer worked perfect, internet and network, but the rest of the computers lost their internet connection, and couldn't connect to the network! So everything was reversed. After I got yelled at by the boss (he lost a long e-mail he was typing), I disconnected both the cables from the wireless router, reset the switch, and the internet and network connection came back to all the computers. Except for the problem one.
Right now, I'm totally confused by this. Some things are telling me it's a problem with the cable (but how could that happen???), and some things are telling me it's a configuration problem (but the computer has been restored to the factory settings!!!). Any ideas? Remember, the problem happened overnight. Nothing changed, at all. The only difference with that night was that AOL was left connected. But that couldn't have changed anything, could it? And even if it did, the system was completely restored!
Thanks for any help!
