Re: Problems with a switch

Peter wrote:
In article <11miqjdcfsq651a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx says...

vasilijepetkovic@xxxxxxxxx wrote:


Hello All,

I work in a group with four people and we have one internet connection.
So we bought a switch (D-Link DSS-8+) - however we have trouble
connecting. The first person that connects to the switch is fine (he or
she has connection all the time) but other three individuals are not
able to connect.

We all use the same computers with the same config. Also, we tried to
swap and a person B, instead of person A, would connect to the switch
first - and in such case person B would have connection to the web
while everyone else (including person A) would not have access? We
repeated the same test with persons C and D and the same problem was
present: only the first person would have connection.

Can someone give us guidance in terms of how to troubleshoot this.

Best,

Vasa


Your ISP provides you with one IP, for one computer, so which ever computer gets there first gets the IP, and there isn't any more.

The problem is you have the wrong thing for connecting multiple computers to the ISP modem. You need a (NAT) router, not a switch.

A switch simply connects the NICs together.

A NAT Router (the stores will simply call it a router as all the consumer types will include NAT) provides NAT, Network Address Translation, so all of the computers 'look like' one computer to the ISP modem.

NAT will provide each computer with a local IP and each computer then talks to the router, which remembers who asked for what and then sends it to the internet over the ISP provided IP. NAT then receives and forwards the reply back to the computer that asked for it. Keeping track of who asked for what and sending things to the correct place is 'routing' the data, hence the name.

The alternative is to use one of the computers as a NAT router, what Microsoft calls ICS "Internet Connection Sharing." In that case one computer connects to the ISP modem and then all the others connect to the ICS computer on the local LAN. That's where the switch would go.

The downside to ICS is the ICS machine must be on and booted for any of the others to get to the internet.




Not sure this is the case. I had a friend with this exact same situation here in the UK.

Except it isn't the same. He was physically moving a cable because he didn't have more than one port to connect the computer to. They already have the switch with all of them physically connected and it doesn't work.

He had a ADSL modem that had USB and one network socket. Originally he had it connected via USB to one computer at a time (needing to reset modem, etc everytime he wanted to swap his desktop for his laptop). As far as recall, I got him a network 4-port switch which he connected the modem to, and from this he has been able to connect at least 3 other computers simultaneously, all with access to the internet.

As far as my thinking went, and I may be wrong but it worked anyway, the switch must have provided the MAC address through which the modem was quite happy to accept as being the single computer it was connected to. Which was enough. And, of course, through the switch all traffic could then be routed to the appropriate computer. This has worked flawlessly for the past couple of months. 

Switches aren't routers.

His modem, with both USB and ethernet, must have NAT built in so all that's needed is more ports, e.g. the switch.

Obviously this won't work if there is no network port in the modem, but if there is then what the OP could try is, turning off the modem (disconnecting the power supply completely), powering up the switch and then connecting the modem to the switch and powering it up. If he gets solid connection lights on the modem then presumably all should be well and he can then go ahead and try connecting each of the computers to the switch to see if they have internet access.

Worth a try.  :)


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Trouble obtaining IP address
    ... So some internet providers will not ... On newer systems, you have to power cycle the cable modem to make it work reliably, with a pause of about a minute between off and on. ... This is what the "clone MAC address" function on routers is for - you log into the router from the system that was originally connected to the cable modem, ... >said I cannot switch Ethernet cable from one computer to another and>expect ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web)
  • Re: 2 Network Connections - How to Force Internet Explorer to use a Specific one
    ... switch using ethernet. ... The current connection to the Internet is 64k ISDN. ... The next step would be to add USB based wireless adapters to some ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: 2 Network Connections - How to Force Internet Explorer to use a Specific one
    ... switch using ethernet. ... The current connection to the Internet is 64k ISDN. ... wireless router. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Computer auto connects to internet
    ... always ask me before auto dialing. ... Modem Automatically Attempts a Dial-Up Connection ... If I switch off for just a few ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • network hardware- compatible?
    ... dlink DES-1005D 5 ports switch. ... the broadband connection to sister as a new year present. ... modem has 1 RJ45 port on the back. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web)