NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
Switch LEDs go out and network stops working
I'm in a small office of 6-7 over 2 floors
- upper floor GS 116 with 16 ports. (2no workstations and 2no printers & 1no router)
- lower floor GS116 - 16port (6no workstations, 2 Netgear 312 NAS & 1no printer)
They are connected by 1no cat 5 cable
No VOIP
All machines run Windows 10
It has been fine for 2-3 years until a month ago when the lower floor switch started blinking all the LEDs together and network connections stopped working. I had changed nothing obvious
I googled etc and it seemed maybe switch was broken so I bought a new one - GS116E
Plugged it in and now it works for a bit then all the lights go out and no network connection.
If I disconnect 2 of the 6 computers it will start working again
I have tried
checking loops (loop detection is on)
replacing all the cables
unplugging 1 cable at a time - it seems rather than a particular machine it is more the quantity
With Managed switch - Broadcast flitering with storm control down to 1MBps
I'm an architect of bricks and mortar rather than computer type with very limited knowledge so struggling.
Can anyone please help? Possibly I've done something dumb...
James
Kindly try the following steps below:
1. Enable Flow Control on both GS116Ev2 & GS108Ev3 switches. To do this, log on to the web-GUI of the switch/es. Then, go System > Management > Port Status. Then, select one or more ports. In the Flow Control menu, select Enable and click the Apply button.
As reference, read pages 55-56 of the GS116Ev2/GS108Ev3 user manual here on how to Manage Flow Control.
2. For the GS116Ev2 switch, access the article below and follow the steps indicated:
Default IGMP settings may affect multicast streams on NETGEAR Web Managed Plus Switches
After doing the steps above, connect the GS116 switch to the GS116Ev2 switch (or vice versa) then observe if the same problem will occur. Also, connect the GS116Ev2 switch to the GS108Ev3 (or vice versa) then observe if the same problem will happen.
Let us know the results.
Regards,
DaneA
NETGEAR Community Team
7 Replies
Hi HerbnMash,
Welcome to the community! :)
Let us isolate the problem. Kindly answer the questions below:
a. Just to verify, is the GS116 switch at the upper floor directly connected by one (1) ethernet cable to the GS116E switch at the lower floor?
b. What is the distance of the GS116 switch at the upper floor to the GS116E switch at the lower floor?
c. Have you already double-checked the physical connections on both GS116 & GS116E switches as well as the whole network? There might be a device connected that is causing why the lights go out on the GS116E switch.
d. Try to swap the two switches. Deploy the GS116E switch at the upper floor then deploy the GS116 switch at the lower floor. Connect the PCs on each switch then observe. Does same problem occur?
e. What is the current firmware version of the GS116E?
Regards,
DaneA
NETGEAR Community Team
Dear DaneA
Thanks for the response
A – Two switches are linked by single CAT 5 cable
B – Distance between two is approx. 3m
C – I have checked connections and changed cables to NAS, PCs and printers.
D – Changed switches around and I have bought a new GS108Ev3 for upper floor
E – Firmware is 2.6.0.22
I have checked all the PC network cards have upto date drivers too.
With the lower 16 port switch I had 10 cables plugged in. When all the lights went out, if I disconnected 5 cables (generally did not seem to matter which), the lights would return to normal. Then I would plug the others slowly back in and most of times it would be ok. Sometimes I would have to leave 2-3 cables out.
The cable between the floors and the NAS cable seem to trigger the collapse more often (but not uniquely)
So I bought another 16 port switch for the lower level which sits on top of the other.
They each with 6 cables.
It seems happier but still the original switch (2 PC, 1no printer and NAS attached) stops working once a day (less so than before).
It feels like I'm overloading the switch?
Regards
James
Kindly try the following steps below:
1. Enable Flow Control on both GS116Ev2 & GS108Ev3 switches. To do this, log on to the web-GUI of the switch/es. Then, go System > Management > Port Status. Then, select one or more ports. In the Flow Control menu, select Enable and click the Apply button.
As reference, read pages 55-56 of the GS116Ev2/GS108Ev3 user manual here on how to Manage Flow Control.
2. For the GS116Ev2 switch, access the article below and follow the steps indicated:
Default IGMP settings may affect multicast streams on NETGEAR Web Managed Plus Switches
After doing the steps above, connect the GS116 switch to the GS116Ev2 switch (or vice versa) then observe if the same problem will occur. Also, connect the GS116Ev2 switch to the GS108Ev3 (or vice versa) then observe if the same problem will happen.
Let us know the results.
Regards,
DaneA
NETGEAR Community Team
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
