I have R900 router. Modem is single port in DHCP ( Charter ). If I feed Netgear (dumb/unmanaged) switch first which then feeds the router and my pc, the router will never go online. If I leave in the same configuration but remove PC from switch then reboot router it works fine. If I then add pc back to the switch the pc will not pull an IP address. This only happens with THIS router.
If I put the router first and then feed switch I can plug my PC into the switch or router and of course I get online. This setup does not work for me as the location of the router doesnt provide a good wifi signal.
In short, the router does not like to share a switch with my PC and I cannot figure out why. Its either one or the other.
Your isp only supplies 1 public ip address. Its then on whatever it supplies that public ip address to to supply private ip addresses to your devices. Your switch can't supply them as its a simple unmanaged switch. Which is why you need to go modem--->router--->switch/devices.
If I put the router first and then feed switch I can plug my PC into the switch or router and of course I get online. This setup does not work for me as the location of the router doesnt provide a good wifi signal.
As @plemans says, your proposed layout simply will not work.
You need to plug the router into the modem. If you cannot run a long cable, there is a possible alternative.
Powerline Ethernet is a "dumb" approach to networking. It uses the mains circuit as bit of wire, with no network manage or anything that depends on IP addresses involved. It could provide an Ethernet link between the modem and the router. Put the switch after that.
Netgear doesn't market Powerline for this purpose, but I have seen reports here that it works.
The quality will depend on the local mains wiring and perhaps the speed of your Internet service. I use Powerline to connect an access point to the router with no apparent ill effects, but that is a DSL connection, much slower than Powerline can handle.
