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I have a strange situation that I cannot figure the cause.
I have had a GS116Ev2 switch setup with VLAN tagging and connected to several devices (including downstream GS105Ev2 switches) for a while now without any issues. All of the devices and switches link up at their appropriate speeds (most at 1Gb, a few at 100Mb), so no problems.
Recently, I bought another GS105Ev2 switch to expand into another room with multiple devices. This switch was updated to latest firmware and configured in a similar manner to the other GS105Ev2 switches already deployed.
I noticed that when I added this new switch to the network, one of the other 105s renegotiated down to 100Mb with the 116. If I removed this new switch from the setup, and renegotiated the other switch, it would go back to 1Gb. But adding this switch to the setup would, again, make that same link downspeed.
To run some tests, I took the 116 configuration to only the 2 switches and tried various ports, different 105s, changing configs, etc and still got the same results. I assume it must have something to do with my cabling, but I don't know enough about networking and auto-negotiation to understand why the "slow" connection used to connect at 1Gb (and tested to work at 1Gb) before but now, with addition of another line into the mix, it slows down to 100Mb.
I was finally able to resolve my issue! It seems that the installer didn't do a clean installation of the wall panel and left the connectors "noisy". By going in and cleaning up the work, everything is up. Thanks for the various suggestions!
I do have a switch question, though, but I'll start a different thread as it's unrelated to this...
How are the 3 switches (GS116Ev2 and 2 GS105Ev2) connected? Are they daisy-chained to each other? It would be best if you post an image or screenshot of the detailed network setup.
Thanks for responding! I've attached an image of the setup. And, no, the 105s are not daisy-chained - they're edge switches connected to the 116.
Referring to the image:
Essentially, Rooms A&B (blue & red) were setup a while ago and were working fine. When Room C (green) was added, the link from Room B (red) dropped from 1Gb to 100Mb. This happens regardless of which actual 105 switch is used in the room nor which order the rooms are connected.
One other interesting thing I noticed - when either Room C or Room B is plugged into the 116, the switch turns on/off the lights on these connections in alternating fashion (B on for 10-15 secs, turned off, C on for 10-15 secs, turned off, back to B for 10-15 secs, turned off, etc). I notice that it only happens between these 2 room connections - adding/removing Room A (blue) doesn't seem to impact any of the other ports on the 116.
One other interesting thing I noticed - when either Room C or Room B is plugged into the 116, the switch turns on/off the lights on these connections in alternating fashion (B on for 10-15 secs, turned off, C on for 10-15 secs, turned off, back to B for 10-15 secs, turned off, etc). I notice that it only happens between these 2 room connections - adding/removing Room A (blue) doesn't seem to impact any of the other ports on the 116.
This does indicate some loop or similar odd wiring problems - ensure the four pairs of each connection have no interconnection to the other room.
Double check there are no devices concurrently connecting to the wired and to the wireless network, e.g Sonos in these rooms.
I got a chance to do run an experiment where both of the downstream 105s were disconnected from any end devices and only the switches were plugged in to the 116. The results are the same, which makes me think I am getting "crosstalk" between the CAT6 cables connecting the two rooms to the 116. I know about cross-talk issues *within* a cable, but I haven't read/heard much about cross-talk *between* cables. Any thoughts on where to look and/or how to debug?
Could it be something else? I've tried to eliminate as many of the variables as I could and this is the only thing I've come up with as the cause.
One other thing I noticed during this experiment was that the original room (Room B) connection doesn't seem to be as clean as I was originally led to believe. I say that because I noticed that when plugging its cable into the 116, I noticed during the speed negotiation that the port LEDs would turn off for 5+ seconds, then on, then off again for 5+ seconds, etc. for a few cycles before stabilizing to a 1Gb connection.
I assume that is the 116 checking for connectivity issues at the link level, right? If so, does this indicate that it encountered errors and was trying to handle them? Or is it possible that the 105 on that line is bad? I don't notice this behavior on any of the other connections...
I was finally able to resolve my issue! It seems that the installer didn't do a clean installation of the wall panel and left the connectors "noisy". By going in and cleaning up the work, everything is up. Thanks for the various suggestions!
I do have a switch question, though, but I'll start a different thread as it's unrelated to this...
