Suggestions for network setup/equipement please .....

ctxited · 08-01-2009, 19:02

Good afternoon all

I have a problem which I am unable to solve and so decided to turn to this knowledge base for help, advice and assistance.

We have just, after 7 years of faithfull service had to retire our SB4100 Cable Modem. It has served us well from the times with Yorkshire Cable on 2mb, through 4 and 10mb then to Virgin Media and the upgrade to 20mb(although Virgin never told me that the modem couldnt cope with 20 and the best we could expect would be around 15mb which is what we got unless we hit the cap limit)

Anyway, we have been experiencing difficulties of late and have had to make numerous calls to VM technical. During one of these conversations, I was asked what model modem I had and when they found out - hey presto - upgrade sent out.

Now the problem. The house hold is VERY internet orientated. We have the following all fighting for access

Wireless Connections
Thinkpad Laptop
Samsung Netbook
Sony Vaio Laptop - Vista Based
2 x XBox360s
1 x Nintendo Wii

Wired Connections
Mac Duo
Media Server Vista Based
2 Desktop Windows Based PCs
1 Sony PS3
2 Printers

Up until the old modem died, it fed the network via a Linksys WRT54GS which dealt with the Wireless, then one of the wired connections fed into an 8 port Netgear Gigabit Switch GS608 - all living happily as obviously not everything was connecting at once - but not far off sometimes.

Well, today, the new modem arrived, I have no idea what model it is, but it is black, around 4 inches square and possibly 1 inch deep.

I plugged in the new modem, with nothing connected to it, turned it on and phoned VM to have the MAC address switched on. This they did quickly and I connected the Media Server to it directly as this is where the modem lives (Under the Stairs) - Bingo - Alive and kicking, but only at 9mb. OK I thought, it is 17.30 at night, possibly a heavy traffic night.

I disconnected the server from the modem and connected it to the Linksys as before - NOTHING. No activty light flashing on the modem - nothing!

I have tried reseting the Linksys with no joy. I have connected to the Router and logged onto it directly to check its settings are as before - yes - but no joy.

I then thought maybe the MAC address on the Router has to be switched on by VM - I rang and a nice lady suggested I contact the vendor of the router.

HELP - Why is it suddenly unable to talk to the outside world? The wireless network is there, alive and kicking because the wife is currently updating her Ipod from the servers library.

I have tried to check the Router by removing it from the loop, connecting the Netgear automatic configuring 8 port router to the modem - still no joy, but any single computer connected directly to the modem works fine.

I am at a loss.

So, the second piece of advice ...............

If I need to invest in new equipement, what should I buy that can service the above equipement ?

Try not to bankrupt me, but I will spend the amount that is required for a stable connection which is simple to setup - I am not a network engineer !!

Thanks in advance
Ctx

Raistlin · 08-01-2009, 19:05

Turn the modem and the router off.

Turn the modem on.

Wait for the lights to settle.

Turn the router on.

Wait for the lights to settle.

You should now have a connection.

ctxited · 08-01-2009, 19:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob M

Turn the modem and the router off.

Turn the modem on.

Wait for the lights to settle.

Turn the router on.

Wait for the lights to settle.

You should now have a connection.

Erm...........

I have tried that numerous times - no luck I am afraid, but thanks for the help.

Cheers
ctx

Raistlin · 08-01-2009, 19:14

In that specifoc order (I'm not just talking about turning everything off and then back on again)?

What normally happens is that the modem sort of binds itself to the first device that's connected, power cycling things (in the order given above) normally clears it.

Failing that, I'm assuming that you've checked that the IP range your router is set to is the same as that which the new modem is giving out?

ctxited · 08-01-2009, 19:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob M

In that specifoc order (I'm not just talking about turning everything off and then back on again)?

What normally happens is that the modem sort of binds itself to the first device that's connected, power cycling things (in the order given above) normally clears it.

Failing that, I'm assuming that you've checked that the IP range your router is set to is the same as that which the new modem is giving out?

Hi Rob - I have tried it 3 more times since you posted up in exactly the same order - no difference.

Now, can you explain what you mean in the last statement ? I never had to do it before and so have no idea what you are talking about - when we installed it before, it was just a case of plug and go, and the netgear switch is a fully automatic thing which has no settings or user selectable things on it

Cheers
Ctx

berkut · 08-01-2009, 19:41

Ctx,

It sounds like you have reset the router to factory default which resets the MAC address of the WAN (cable modem / internet) port on the router.

what you need to do from your media server is connect to the web management interface on your router, there will be a page on the web management interface to clone the MAC address of the media server. This basically tells the router to mimic the network card of the media server.

Once this is done switch off the router and the cable modem, turn on in the order that Rob suggested i.e. cable modem first let it settle then the router...

because the media server is the first devoce you connected the cable modem has bound to that MAC address... so getting the router to mimic this should fix your problems

regards

Berkut

ctxited · 08-01-2009, 19:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by berkut

Ctx,

It sounds like you have reset the router to factory default which resets the MAC address of the WAN (cable modem / internet) port on the router.

what you need to do from your media server is connect to the web management interface on your router, there will be a page on the web management interface to clone the MAC address of the media server. This basically tells the router to mimic the network card of the media server.

Once this is done switch off the router and the cable modem, turn on in the order that Rob suggested i.e. cable modem first let it settle then the router...

because the media server is the first devoce you connected the cable modem has bound to that MAC address... so getting the router to mimic this should fix your problems

regards

Berkut

Genius !!!!!!!!!

Fantastic ............. Thank you very much.

Next question - why only 5meg ?

Cheers
Ctx

berkut · 08-01-2009, 23:30

if your connection is meant to be 20Mbit and you are only getting a steady 5Mbit then you are being traffic managed...

read up on STM there are plenty of posts on the forums about it

you will live to hate it