For starters, the problem is resolved, but I don't fully understand what was causing it. For the last two or three years, I have been running a Sagecom 2864 router from Bell. That provided me with (relatively weak) wifi, Fibe TV, and 4 ports for a home LAN. Since the wifi had a very limited range, I ran an ethernet cable from the basement where the Sagecom was located, up behind the stairs and into the playroom on the main floor. It came out behind the TV, and connected to an 8-port Asus Gb Switch. Connected to that switch was my original XBOX, XBOX 360, XBOX One, PS3, Wii, Bell Fibe Receiver, and a TrendNet Access Point 638APB for wireless N. All of that worked well.
I then purchased a matched pair of TrendNet HPNA TPL-406E Powerline adapters in order to get wifi to the second floor. I connected one of them via ethernet to one of the Sagecom LAN ports, and the other I plugged in on the second floor and connected a second TrendNet Access Point. I set up both Access Points to broadcast the same SSID as the Sagecom in the basement, and put in the same wireless password as on the Sagecom. Everything worked. Wifi on the second floor was now 3 bars all the time, as it was in the playroom. I also connected a laptop to the last remaining LAN Port, and everything worked just fine for the last 2 years or so.
A week ago, the LAN failed. After my sons finished watching NetFlix on the desktop in the basement (connected via ethernet to the Sagecom), I came downstairs to find that Win10 was reporting no internet was available. I tried everything I could think of (reboot, reconfigure, etc. etc.) only to discover that the problem was with the Sagecom, none of the LAN ports were operational. Switching cables around had no effect. As a result, I had no Fibe TV, and none of the consoles had internet. Wifi continued to work just fine, however, it was only the wired LAN which was down. I called Bell, and they sent out a technician. He listened to the explanation, concluded the Sagecom had failed, and replaced the router, and .... same problem on the new router! He said he had never heard of this issue before, but he confirmed wifi was working, but the local LAN was not. He then replaced the Bell receiver, but the issue persisted. We couldn't even hit 192.168.2.1 from the desktop hooked directly into the new Sagecom, but we could open the admin screen from an iPhone connected via wifi. He then gave me a new Sagecom Home Hub 2000 router, but we had the same issue. For 2 hours, we tried everything we could think of, finally he brought everything into the basement, and showed me his own laptop was working via LAN port with the 2000, and Fibe TV was working to one of my computer LCDs via an HDMI port. The conclusion was that all of Bell's equipment was working (I agreed with him).
He left, and I mucked around with it some more before finding that DHCP was off on the main computer. We had tried to manually set it up, but had not put in a DNS server since we only wanted to access the local 192 address. When I turned DHCP back on, the internet sprung to life on the desktop. That seemed to unblock whatever was messing up my laptop, and it started to work as well via a LAN port. I then replugged the Bell Receiver back into the main TV upstairs, and found it worked but only when it was the only device plugged into my 8-port switch. After hours of trying out various combinations, I could not find a single device causing the grief. If I plugged in all consoles + the receiver + the access point to the switch upstairs, I lost internet on my desktop in the basement. It was like something was flooding the network so badly that even a simple connection with a direct wire was not possible. If I pulled the ethernet cable which ran upstairs from the 2000 (leaving only the HPNA, desktop, and laptop), then internet worked again. If I plugged it back in, all LAN ports on the 2000 could not get to the internet. I finally got it to work with only XBOX One and the Bell Receiver plugged into the switch, but adding anything else made the desktop in the basement lose the internet. So I figured I had a faulty Asus switch.
Then inspiration struck. I unplugged the HPNA cable from the 2000, and also unplugged the Access Point from the switch. Now everything worked. TV was back on the big TV upstairs, wifi was working, all LAN ports were fully operational. The new 2000 has such good wifi that I have 3 bars on the second floor, so I won't need to use my 2 extra Access Points anyway, nor do I need to use HPNA any longer. So the question after all that is, how could those devices have prevented my desktop from hitting the router into which it was directly plugged?
Thanks for any replies,
BM.
I then purchased a matched pair of TrendNet HPNA TPL-406E Powerline adapters in order to get wifi to the second floor. I connected one of them via ethernet to one of the Sagecom LAN ports, and the other I plugged in on the second floor and connected a second TrendNet Access Point. I set up both Access Points to broadcast the same SSID as the Sagecom in the basement, and put in the same wireless password as on the Sagecom. Everything worked. Wifi on the second floor was now 3 bars all the time, as it was in the playroom. I also connected a laptop to the last remaining LAN Port, and everything worked just fine for the last 2 years or so.
A week ago, the LAN failed. After my sons finished watching NetFlix on the desktop in the basement (connected via ethernet to the Sagecom), I came downstairs to find that Win10 was reporting no internet was available. I tried everything I could think of (reboot, reconfigure, etc. etc.) only to discover that the problem was with the Sagecom, none of the LAN ports were operational. Switching cables around had no effect. As a result, I had no Fibe TV, and none of the consoles had internet. Wifi continued to work just fine, however, it was only the wired LAN which was down. I called Bell, and they sent out a technician. He listened to the explanation, concluded the Sagecom had failed, and replaced the router, and .... same problem on the new router! He said he had never heard of this issue before, but he confirmed wifi was working, but the local LAN was not. He then replaced the Bell receiver, but the issue persisted. We couldn't even hit 192.168.2.1 from the desktop hooked directly into the new Sagecom, but we could open the admin screen from an iPhone connected via wifi. He then gave me a new Sagecom Home Hub 2000 router, but we had the same issue. For 2 hours, we tried everything we could think of, finally he brought everything into the basement, and showed me his own laptop was working via LAN port with the 2000, and Fibe TV was working to one of my computer LCDs via an HDMI port. The conclusion was that all of Bell's equipment was working (I agreed with him).
He left, and I mucked around with it some more before finding that DHCP was off on the main computer. We had tried to manually set it up, but had not put in a DNS server since we only wanted to access the local 192 address. When I turned DHCP back on, the internet sprung to life on the desktop. That seemed to unblock whatever was messing up my laptop, and it started to work as well via a LAN port. I then replugged the Bell Receiver back into the main TV upstairs, and found it worked but only when it was the only device plugged into my 8-port switch. After hours of trying out various combinations, I could not find a single device causing the grief. If I plugged in all consoles + the receiver + the access point to the switch upstairs, I lost internet on my desktop in the basement. It was like something was flooding the network so badly that even a simple connection with a direct wire was not possible. If I pulled the ethernet cable which ran upstairs from the 2000 (leaving only the HPNA, desktop, and laptop), then internet worked again. If I plugged it back in, all LAN ports on the 2000 could not get to the internet. I finally got it to work with only XBOX One and the Bell Receiver plugged into the switch, but adding anything else made the desktop in the basement lose the internet. So I figured I had a faulty Asus switch.
Then inspiration struck. I unplugged the HPNA cable from the 2000, and also unplugged the Access Point from the switch. Now everything worked. TV was back on the big TV upstairs, wifi was working, all LAN ports were fully operational. The new 2000 has such good wifi that I have 3 bars on the second floor, so I won't need to use my 2 extra Access Points anyway, nor do I need to use HPNA any longer. So the question after all that is, how could those devices have prevented my desktop from hitting the router into which it was directly plugged?
Thanks for any replies,
BM.