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Swagger - LOL! I found that fixed addresses resolved most of the problems my customers used to have, and I KNOW some of them were "doing it wrong". Also agree that a switch or hub SHOULD be transparent. Just a WAG - maybe one of those cables is a crossover cable or doesn't like the connectors in the switch. A few years back, at a computer show, I bought some CAT-5 connectors that were incredibly fussy. I guess they were cheap because somebody messed up the spec in designing or cloning them.
It's a long shot, but there could also be a problem with the switch not passing certain packets. I've run into this problem a few times. Once, it was an Intel switch not passing traffic coming from a rather expensive specialty hardware board manufactured by.... Intel. Go figure.
Anyway, if you have another switch around, you can swap them out and eliminate that as a possibility.
It's a long shot, but there could also be a problem with the switch not passing certain packets. I've run into this problem a few times. Once, it was an Intel switch not passing traffic coming from a rather expensive specialty hardware board manufactured by.... Intel. Go figure.
Back in the hub days, I couldn't get a 3Com NIC to talk to a 3Com hub. Sticking a cheap Linkys hub between them solved the problem. Great engineering there, guys.
As Escape mentioned, you need to start by checking the configuration of the IP v4 Protocol on the laptop you are using with this switch. And as Mensaguy mentioned, computers connected to a DHCP via switch/hub, do not really see them as they try to obtain an IP address from a node that functions as DHCP.
So, as far as your computer is concerned, the switch doesn't even exist. It will look for a connection (IP address) if the Internet Protocol Version 4 on the Local Area Connection is configured to "Obtain an IP address automatically" and provided all network cables and network devices (switch) is functioning properly, your machine should get an IP address and connect to the Internet.
Running ipconfig /all on the machine when it can connect to the Internet (without using the switch) and then running it again when it cannot (the switch in use) and then comparing the results would be step number 2.
Then go from there...
Ditto what Turco suggests. Run ipconfig /all under both conditions and report back the results. Actually, the way I do it is to get a command prompt, like C:\ and type ipconfig /all > c:\ipconfig.txt which will dump the configuration into a text file in the root of C:\ where it is easy to find and report the results. With those two results, we may be able to tell what is wrong.
It's a long shot, but there could also be a problem with the switch not passing certain packets. I've run into this problem a few times. Once, it was an Intel switch not passing traffic coming from a rather expensive specialty hardware board manufactured by.... Intel. Go figure.
Anyway, if you have another switch around, you can swap them out and eliminate that as a possibility.
In the OP it was mentioned that two had been used. Doesn't mean it's not the problem though...
Does it work with both cables you use when the switch in play? If your testing using just one of the cables for the direct connection the other one might be the culprit.
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