Linksys LAN -- network fails at a switch

From: Sally Shears (SallyShears_at_gmail.com)
Date: 01/30/05 

Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 16:41:58 -0500

I have an all-Linksys network with WRT54g router/AP and four Linksys
switches. I need switches to connect 20 wired locations in all, but
only a half dozen hosts on the network. WRT54g provides NAT and DHCP
for the whole network as well as a wireless access point. The gateway
router is FlowPoint connecting to ADSL. The WRT54g is NOT the gateway
router. Works fine.

Topology: Gateway -- switch -- switch -- WRT54g -- 2 switches

Problem: Intermittantly, the entire network fails. Specifically, none
of the hosts on the wired LAN (and on WLAN) can see each other and
cannot see the outside world. The failure is over the whole LAN, not
just the portion below one switch. Outside users can see the gateway
router, but not the hosts on the LAN.

I've only had three instances of this and I don't know what's going on,
but each time I can isolate the problem (by unpluging CAT5 cables) to
one of the switches. Cycling the power on that switch restores the
network. The first time, I replaced the suspicious switch. Now I think
it's not a failed unit but something more general.

I did see the problem after a power failure. When the building power
came back on, the network was in the failed state described above.
Solved it by cycling the power on the Linksys switches. The WRT54g
seems to recover from power outage just fine.

Anyone else seeing this? Know how to set up to avoid the problem?

  -- Sally 

-- 
Sally Shears (a.k.a. "Molly")
SallyShears@gmail.com -or- Sally@Shears.org
http://theWorld.com/~sshears