Auto switching Ethernet Switch???!

[david]

Ok, I just purchased an Auto switching Ethernet Switch - model ESK 105
- and the store I bought it from told me I could hook two computers up
(at the same time if needs be) to my cable modem. Therefore having
two computers hooked up to cable modem - internet access on both
computers.
So, I think this is great because the price is right. I get home and
there are no instructions on this thing. No problems, easy enough to
set up. These are the steps I took:

Run the cable from the network card in Computer 1 to the Switch box -
Run the cable from the network card in Computer 2 to the switch box.
Run the cable from the modem to the the switch box.

Therefore all cables lead to the switch box. There is no difference
in any of the slots in the switch box.

Does not work. I get Collisions (that is the amber light on the
switch). All of the slots are the same and the box shows that any
computer can be hooked into any of the slots....

So what gives? What have I done wrong?

 

[Bob Day]

Ok, I just purchased an Auto switching Ethernet Switch - model ESK 105
- and the store I bought it from told me I could hook two computers up
(at the same time if needs be) to my cable modem. Therefore having
two computers hooked up to cable modem - internet access on both
computers.
So, I think this is great because the price is right. I get home and
there are no instructions on this thing. No problems, easy enough to
set up. These are the steps I took:

Run the cable from the network card in Computer 1 to the Switch box -
Run the cable from the network card in Computer 2 to the switch box.
Run the cable from the modem to the the switch box.

Therefore all cables lead to the switch box. There is no difference
in any of the slots in the switch box.

Does not work. I get Collisions (that is the amber light on the
switch). All of the slots are the same and the box shows that any
computer can be hooked into any of the slots....

So what gives? What have I done wrong?

C-Com??? Never heard of them. You bought an el-cheapo
brand from a company that not only doesn't include instructions,
but doesn't even offer any support on its website (their
"Service/Support" button doesn't work). Take it back and get
a decent box, such as a Microsoft "5-Port Switch", Model MN-150.

-- Bob Day

 

[MrToad]

Ok, I just purchased an Auto switching Ethernet Switch - model ESK 105
- and the store I bought it from told me I could hook two computers up
(at the same time if needs be) to my cable modem. Therefore having
two computers hooked up to cable modem - internet access on both
computers.
So, I think this is great because the price is right. I get home and
there are no instructions on this thing. No problems, easy enough to
set up. These are the steps I took:

Run the cable from the network card in Computer 1 to the Switch box -
Run the cable from the network card in Computer 2 to the switch box.
Run the cable from the modem to the the switch box.

Therefore all cables lead to the switch box. There is no difference
in any of the slots in the switch box.

Does not work. I get Collisions (that is the amber light on the
switch). All of the slots are the same and the box shows that any
computer can be hooked into any of the slots....

So what gives? What have I done wrong?

Buy a home-gateway router instead, with a stand alone switch you'll need
two separate IP's from your ISP to get them both to access the 'Net at
the same time.

 

[Bob Day]

Buy a home-gateway router instead, with a stand alone switch you'll need
two separate IP's from your ISP to get them both to access the 'Net at
the same time.

Not true. At least not for Windows XP. You can use
"Internet Connection Sharing" on one computer with the
option, "This computer connects directly to the Internet",
and on the other computer with the option "This computer
connects to the Internet through another computer", and
it will use just one IP address. No need for a router;
all you need is a hub.

-- Bob Day
http://www.bob.day.name

 

[david]

If I decide to keep this one, is there a workaround or a way to get
this going ?!? We are both using win98. Thanks

 

[DaveW]

You probably need to wire the cable modem to the switch box using a special
cable called a 'crossover cable'. This advice assumes that you were
accurate in your description of the switch box and that it didn't have a
port marked 'Uplink", which is where the modem cable should have been
plugged in using your present cable.

 

[JT]

Not true. At least not for Windows XP. You can use
"Internet Connection Sharing" on one computer with the
option, "This computer connects directly to the Internet",
and on the other computer with the option "This computer
connects to the Internet through another computer", and
it will use just one IP address. No need for a router;
all you need is a hub.

-- Bob Day
http://www.bob.day.name

You also need 2 network cards in the computer doing the sharing. And the
firewall, security, etc. of XP doing ICS is not quite as good as most
routers.

 

[Vanguard]

When using one host as the Internet gateway, you will need 2 network
devices. One would be an Ethernet network card for you intranet. The
other can be an Ethernet card going to a DLS/cable modem or a modem to
dial-out. You will using the ICS host as a gateway. That requires two
network interfaces.

Of course, when using a host as an Internet gateway, it must be left
powered up all the time so all the other hosts on your intranet can make
a connect through your ICS host. If the ICS host is powered down,
hangs, or some other problem occurs that interferes with either network
interface then everyone on the intranet has lost Internet access. A
DSL/cable router is a much better solution. It consumes far less power
than an entire computer left running, it is more reliable than using
Windows, and they often come with a built-in switch so you don't need a
separate one. You might want to get a small UPS to use for the router
or use the UPS you have for your computer, but if you don't use any
UPSes on your computers then there's no point in just keeping the router
up by itself.

The DSL/cable router probably has NAT (network address translation)
unless you get an old one. This lets the router look like a computer
because it gets assigned the IP address from your ISP's server (just
like your own computer would). Some ISPs still will not allow home
networking and you must buy another IP allocation from them. If you
have 5 home PCs then you have to pay extra to get 4 more DHCP-assigned
IPs from them. Otherwise, only one host at a time could use the ISP
since that's the only IP address that has been currently assigned by
their DHCP server to accept for connections on your account with them.
The NAT router gets one DHCP-assigned IP address from them so all the
ISP ever sees is just the one "computer" on your account. The NAT
router then becomes your DHCP server from which you get IP assignments
to your intranet hosts. If you have more hosts on your network than
there are ports available on the router, you can use the switch
downstream of one of the ports to give you more ports to connect hosts
(basically you build a tree of switches). Although NAT routers will
usually allow its DHCP server to allocate 100 IP addresses or more, most
of those sold for home-use will only handle the traffic for about 15
hosts after which the processor within the NAT router cannot keep up
with the speed necessary to switch amongst all the concurrent
connections through it for local and outbound connections.

Regardless of using a DSL/cable router or just using a hub or switch to
the DSL/cable modem, a switch is still much better than a hub. A hub
present a single signal backplane which will result in more contentions
between hosts. A switch dedicates a signal path to each connection and
results in less contention. That's why switches cost more than hubs.
Switches have a processor. Hubs don't. See
http://snurl.com/hub_vs_switch for some info regarding hubs versus
switches.

If you use one of your computers as a gateway with 2 network interfaces
and ICS then you have that host connected to the DSL/cable modem (for a
NIC) or a telephone line (for modem dial-up) and your intranet is on the
other network interface in that ICS host. If you only have 2 computers,
there's no need for a switch; just connect the NIC in the downstream
host to the NIC in your ICS host. If you have 3 or more hosts then you
would connect the switch to the intranet NIC on your ICS host and attach
your intranet hosts to the switch. If you instead get a NAT router, it
connects to your DSL/cable modem and probably has 4 or more ports to
which you connect your intranet hosts. If you have more hosts than the
number of downstream or intranet ports on the NAT router then use the
switch.

I don't know what is implied by the "Auto switching" in the product's
name of "Auto switching Ethernet switch". Sounds redundant to me. A
switch is always automatic. A switch is always switching (well, I
suppose, not if only one host is attached on its downstream side).
Either it is a switching hub (aka switch) or it is a passive or
repeating hub (repeating hubs, also called active hubs, regenerate the
signal by cleaning it up and boosting it so they require power).

 

[Vanguard]

Hubs (passive, active, or switching) never need a cross-over cable.
They are supposed to figure out if the TX/RX lines needs to be swapped.
You need a cross-over cable when hooking one NIC to another NIC (and
with no intervening hub).

 

[Bob Day]

You also need 2 network cards in the computer doing the sharing. And the
firewall, security, etc. of XP doing ICS is not quite as good as most
routers.

In my view, the Windows XP firewall is just fine.
I use the hub setup I described, and both of my
computers show up totally "stealth" on Internet
security vulnerability tests, except for a couple of
ports I keep open on purpose.

-- Bob Day

 

[MrToad]

Not true. At least not for Windows XP. You can use
"Internet Connection Sharing" on one computer with the
option, "This computer connects directly to the Internet",
and on the other computer with the option "This computer
connects to the Internet through another computer", and
it will use just one IP address. No need for a router;
all you need is a hub.

-- Bob Day
http://www.bob.day.name

AND another NIC in the host PC.
No need for a hub or a switch, ie;
Cable modem----Host PC Nic#1, host PC NIC #2-|via cross-over
cable|---second PC. [This is the ICS setup]

With a router;
Cable modem---wan port on router, router port#1----1st PC, router
port#2----2nd PC [standard ethernet cabling]

With a switch;
Cable modem----uplink port, [usually port #1], on switch, port#2 on
switch----1stPC, port#3 on switch----2nd PC [This needs two IP's from
ISP to work] [standard ethernet cabling]

My advice took into consideration he's trying to connect two PC's with
one switch, in that case, a router will server him better unless he has
two IP's from his ISP.

 

[MrToad]

You probably need to wire the cable modem to the switch box using a special
cable called a 'crossover cable'. This advice assumes that you were
accurate in your description of the switch box and that it didn't have a
port marked 'Uplink", which is where the modem cable should have been
plugged in using your present cable.

Don't use a cross-over cable.
See my other post for the correct wiring scheme.
-OR-
Go here and read for your self:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/networking/ics.asp

 

[Bob Day]

Not true. At least not for Windows XP. You can use
"Internet Connection Sharing" on one computer with the
option, "This computer connects directly to the Internet",
and on the other computer with the option "This computer
connects to the Internet through another computer", and
it will use just one IP address. No need for a router;
all you need is a hub.

-- Bob Day
http://www.bob.day.name

AND another NIC in the host PC.
No need for a hub or a switch, ie;
Cable modem----Host PC Nic#1, host PC NIC #2-|via cross-over
cable|---second PC. [This is the ICS setup]

With a router;
Cable modem---wan port on router, router port#1----1st PC, router
port#2----2nd PC [standard ethernet cabling]

With a switch;
Cable modem----uplink port, [usually port #1], on switch, port#2 on
switch----1stPC, port#3 on switch----2nd PC [This needs two IP's from
ISP to work] [standard ethernet cabling]

My advice took into consideration he's trying to connect two PC's with
one switch, in that case, a router will server him better unless he has
two IP's from his ISP.

With the hub setup I described, you need only one
NIC in each PC, and, at least with Windows XP
and Internet Connection Sharing, only *one* IP
address. With just two PC's, the gain in efficiency
you get by using a router rather than a hub is
negligible.

-- Bob Day

 

[JT]

AND another NIC in the host PC.
No need for a hub or a switch, ie;
Cable modem----Host PC Nic#1, host PC NIC #2-|via cross-over
cable|---second PC. [This is the ICS setup]

With a router;
Cable modem---wan port on router, router port#1----1st PC, router
port#2----2nd PC [standard ethernet cabling]

With a switch;
Cable modem----uplink port, [usually port #1], on switch, port#2 on
switch----1stPC, port#3 on switch----2nd PC [This needs two IP's from
ISP to work] [standard ethernet cabling]

My advice took into consideration he's trying to connect two PC's with
one switch, in that case, a router will server him better unless he has
two IP's from his ISP.

With the hub setup I described, you need only one
NIC in each PC, and, at least with Windows XP
and Internet Connection Sharing, only *one* IP
address. With just two PC's, the gain in efficiency
you get by using a router rather than a hub is
negligible.

-- Bob Day

ICS, according to MS, and the way it is set up in XP requires 2 network
cards to work properly. The firewall in the first machine can't protect the
second machine that is connected to the hub/switch. If you only have one
NIC in an XP machine, it won't even display the option to share that
connection without some Tricks. Then the NIC has to have 2 IP address, one
from the ISP, and one for the local network which ICS doesn't setup
automatically either. Not a real solution. Most likely, you still have 2
IPs in the ISP range, and both machines are exposed. Go to a command prompt
on your machine with ICS and run "ipconfig /all" . If you don't get 2 IP
addresses, you don't have ICS running. Go to your second machine and do the
same thing. If the IP address there is not in the 192.168.x.x range, you
are not doing ICS, and the IP is probably exposed to the world. In the end,
you are just waiting for the Son-Of-Blaster to get you.

Using a router is not about efficiency, it is about security.

 

[Phrederik]

Ok, I just purchased an Auto switching Ethernet Switch - model ESK 105
- and the store I bought it from told me I could hook two computers up
(at the same time if needs be) to my cable modem. Therefore having
two computers hooked up to cable modem - internet access on both
computers.
So, I think this is great because the price is right. I get home and
there are no instructions on this thing. No problems, easy enough to
set up. These are the steps I took:

Run the cable from the network card in Computer 1 to the Switch box -
Run the cable from the network card in Computer 2 to the switch box.
Run the cable from the modem to the the switch box.

Therefore all cables lead to the switch box. There is no difference
in any of the slots in the switch box.

Does not work. I get Collisions (that is the amber light on the
switch). All of the slots are the same and the box shows that any
computer can be hooked into any of the slots....

So what gives? What have I done wrong?

Hook only ONE computer to the hub and the cable modem to the hub. Turn off
the computer, disconnect power from your cable modem for a minute and hook
back up. Once the modem is connected and online start your PC. If it doesn't
work at this point then the hub is bad.

If the above works, then did you tell your ISP that you need two IP
addresses?

For what you want, a ROUTER would have made TONS more sense. It's a firewall
to protect from many attacks, you can have a whole bunch of PC's on the
cable modem without telling the ISP. They contain a switch which works MUCH
better than a hub (less collisions, etc.).

You can do internet sharing if you want, but you'll need two NICs in one
computer and you really don't need the hub at all.

 

[Phrederik]

You probably need to wire the cable modem to the switch box using a special
cable called a 'crossover cable'. This advice assumes that you were
accurate in your description of the switch box and that it didn't have a
port marked 'Uplink", which is where the modem cable should have been
plugged in using your present cable.

Not with an autosensing hub.

 

[Phrederik]

Hubs (passive, active, or switching) never need a cross-over cable.
They are supposed to figure out if the TX/RX lines needs to be swapped.
You need a cross-over cable when hooking one NIC to another NIC (and
with no intervening hub).

Wrong... MANY hubs have a specific crossover or uplink port because they
DON'T autosense. Some come with a switch marked MDI. Most made these days
are autosensing though.

 

[Phrederik]

Don't use a cross-over cable.
See my other post for the correct wiring scheme.
-OR-
Go here and read for your self:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/networking/ics.asp

WHY are you all arguing about Windows XP... the OP said his PC's were
WINDOWS 98!

 

[MrToad]

WHY are you all arguing about Windows XP... the OP said his PC's were
WINDOWS 98!

Fine, then read these:

http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/icsclnt.htm
http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/winrlics.htm