Please Help! Big question for those with tech skills

[dbvolfan]

I recently decided to hook my TV and Xbox up to the internet to allow me to surf and enjoy netflix movies. I ran cable up/through the walls to a new outlet next to my TV and all was well, however I had two items requiring an ethernet connection and one outlet.

I decided instead of running a 2nd cable to the keystone jack to try an ethernet hub off the wireless router and then have two cables runnng out of it to each item as shown in the drawing below.

Problem is I can only get one item to work at a time. If the TV is turned on before the Xbox, the infolink system within the TV takes precedence and I am unable to get the Xbox to connect. Likewise, if I unplug the hub/power back on or turn on the xbox before the TV, the Xbox takes precedence.

Both hub lighta are lit and the light indicating that there is a 'colission' taking place with data is not lighting up.

Sure, I can just run another cable and have two outlets but this seemed like an easier solution.

Only thing I can think of is that it has to do with the fact that the hub is after the router so it's being assigned one ISP address and the two items cant run on the same address.

Any solutions or advice out there? I'd sure appreciate it.

 

[twistedcricket]

Does the Dynex instruction manual include any wording, or does the device itself have an uplink option? I think you need a switch that has an auto-sensing feature that detects when it's plugged into another device and needs to set an uplink port. I know D-Link DS550 (model number might be off) works this way.

A hub typically isn't smart enough to do this. So I think what's happening is the first device that appears gest the IP because the 2nd is seen by the router as coming from the same device.

 

[Makuna]

As mentioned, switches are pretty dumb and don't hand out ip addresses nor do they inforce any count of connections (other than physical ports).

Make sure the uplink port is connected to your wireless (internet side). Sometimes this is Port1, sometimes it port 5, check the manual and or device to see which one.

The computers/xbox should then just plug into any other port (watch out for ports shared with the uplink, sometimes you can't use a port next to the uplink port) . Forget the collision light, its really only usefull to tell you that you have too much traffice on the network. The link light is the interesting one.

 

[S76]

Computers!

I got nothing.

 

[Fred W]

The Dynex DX-EH B4 is a 10 baseT Hub according to the skimpy owners manual.

What you really want to install is a 10/100 network switch. The reason is that all hubs are half duplex and a switch is full duplex. This means that with a switch you can be sending and receiving data at the same time. With a hub if any one device is sending data, everyone else has to wait to do anything. The difference in price is negligible.

 

[Big Shasta]

I didn't think you could even buy hubs anymore, I thought they were all switches.

+1 on the uplink port.

 

[Fred W]

I didn't think you could even buy hubs anymore, I thought they were all switches.
+1 on the uplink port.

He must have already connected to the router to the uplink port (or it's an autosensing hub or he used a cross over cable) or else he would not be able to connect to either of the devices on the hub. The only difference between an uplink and normal port is they cross-over the RX and TX pins. There is no other magic.

 

[dbvolfan]

I am still looking into it and appreciate the help. My drawing above was incorrect in that I have the cable modem>linksys VOIP phone modem/router>netgear wireless router>hardwired ethernet cable to the hub.

I set the linksys to act as a switch instead of the primary router but that made no difference. If I remember correctly, I had the linksys VOIP/router box in front of the wirless router and it created issues. I'll try it again this PM to see if it is still an issue.

If I run 2 ethernet cable out of the back of the netgear wireless router to the TV and Xbox than I dont have any issues...it's got something to do with the hub.

Appreciate the help!

 

[wfooshee]

It's possible you just have a bad hub. There's no reason the hub should allow one device or the other to work on the network.

As mentioned, if the hub has an uplink port, make sure you're using that to the netgear. Also, many hubs and switches have two jacks for the uplink port number. If the uplink is port 5, there may be two ports labeled 5, but you can only use one of them at any time. One is a regular port, one is an uplink port, and you can't use them both.

 

[dbvolfan]

OK, I finally got it! Woo Hoo!

I needed to run a straight cable from a regular port (not uplink) on the Netgear to the Uplink Port on the hub and then go from there. I get 3 lights and everything working as it should now.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Big Shasta]

I didn't think you could even buy hubs anymore, I thought they were all switches.
+1 on the uplink port.

He must have already connected to the router to the uplink port (or it's an autosensing hub or he used a cross over cable) or else he would not be able to connect to either of the devices on the hub. The only difference between an uplink and normal port is they cross-over the RX and TX pins. There is no other magic.

One would think so...BUT, hindsight being 20/20....it was an uplink port issue. (neener neerner neener.....)