Switch Connectivity

[ViperThreat]

Hey guys, pretty simple one here, i hope.

I have a 100'-150'ish long cat5e cable running from the router across the house to the entertainment room. Until a few days ago, i had a switch at the end of that cable that split the connection to a desktop, and a laptop workstation. The switch burned out (it was really, really old) a few days ago, and i currently have the cable connected directly into my PC, which is working fine, however this leaves my laptop no connection besides the horrid wireless signal.


Anyhow, today i went to the local electronics shop, and picked up a linksys 5-port switch. Came home, installed it, and it didnt work. I spent nearly twp hours on the phone with linksys tech support, who from what it sounded like have never seen a computer in their lifetime. They were telling me that it was impossible when i know for a fact that it isnt.

So, i took the switch back to the store, and exchanged it for an ASUS 5-port switch. Same result.


My only thought is that the network cable is too long.. I took the switch to the router, and plugged it in on a short cable, and voila! it connected first time around. I took it back across the house, and nothing.


Whats wierd is that my desktop and laptop have no problems with the long cable, when directly connected, they hook up beautifully.. Both switches however cannot connect. Reading online, the average router should be able to push a healthy signal up to 100m, or 300+ feet, and ive had experience with even longer cables working.


So im 99.9% sure that both of the switches ive bought are crap, but before i take another stroll back to the store, and try yet another brand, id like to ask if anybody has reccomendations on what to do, or what brand to get.

 

[pooflinger1]

Is the 100' cable a store bought cable or one that you terminated yourself? One thing that could be affecting it is if the cable you are using is a straight through 568B-568B or 568A-568A, and one of the switches does not have auto port sensing, it will not work. Rule of thumb is like to like devices require a crossover cable (router to router, switch to switch, computer to computer), all others a straight through (computer to switch, switch to router, etc). Remember, that while most people call that linksys router just a router, it is actually a router with a built in 4 port switch. It could also be that the distance is affecting the auto-sensing and not allowing it to detect properly.

 

[sturm]

Check pooflinger1's idea. Check both of the ends of the cable and see if the wires are in the same place on the plug. If they are the same you have a straight through cable. If some wires are in different places, but not all, you have a crossover cable.
Also check the new switches and see if it mentions whether the ports are auto-sense, sometimes called auto-mdx, or not.
If they aren't then you need to make sure the long cable is a crossover cable.