Linksys Network Connection Issues

[epete]

Recently I have been seeing a lot of pixilation, freezing, etc and the Network Error warning pop up on all of my three Linksys extenders. I also have a couple PCs that I use to connect to my main Media Center. The PCs dont have any Network issues.

All PCs, Media Center and Linksys Extenders are hardwired back to a Gigabit Switch.

Is there any reason why the Extender connection would be slow and a standard SAMBA Share work without any problems?

[foxwood]

The Linksys Extenders only have 100Mbps LAN interfaces, and there can be flow control issues if the PC is sending data at 1Gbps. As a test, set the NIC to run at 100Mbps and see if it makes a difference.

[STC]

^+1

[epete]

I will definitely try this. Thanks. I am not down stairs at my Media Center PC, but looking at my desktop under Device Manager|Network adapters|Intel 82566DC-2 Gigabit Network Connection|Properties|Advanced Tab. I see Link Speed and Duplex is set to Auto Negotiation. I should change that to 100Mbps full duplex? At the moment I dont know what the media center is currently set to but would think that Auto Neg should work. Either way I will give 100Mb a shot and hope that fixes the problem.

[foxwood]

If switching to 100Mb works, you might be able to fix the problem by connecting the extenders to a small 100Mb switch, and connecting that switch to your main switch. It's possible that the buffers on the 100Mb switch can cope with the traffic.

That might allow you to maintain the 1Gb link between your PCs.

[epete]

I have configured both media centers for 100Mbps but have not tried the extenders yet. I am hopeful on this. the 100Mb switch idea is a great suggestion and I will follow up on that if I am able to see that this makes the difference. I have a couple 10/100 MB switches lying around.

[barnabas1969]

I have configured both media centers for 100Mbps but have not tried the extenders yet. I am hopeful on this. the 100Mb switch idea is a great suggestion and I will follow up on that if I am able to see that this makes the difference. I have a couple 10/100 MB switches lying around.

The change to 100Mbps is only a test, not a permanent solution. If this works, then you should change it back to 1 gigabit, and then attempt to do the following, in order:

1) Turn on flow-control on your PC's NIC.
2) Replace the switch with one that has a larger buffer (at least 1Mbit buffer)
3) Try an Intel NIC (I use a Realtek NIC with no problems, but this one is suggested frequently by other people)

[epete]

OK, I have not had any problems since I configured my NIC for 100MB.

In my example above, I was using my old Dell XPS with the special motherboard for use with the old ATI Digital Cable Wonder Cards. I just use that machine for browsing and emails now.

Both of my media centers have a Gigabyte Motherboard and have Realtek NICs built in. So use of a Realtek NIC does not solve the problem. I am surprised that a Netgear ProSafe 16 Port Gigabit Switch would not have sufficient buffer, but who knows. Maybe it is time for a new switch. Anyone try the Monoprice Switches? I am intrigued by the fairly low cost of those.

Do you think Turning on Flow Control and putting the NIC back to Auto-negotiate would solve the problem without changing out the switch?

[barnabas1969]

Enabling flow control should be your first step after putting it back to auto-negotiate (or 1 gigabit).

You mis-read what I wrote in post #7. I did not say that a Realtek NIC is a solution. I said that some people claim that the Realtek NIC's don't work well, and an Intel NIC has solved their problem.

[barnabas1969]

Is your Netgear switch model GS116? If so, then it has plenty of buffer memory.