Won't work past a switch? Why not? (resolved)

[Fireraider]

I have a new OBi200 that with a little troubleshooting I have managed to get configured fine, however there is one oddity that I can't figure out.
I cannot get the OBi to work if I plug it in downstream of any of my switches. It works just fine if plugged right in to my RT-N66W.
But if I plug the OBi in to a ProSafe Managed switch (running in unmanaged mode) in my den or a generic unmanaged switch in the family room, it will not get an IP address and thus will not work. I have several switches on my home network with all the many accessories one gets these days and this is OBi 200 wont work if plugged in to anything but the main router.
Any ideas on why the OBi cant be plugged in to a switch? Seems like with DHCP running it should be able to get its own internal IP address. Do I need to forward a port to it?
Like I mentioned above, it works fine when plugged in to the main router but that's not where I need the OBi 200 to be physically located.

[SteveInWA]

Unmanaged Ethernet switches have no influence or involvement in whether or not any device gets an IP address; they operate only at the MAC address layer.  You probably have a defective component somewhere in the chain; either a bad Ethernet cable or port, or you've mis-configured your router.

[Fireraider]

Thanks for teh reply. I thought the same thing, that it should work with no problems once configured. But I had found a thread where someone had posted tech support telling them that a switch would cause problems. Seemed odd to me.
I swapped the cable end for end and then with another cable completely and still no luck on the ProSafe switch.
I then climbed into the crawl space to check and realized the 2nd 'generic' switch is actually a WRT54G set up as an access point. (I forgot I had done that)
I am assuming that if a normal unmanaged switch has no bearing on the problem it must be something in the default switch configurations that I have since plugging directly into the router solves the problem.
Interestingly, I also have a Cisco AT&T MicroCell that must be plugged directly into the RT-N66 Router to work. It must be something to do with VoIP?
I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed some obvious release note confirming the earlier thread, but it sounds like I need to dig out a proper unmanaged switch and try that next. If that works I will research the ProSafe settings. I will post back in hopes that my findings will help someone else.

[SteveInWA]

"Netgear ProSafe switch":  do you mean one of these?

http://www.netgear.com/business/products/switches/unmanaged/

I have a network with 5 of them.  They have absolutely, positively no impact whatsoever on the proper operation of any downstream device.  Neither your router, nor your OBi, know or care that the switch is in the middle.

[Fireraider]

Unfortunately its this one:
http://support.netgear.com/product/GS108Tv2

I bought it with plans to try to limit the bandwidth my kids were using for gaming but decided it was easier to just buy faster internet.

I am sure the smart switch has something going on in the default configuration that is blocking the OBi. I have a couple different IP scan programs that I use and they won't see the OBi when its plugged in to the ProSafe, even though its plugged in and the communication lights are flashing on both the Obi and the switch.

I have found a few ideas while googling, I can't be the only one goofy enough to run one of these switches at home. I do appreciate you confirming that an unmanaged switch would work just fine. That reinforces my thoughts that its something I can fix in the settings on my switch.

[Fireraider]

found this
https://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=415.0;wap2

Going to try throttling the speed back and see if that fixes my issue.

[Everton]

I swapped the cable end for end and then with another cable completely and still no luck on the ProSafe switch.
I then climbed into the crawl space to check and realized the 2nd 'generic' switch is actually a WRT54G set up as an access point. (I forgot I had done that)
I am assuming that if a normal unmanaged switch has no bearing on the problem it must be something in the default switch configurations that I have since plugging directly into the router solves the problem.
Interestingly, I also have a Cisco AT&T MicroCell that must be plugged directly into the RT-N66 Router to work. It must be something to do with VoIP?

Is it possible that the WRT54G is acting as a Router (double NAT) and the chain of switches might be broken?  Can you remove the WRT54G from your network and see if the OBi will work when plugged into one of your switches?  Is one or more of your switches plugged into the WRT54G?  If you are using the WRT54G as a wireless access point, it needs to be in bridge mode, where your Main Router is the only device in your network handing out IP addresses.

Can you do a sketch of your network (properly label each device) setup and post so that we can see exactly how things are configured on your network?  Are any of your switches connected to the WRT54G?

[Fireraider]

I tried the trick of manually slowing down the GS108T port to 100/half duplex as posted elsewhere, no luck there.
I toted the OBi upstairs and plugged in to another access point, a NetGear WN604 and it worked just fine there.
I took the OBi to the office and plugged it in to a NetGear GS748T managed switch and it worked just fine there too.
I will recheck the WRT54G but I am pretty sure its not double NATed as I can see all the game stations plugged in to it when I scan with AngryIP and have never had any conflict issues. It only has gaming stations attached, no other switches or anything.
The RT-N66 is the only device handing out IP addresses unless I got something screwed up but I don't think so.
The GS108T and the WRT54G are wired straight to the RT-N66 but the NetGear WN604 is connected through another unmanaged switch (a trendNet gigabit?) in the garage attic so that rules out the switch causing issues since the WN604 worked for me.

I am leaning towards the GS108T not playing well with the OBi 200 for some reason.  I do find it a strange coincidence that someone else posted issues with the same exact model. I will do a factory reset on it today and see if that changes anything, but I don't recall changing any settings until today when I manually changed the port speed on the OBi's port.

I will also unplug all the cables from the RT-N66 except the one going to the GS108T and see it that changes anything. I can draw up the network map and post that if you want, but unhooking all the cables but one should rule out any double NAT possibilities.

[SteveInWA]

That discussion about the port speed and duplex is outdated and inapplicable.

Why don't you simply plug the OBi into an unmanaged port, either on your RT-N66 or one of your UNmanaged switches?  You're wasting your time trying to figure out what the issue is with the managed switch.

[Fireraider]

Neither the router nor any of the unmanaged switches are in convenient locations for the OBi.

But it doesn't matter now, I got it to work.  Several power cycles didn't work but a soft factory reset fixed whatever the issue was. I like to post issues and resolutions in hopes that it helps someone else down the road. I think most users wont take the time to trouble shoot issues like this.