Strange network switch issue

[Cramig88]

Ok I have a really weird issue going on with my network switch in my living room.  It’s a tp-link something-or-other 8 port unmanaged switch, v6.0. I also have an identical one in my office, which naturally has a bunch of stuff plugged into it also.

now the one in the living room, for some reason the first port (incoming from router, that’s another story for another day) and second port light up green, as in 1000mbps. If it’s getting that speed, don’t know don’t care - it’s green.

then, everything else only gets 500mbps, or orange. I’ve swapped cat6 cables, used a cable tester, re-terminated bad lines, pretty much everything logical you can think of. Even connected to the web-GUI (lol) and swapped from auto negotiate to 1000mbps. No dice

again, identical model in my office, configured no differently except it’s “name”. I had a few ports at 500 then did my cable tester and sure enough, simply re-terminated the lines and 1000mbps no problem. Every single port is green on that one

 

basement, basically the network hub. Tp-link 16 port unmanaged switch, most ports connected to my server (some at 500mbps but that’s intentional), 2 setup with link aggregation to my router. Works fine, actually better. One line going from there to my office, another office line going directly to my servers SFP (SPF?) 100gbps port (idk it’s super fast/expensive).  That ones on a diff subnet entirely, connected directly to my pc’s 2.5 nic, while the 1gbps nic is on the “normal” subnet straight to the 16port.

say the least, two identical models, identical “versions”, newest firmware updated, both connected the same way, yet living room only gets 500mbps on all but 2 ports.  Office is actually a longer cable run so you’d figure…. Also yes everything is setup (wired anyway) for static ip’s. Since it’s an unmanaged switch my options are limited at best with the web GUI. Basically just QoS, VLAN, port aggregation, and specifying what port gets diff options (50mbps? 500? 1gb? Flow control? Etc etc).

Considering just shoving that reset button to see if it helps, couldn’t hurt.

also yes, when I switch devices to either port 1/2, bam it goes green.  So that eliminates cabling or the device as supporting only 500mbps

now I’d buy a managed switch but considering the price tag, uh I think solving a problem with a 18$ switch is more cost effective for my needs lol. I’d rather put a managed switch in the basement so I can get more power out of my server

 

any ideas peeps?  Again, two identical switches, both wired the same way, one gets 500mbps, other gets 1gbps. Both on same firmware and all that.

kinda wanna figure this out cause my Ps5 gets 1gbps but the hdmi Ethernet balun gets 500mbps. Meanwhile my server has a kvm hdmi balun, connected to the 16 port, then a line from there directly to office - 1gbps all day. Why am I using a kvm rather than just RDP?  Well, to access the bios!  Gotta configure all that fun server junk in there right?

 

just outta ideas on this one. Wish there was a way to clear the routing tables (forget what it’s called). Let me know if ya got any ideas!  In the meantime I’m gonna shove that reset button but I doubt it’ll make any difference

thanks everybody!!!

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

If its doing 500 then it can only be bad cables causing packet loss, as the only speeds a Gigabit switch can link at are 10/100/1000.  From your description I'd guess orange will be 100, green 1000.

 

A managed switch may support speed throttling (while technically linked at one of those speeds above), but an unmanaged switch does not.

[Allan B]

What does "some at 500mbps but that’s intentional" mean?  how are you intentionally running at 500mbps? 

 

How are you testing your link speed?  As Alex says, switches don't have a 500mbit speed, it is 10/100/1000.  Orange light usually means 100mbit.

[Cramig88]

5 hours ago, Allan B said:

What does "some at 500mbps but that’s intentional" mean?  how are you intentionally running at 500mbps? 

 

How are you testing your link speed?  As Alex says, switches don't have a 500mbit speed, it is 10/100/1000.  Orange light usually means 100mbit.

Intentional, meaning that specific port (say for a “smart” tv) is set to 500mbps not “auto negotiate”, although utilizing QoS might be a better idea as the traffic would be handled by priority rather than pure thorough put

Also 10/100/1000 is also correct, my bad. But wouldn’t that have to do with full or half duplex?  Which, yes would also relate to bad cables - most aren’t “home made”, so I can’t say honestly if they’re truly cat6

BUT! My Ps5 is on port 2, and has a cat8 cable. It was maybe 20$ (at the time) for like 5ft worth. I swap ports, boom, orange.

suppose it couldn’t hurt to simply swap switches and see what happens?

I’ll provide an update and look into this furthwr

[Blue4130]

Where are you getting 500 from though? It's 10 half duplex

10full duplex

100 half duplex

100 full duplex

1000 half duplex

1000 full duplex

Etc...

 

1000 half duplex is not 500. It is 1000 in one direction, wait to finish sending data, then 1000 in the other direction.

[Cramig88]

well first thing i did was hit the reset button on the switch, didnt make a difference as expected.  on close examination of the "pre-terminated" (purchased at goodwill) CAT cables, they dont appear to be cat6, and the wiring configuration is different.  I forget exactly but theres two types, right?  well, the config for MY cat6 cable going from the 16 port to the 8, isnt the same as the others.  So at this point im leaning more towards simply swapping out the crap CAT cables and cutting up some more cat6 and terminating them myself all with the same layout.

It makes sense as my office switch is using all the same configuration/cables i made myself - all green across the board.  Taking a guess here but the switch is probably underperforming simply because the crap cables are crap, and terminated differently.

Really though, in terms of pos/neg, the colors dont matter if theyre the same on either side - right?  I mean i could terminate a CAT6 cable any way i want, so long as they match on both ends.

Suppose in simple terms the crap cables i purchased (rather than my 500ft spool of cat6) are "bottlenecking" the RX/TX due to the different configuration.   The switch is smart enough to figure it out and make it work, but its ultimately slowing down traffic in the process versus having proper cat6 across all the devices terminated exactly the same way.

 

Suppose its no different than having a bunch of crossover cables and one normal, the SoC on the switch has to interpret the "mismatch" causing more overhead leading to slower speeds, 100mbps as was mentioned.

 

Oh and im getting 500mbps from my ps5, that has a cat8 cable (amazon), shielded and all that.  My internet is only 500mbps anyway so in a speed test i get pretty close to the limit.  Although I still get a green light, as in 1gbps.

 

How about this, how do i speedtest a local device internally?  As in, send random packets to my ps5 from my office pc on 1gbps?  I do have a few laptops sitting around doing nothing, so thats always an option.  Is there an application to see how fast i can actually push the cables?

[Cramig88]

12 hours ago, Cramig88 said:

Intentional, meaning that specific port (say for a “smart” tv) is set to 500mbps not “auto negotiate”, although utilizing QoS might be a better idea as the traffic would be handled by priority rather than pure thorough put

Also 10/100/1000 is also correct, my bad. But wouldn’t that have to do with full or half duplex?  Which, yes would also relate to bad cables - most aren’t “home made”, so I can’t say honestly if they’re truly cat6

BUT! My Ps5 is on port 2, and has a cat8 cable. It was maybe 20$ (at the time) for like 5ft worth. I swap ports, boom, orange.

suppose it couldn’t hurt to simply swap switches and see what happens?

I’ll provide an update and look into this furthwr

your actually right, 10/100/1000, not 500.  But thru QoS i do have the TV for example "bottlenecked" at 50mbps.  additionally i am aware of the difference between full and half duplex.  Regardless, its gotta be the stupid cables as my office has self-made cables and everything is green-lights.

[PyCCo_TyPuCTo]

4 hours ago, Cramig88 said:

How about this, how do i speedtest a local device internally?  As in, send random packets to my ps5 from my office pc on 1gbps?  I do have a few laptops sitting around doing nothing, so thats always an option.  Is there an application to see how fast i can actually push the cables?

You can use iperf with two laptops or a PC and a laptop connected together or through a switch. If you just want to test your cables I'd say it's a good way of doing it without a proper cable tester.

     Edit: you can also use https://openspeedtest.com/selfhosted-speedtest

 

Regarding the orange led link lights, it's almost surely the cables are miswired or a conductor broken inside somewhere, so they work, but only negotiate 100Mbps

 

If you want to terminate your own cables, there are two common wire patterns called T568A and T568B. You can pick either one, but make sure you do identical on both ends of the cable. You want all your in-suite wiring to be straight through. The cross-overs are seldom used and more so for legacy equipment. Nowadays all networking gear supports auto-mdix which will detect and adjust for straight through or cross-over as needed.