hey guys
Interesting thread.
It was interesting to read the chronological list of posts as you all muddled your way through to something that worked (and not saying that in a bad sense. Simply. that was one of the few options on how to solve your problems) And having something that works is important. Tho, of course, we only know it works "for now"
But let me add, I'm with jobeard 110% and don't think it's wise to manually configure your LAN by the "trial-and-error-oh-this-option-looks-interesting-lets-try-it" approach to making things work
So, point of all this being is, if you all want, you can continue to present/discuss the problems you're having and any requirements you need fill.
I'd be happy to add a network/configuration perspective from time-to-time. And i'm certain jobeard would be happy to do same (jobeard: don't want to be speaking on your behalf but thought this was a safe bet to state on your behalf)
Then, hopefully, your problems don't "just" get fixed but, rather, get fixed from a broader networking point of view.