What causes my network workgroup to fail

[SHELLY123]

Hi, I have four pc's connected through a GX-D1081 ASUS switch which is now a few years old. Two of the pc's have just been upgraded to windows 8, the other two are on windows 7. Also into the switch goes my BT broadband router and my network hp printer 1505n. Suddenly I am losing the complete network during normal use. Instead of having green lights on my switch one of them goes amber and another has no light on at all. If I unplug the switch from the power and then power back up, all the lights go orange and then turn to green and the network comes back on. This has never happened before until today and it has happened twice, really frustrating. I am not very techy and think the switch has became faulty. Should I go buy a new switch or might it be something else. Need it explaining in layman terms please as I don't have a clue. Thanks for your help

 

[TheHawk]

Hi Shelley123. If your router has at least 4 Ethernet ports at the rear, there is no need for a switch as you have 4 pc's. If your "router" only has 1 Ethernet port, what you have is a modem. Normally, your Internet signal comes in and goes to a modem first, and if you have more than 1 pc or devices that need wireless connectivity,you would connect a wireless router to that single modem port and connect your 4 pc's to the 4 ports found on most routers.If you had at least 5 devices that need to be connected by Ethernet cable, you would use a switch which you would connect to one of your router's ports, then connect the fourth pc and any other Ethernet device to one of the 4 or more ports on the switch. Are you sure you are using a switch and not a hub? Could you tell us what other hardware you have in your network besides your 4 pc's which you connect by Ethernet cable?

 

[SHELLY123]

Hi The Hawk, the setup is like this, we have a Bt router [which has 4 ports on the back],into this router is just plugged the switch, which is the ASUS thing. Into the Asus switch is etherneted 4 pc's and a printer and the ethernet back to the router. We had a massive ransomware vius called cyberlocker which completley destroyed our network. the network was rebuilt with two replacment pc's [being windows 8 others being windows 7]. All seemed fine until friday when all pc's were active at the same time and the network crashed twice. The same port had gone orange on the switch both times and another had gone off all together. The switch does not have a power off button, but when the pwer lead was pulled out and then put back in the network reconnected, both times. If that makes any sense . Also both windows 8 pc's had the wireless password entered for the BT router on setup.
Not sure if we have a config error, date collision or if switch is on the blink.

After rereading your post, should I be filling the router's ethernet ports first, then putting the remainder into the switch.

 

[TheHawk]

Ah, the plot thickens!. Reading up on cyberlocker shows that it is a very nasty piece of work. I'm curious if any work was done to scan and clean/reinstall the Operating Systems on the other 2 pc's, any flashdrives,external drives,etc. The first order of business is to have completely clean drives ( hard drives,external drives,flashdrives, or CD's/DVD'S ( burned maybe a week or so before you had this issue) that may still be on you network or infected files that were reintroduced onto your network. Are you running a good Anti-Virus/Malware program and running any other security scans like Kaspersky TDSSKiller for rootkits or something similar?.

You might need more help to make sure you are 100% free of this virus on all media that connects to your network
Assuming your system is totally clean of this virus, when you state:

"The switch does not have a power off button, but when the pwer lead was pulled out and then put back in the network reconnected, both times"
- Has the system stayed on since this happened?

" Also both windows 8 pc's had the wireless password entered for the BT router on setup."
If the pc's have wireless capability and that's how you want to use them, disconnect them from the switch, and if used with an Ethernet connection, turn off the wireless adapter,only have one type of internet connection at a time, wired by Ethernet or wireless. Are these desktop pc's with wireless capability, or are they laptops, which will have both connection options?. Desktops with wireless capability can have their wireless capability turned off in Device Manager, laptops usually have a slide switch somewhere on the case or it can be turned off with some F key+number combo, but in either case, I would disable the wireless adapters in Device Manager if the pc's are to be connected by Ethernet cable.

If every system goes down and they are all used wirelessly, everything points to the router (or a loss of your Internet signal). If all systems go down and they are all connected by Ethernet they way you have them now (connected to the switch),the switch or possibly the router could be going bad. If a pc plugged into the router stayed up when the others that are plugged into the switch go down, the switch looks like the culprit.I would normally connect 3 pc's to the router, and use the fourth router LAN port to connect the switch and other pc and printer,
See these links:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...r-locker/40640b52-e609-4c9c-bc6b-05adafd3008a

http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/tdsskiller