Ethernet switch woes

[costanza.paul]

I've had Cat5e running from my home office to my den thru the wall to a 8 port gigabit switch to my TV, BluRay player, XBox, Appletv and 1 or 2 other devices. It's worked fine for over 3 years. It's fed from my home office with an ASUS RT-AC87R to a 16 port gigabit switch. Again, working fine for years.
Yesterday the Apple TV, TV, XBox etc were no longer getting internet (wireless works just so/so on Apple TV) and I thought it was the switch so I tried another one. Nope, same thing. Tested the cable and it tests fine but I tried another one anyway and, nada. Tried different ports in both switches, tried direct to the router and still, nada. The only light that lights up is the power light. There is no activity light showing on any of the ports on the den switch to show connection.
I've been told too many switches on the network can be problematic but as I've said, this has worked for nearly 3 years and just stopped. Nothing at all has been done to any device on the network. I'm at a total loss and appreciate any direction you can send me in.

 

[bill001g]

Too many switches means some huge number and that means chained in a long path. Not sure it is some restriction with spanning tree not a data restriction. Many large corporate buildings can have 100 switches, although technically they are also routers because most run layer 3 switches.

If nothing you plug into the switch lights it then it is likely a bad switch. If the problem is local device light the ports but it is only the uplink to the router then it almost has to the the in wall cabling. The cheap testers unfortunately only show that the connection is good enough to light a led it does not mean it can actually pass data.

If the in wall cable is CCA cable these have a bad issue of getting loose connections in the plugs because the different metals expand differently. This is why this cable is not certified.

So the first step if it is the in wall cable is to carry your switch over and plug it into the router with a short cable to really be sure it is your wall cable. Wall cabling that used to work luckily is almost always a jack issue. The wires themselves almost never go bad, maybe a nail or a rat might eat them but most times the cable last forever.

 

[costanza.paul]

Thanks for your input. First, I've not tried a third switch with the same results. So it can't be the switch unless 1 new and 2 used are all bad. I also ran all new cable and ran it direct without going thru an wall outlet but direct switch to switch. This is thru only 1 wall as the home office and den share a wall.

 

[bill001g]

So what happens if you put the switch next to the router and use a short cable.

You have multiple switches that do not light any ports when you plug things directly into them ?

What happens if you plug a pc into the cable going back to the router.

 

[costanza.paul]

That's odd. If I move any of the switches I've tried from the multimedia area, take it into my office and hook up the wires, it works fine. No matter what cable I try, they all work. As soon as I move it back into the multimedia area, nothing works. Only the power light works and even if I try each device by itself, it does not work.
Same thing if I go directly to the router, works in the office but not in the multimedia area.
Could there be something causing interference in the short distance in the wall? As I've said, it's been working fine for years and just stopped.
Thanks again for your input!
EDIT: I can take the same 50 ft cable and connect it (in the office) from the router to the switch or from 1 switch to another and it works fine but only while in the office. As soon as I run that 50 ft cable (or 2 other 25 ft cables) into the multimedia room, to any of the 3 switches, it does not work. So why would it work in the office but not in another room with the same equipment? I wasn't even going thru the wall, I ran it loose like an extension chord. Is it possible something is causing severe interference? If so, how does one check that?

 

[bill001g]

That is a interesting problem. A switch is almost immune from interference. The only thing that is not in common is the power, maybe a ghost in the room

At this point I would see what a long power cord in addition to the ethernet does. You could test it half way down the hall.

Interference in general just causes data errors I have never seen it disable equipment.

 

[costanza.paul]

Fixed it! It was the power supply to the 8 port switch. I have 2-8 port switches but as I tried both of them, I used the same power cable on both. DUH! Should have thought about that.
A huge thanks for sending me in the right direction.
Cheers!