Ubee Cable Modem + Switch + Router =Unidentified network no internet a

kendoa

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Feb 23, 2013
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Hi Folks,

I have the following problem that bothers me right now, and the inability to use my net jacks, just drives me nuts. 🙁

A quick summary of my problem in 1 sentence: Ubee Cable Modem + Linksys Router+ D-Link Switch = Unidentified network no internet access from the internet jacks.

My apartment was prewired with cat5e cables, which were not only left unfinished, but 2 of them were connected to a voice module. All the wiring goes together in a panel box and I decided to connect them by finishing /patching the cables with rj45 connectors and then plugging them into a D-link DES-1108 Switch. The internet comes through a coax cable into ubee modem and then connected to Linksys wrt54g v1, and then I connect the router with a separate cable into nearby wall jack to juice up the home Ethernet. Until..... it says Unidentified network no internet access 🙁 I am getting pissed off since I read almost everything in the forums of reinstalling the internet card, disable dhcp, etc, but nothing really works. Not to mention that I can only plug eiher the router or Ethernet cable into the modem. If I connect the switch directly to the modem, says unidentified network again. The switch works only when plugged directly to the router. I guess I have to set the modem to be in a bridge mode, but with my limited desire to deal with TWC equipment, I would rather stay away from it.

I am sure I am doing something wrong in this whole setup; the only good thing is that at least the Ethernet is 100mbps, but no ipv4 or ipv6 protocols, in other words no internet.

I would be very thankful if someone have an idea what might have went wrong, and how I can get internet coming out of the wall jacks. Thank you in advance! :)

Regards
 
I suspect your modem is actually a router and the methods to troubleshoot depends greatly if it is a router or a modem.

First try the simple thing. Take the linksys router and the switch and a PC and put it all on a table and plug it together pretending the cable are the in wall connections. You need to work until you can get your PC to get IP and be able to access the router configuration page. Now put it back in place and make sure you can do the same via the in wall wiring. At this point you know your only problem is how to connect your linksys router to the ubee and as I mentioned it depends what the ubee actually is.
 
Thanks for the reply John. Yes I did the above mentioned suggestion, and what I found out is the following:

1. Without using the wall jacks,the router connected to the modem and switch connected to the router gives me Internet access on the table.

2. Switch connected to the modem directly does not provide with internet access.

3. The modem does not allow 2 devices to be hooked up in the eithernet jacks. I can only hook up either my laptop directly, or the router, but not both at the same time. I have to go through the eithernet jacks of the router in order to connect my laptop.This tells me that the modem is preconfigured somehow by Time Warner Cable, so you cannot have too many devices.

4. When ubee docsis 3.0 was installed in my apartment, the technitian told me that the WIFI function of the modem is off, unless I want to activate it for a montly fee, which of course is not relevant since I have a Lynksis router.

Right now what is happening in my Lan network is the inability of my switch to pick up the internet from the router plugged into the wall jack. I see the home eithernet saying 100mbps, but not internet: Unidentified network, no internet access.

I hope this makes sense, not sure if everything was clear from my first post.

Thank you again John, I do appreciate your help. Hopefully I will be able to resolve my problem.



 
It is very common for a ISP to prevent you from getting 2 IP addresses. When you run a switch behind the modem each device would need a IP itself. This is the key reason people buy routers.

If I read correctly you can make it work if you do not use the in wall wires. You cable it Modem--router--switch--pc and all is fine as long as it is directly patched.

In building cabling is tricky and is very easy to get wrong if you have not done it a lot. The most important thing is to ensure the pairs of wires are correctly matched. I could not even come close to some of the nice diagrams available so search for T568 and you will get a number of example. The most common error that makes it partially work but not is to have the pairs split. For example instead of using say green and green/white for a pair you use Green and blue. The lights will come on and it will say you have connection but it many times will not pass traffic.



 



Thanks John!

I have patched the cables using T568B diagram. I am going to repatch them using the T568A diagram. I hope it will work this time. I will keep you posted on the outcome.
 
I repatched the cables, but the result is the same: Unidentified network, no internet access. When I plug in a eithernet cable into the wall jack, I see the switch blinking, when I unplug the eithernet cable, no ports on the swithc indicate activity. What is surprising is that even the cat5e cable that goes through the walls and is supposedly connecting the switch and router, when plugged in with the other cables in the switch, none of the switch ports indicate activity. I am lost right now. 🙁 Idk what else to do. I triple checked all the rj45 connectors allready.
 
I still have no good ideas really. Maybe someone else will.

Generally if the ports light up your cables are ok but, since all equipment test out fine when you use patch cables it has to something with the cables.

A cable tester would be the solution but they are expensive.

I would pick up a $5 rj45-rj45 splice connector thing. Then you should be able to hook combinations of wires together any maybe find your problem. I would put static address on all your machines. This should then let you ping between machines without a connection to the router.

As a last resort since you are only running 100m. Try using the brown/blue pairs rather than the orange/green pairs. Of course this mean repunching down both ends of each cable you want to test. You would just follow the same diagram but trade the brown for orange and the blue for green.

This is a very tough one

 
I agree with john that you need to test the wiring with a tester. About the cheapest good one that I know of is the Triplett WireMaster XR2 3254 set ($68 on Amazon), although in a pinch you can use a 9V radio battery with a set of alligator clips and a short length of CAT5/6 cable with a connector on one end, although it is a slow and painful process.

When you connect a computer directly to the Ubee modem do you still get an unidentified network? If so, what OS version (i.e. Win 7 Pro, Home Premium, or?)?
 
John, Beast,

Thank you guys for your replies. I am operating on win7 home premium and when connected directly to the modem I have internet access. I did use the cheap 9v, $5 cable tester, which indicated that all the wiring is working. I think I have to look into buying the Triplett and test the entire wiring. I just hope that the developer/whoever wired the apartment did not use faulty cat5 cable. Yes, I agree that this whole networking issue appears to be very complicated and out of any logical boundaries. I will try repatching by switching the colors of the connectors, test again with both the cheap and Triplett tester again. IP addresses will be set on static as well. I am really motivated to fix this issue.

John and Beast thank you for following closely my LAN endeavor and guiding me through this mess. I am not going to stop looking for a solution and I will update in couple of days.

Cheers
 
Earlier you mentioned your cable pattern -- while *most* companies and installers use 568B, some do not and use instead 568A, although much less common. Obviously one cable must have the same version at each end, but both types of connections can be used on cables used together (although crosstalk may be more of an issue). If you use 568B on one end and 568A on the other you end up with a crossover cable.
 
Couple things about cable modems, as mentioned you generally get 1 IP that not a guarantee,and some companies will provide you additional IP's as long as you PAY for them.

Ubee does make a gateway [modem\router combo unit], but I will assume you have an actual MODEM with only 1 Ethernet port at this time.

That one IP address must feed the router so that it can do NAT and handle mulitple devices over the one IP your modem is given.

In addition to that if its a real modem it will lock into the first MAC address it sees when it boots [the way you have it setup in the title, will be whatever device happens to request the IP first through the switch to the modem, you must reboot it if you change the first device it connects to, so if you were to snatch the Ethernet out of the switch and shove it in to the router and expect magic, you're going to fail.

You need to set up the wiring for modem to router, then to switch then set the router up for static/dynamic wan IP assignment depending on what your paying for dynamic is most likley and also most routers default to this [this is NOT LAN but WAN now] pull the power on the router and the modem, boot the modem [by re-powering it] and wait about 5 minutes go make a sandwich or use the restroom or something. Then boot the router, you should notice a link light change when the router begins to boot up, this is the devices negotiating to get IP's and whatever else straight.

Then boot up a computer and give it a minute to get its data as well [that's about 3 sandwiches so far, don't do this often or you'll get fat I don't care what subway says] and then see what is going on.

 



This is what I have right now:

The cables coming into the panel box are patched with rj45 connectors using the T568A diagram. One of those cables leads to the wall from which I am testing the wired lan/wan in my home, which unfortunately proved unsuccessful.

What really makes me feel doubtful about my cable configuration is the following:

1. The router is connected to the modem directly.

2. Another Ethernet cable, originating from the router, is plugged into the internet jack, which I assume leads to the panel box with all cables. Clarification – this is the same wall jack from where the coax cable comes for the Tv and Internet. I hope this is irrelevant for my case, but I would rather mention that.

3. I am unclear why the switch does not flash a light of the port to which internet is being distributed. I assume the cable that comes from the router into the wall jack is delivering Internet to the switch. Unfortunately, nothing indicates activity until I am trying to connect my laptop.

4. The only instance when the switch indicates activity is when I try to connect my laptop via Ethernet cable plugged into the wall jack.

Is there any inconsistency that I might be missing? I assume nowadays I don’t need a crossover cable that needs to be connecting router and wall jack, am I wrong?

5. My computer recognizes Lan/Wan according to the 100 mbps Unidentified Network with no Internet Access. What is missing is the Internet access.

I tested both instances - T568A, T568B, but neither proved successful. Should I exclude any possibilities of wrongly matched color schemes? Could the wall jack be wrongly punched down? At the moment I am thinking what I am missing from this picture- cable configuration, ip configuration, or something else. I tested both ways so far, and as far as I am aware the only cable TWC has provided me was the cable from the modem into the router, anything else has been put into place when the building was developed. I hope I find resolution to my case.



 



Wacabletech,

Thank you for your reply! I Like your style :) I hope I don’t get fat when testing my network.
Yes, I have wrongfully labeled the thread, which should read modem->router->switch->unidentified network no internet access.

I am assuming Time Warner Cable provides me with dynamic IP address, so I am connecting directly my router into modem. And then a cable from the router is plugged into a wall jack, which I assume leads into the panel box where my switch is connecting all the cables and other internet jacks respectively.You are completely right about Ubee modems  I can only use one Ethernet jack at a time. I cannot have router and pc directly connected to the modem due to the one IP policy. I am fine with that, since I am connecting Ethernet cable into my router without a problem

What really happens is that I cannot access Internet from my wall jacks. I am expecting that my cable, coming out of the router into a wall jack, to deliver internet to the switch in the cable panel box, and from there to be able to access internet from any internet jack in my house.
Please have in mind that when I take out the switch from the panel box and connect into the router and then connect laptop to the switch via either cable I get internet. My point is to have the switch in the panel box and powering up all other internet jacks in my house.

What I am achieving at this point is UNIDENTFIED NETWORK NO INTERNET ACCESS.
I am getting really dishearten, since my hardware is working, the wiring has been tested 3 times, but to no avail.


 

You really need to test the in wall connections, I've come in and checked home wiring where upon pulling off the CAT5e wall covers, the cable was not even connected. And it certainly could have been done incorrectly.

You know that your cable service works from connecting a computer directly to the modem. You could also do a direct connection from the modem to the router and then to a computer without using the single wall jack in the closet where the cable comes in, and then using the in wall line, which will tell you if that line is faulty and that everything other than the in wall wiring works fine.
 


So let me see, you can plug a computer directly into the router in your current setup [laptop or whatever] and surf just fine ,which means the issue is now the house wires.

OK and so this is what I want you to do. You know there are connectors inside the smart panel right? I believe you said you put them on. So now we need to worry about the other end. Take a screw driver remove the two screws from the wall plate you are using, and look inside, if you cannot determine if they are hooked up right or not, then take a picture and post it here.

Then take a picture of the panel and post it as well, just clear enough to see what goes where now. Most have some sort of weird switch in the panel which I suspect you are talkign about so that you feed a RJ45 jumper form the router to the port and it lights up the wires.
 


Thanks Beast! Yeah I already tried all variations of connecting with or without the wall jack. It doesn’t work at all since at least one wall jack has to be involved, where I have to plug my latop to test the wired lan/wan connection. The closet, where the panel box is located, happens to be next to the door where I have the modem and router connected, so I have explored all possibilities of juicing up the switch with internet.

1st trial: modem->router->20 feet Ethernet cable directly plugged into switch-> unidentified network, no internet access.

2nd trial modem- router-> Ethernet cable into wall jack, which leads to the panel box, where the switch is located -> still no internet access.

3rd trial tested 2 trial from different wall jacks -> still no internet access.

In those 3 instances the switch is indicating a blinking active port even when I am not connected to any internet jack.

Please see my next post with pictures how the cat5 wall jacks are connected as well as how cables are set up.

 


Hi Wacabletech,

1. Pictures of my internet jack and how they are connected:

walljack2.jpg


walljack1.jpg


2. Setup system into my wall jack plus patched blue cable that connects router to the switch

modemroutersettup.jpg

patchedcableintowalljac.jpg

routerintowalljack.jpg


3. Now after this blue Ethernet able is plugged into the wall jack it all leads to the panel box where I have my d-link switch. You will also see telephone patch panel which does not do much for me at all.
panelbox.jpg

panelbox2.jpg


4. When all wires are connected I see a blinking port.

laptopviawired.jpg

This tells me my Wan is working so far. But that’s it I am not sure if the switch is juiced up with internet at this point.

5. I plug Ethernet cable into a different wall jack than one that was shown above on the picture, and my switch indicates 2 active. This is where my laptop indicated Unidentified Network No Internet Access 

nothingpluggedswitch.jpg


6. Second scenario: From the router I run 20 feet cable directly to the switch bypassing the wall jack in order to juice up with internet the other wall jacks around the apartment. The result is the same - Unidentified Network No Internet Access 

7. No matter how I finished the cat5 cables into the panel box using both possible diagrams, the result is the same - Unidentified Network No Internet Access. But at the same time I can see a working Wan 100 mbps.

8. I have set my laptop to receive a static ip address as well when connected to a wired connection, but no result so far.

9. If the cables are the problem, I hope I can change some patching that will help.

10. Today I run again the in-bild Windows 7 network diagnostic configuration and it popped up 2 messages;
a) cable unplugged or broken;
b) local area connection does not have a valid ip configuration

11. This is my ipconfig when connected with cable:

255.255.255.0 Subnet mask
192.168.1.142(preferred) ipv4 address
Default gateway192.168.1.1
dhcp server 192.168.1.1
dns server 210.18.42.79
media disconnected

I hope this info will shed some more light on to my problem.

 
So I am a tad confused: the one picture of the jack off the wall shows two cat5 cables one for phone [should be white] one for internet [should be blue] but then the picture with it on the wall shows a coax jack in the middle. So these are clearly different jacks. The one thing you need to verify is that you are feeding the jack with the BLUE cat 5 on it [at the modem router combo] and on the other jacks where you want service you are certain which jack is the blue one there. Often levitron will have both phone and data going to RJ45 jacks [ethernet] becasue a RJ14/11 clip for phone will fit just fine into one, but it will not carry data at least not well.

You can use a standard phone toner [if you have one] to verify this or just your eyes with a screwdriver works too as long as you keep it straight after you put it back on. I recommend turning the plates so all blue [data] are on the bottom, just makes it easier even if the plug is upside down. Or you can pop the modules off and move them but that can go bad, so the turn the plate then put screws in usually is safer.

See before I thought you had the modem/router in the levitron smart panel, so I did not realize we have two ethernet cables being used to feed one computer one to the panel and one back out.

Now the question is, are they all showing or are some tucked up in the smurf tubes hiding. And did you get the colors right. AS blue is usually phone in my installs, not sure if the company has a standard or not but white or grey is usually the data set, not real important unless they daisy chained phone and thought it was blue.
 


Yes, Sorry I did not upload a picture of the wall jack with the feeding blue cat5, but the setup and the wiring is identical with the one I am trying to get internet access from. I will upload a picture as well, so there is no confusion. Sorry my bad.

Regarding the leviton panel, it is for phone only, since I called the company and they confirmed that this model is for phone only. Even though i have 2 wall outputs in each socket for cat cable, one is clearly for phone with no data. I don’t mistake them and I always plug in the one that is for internet. Even if I plug into the phone, it won’t recognize any cable plugged in. So on this matter it is clear which jack I am plugging the Ethernet cable in. Also when TWC technician installed the Ubee modem, he confirmed with me that the blue cables are the cat5 and need to be connected somehow to the router.

Now I think you are right to question the cable color scheme setup and whether or not did something wrong. I am posting pictures of the wall jack where the blue cable goes in. I am going to show what the setup in the jack is, and then I will show you how the other end of the wall jack cable is plugged into the switch. I have tried multiple instances of finishing the cables on my end, but did not thought of rechecking the wall jack, even though it seemed done ok.

1 & 2 pictures –wall jack next to the modem and router:
img2013030600262.jpg

img2013030600263.jpg


3 picture- the blue cable feeding the wall jack from router:

img2013030600264.jpg


4 picture the other end of the wall jack that is plugged into the switch:

img2013030600266.jpg


Now I am not sure how to continue further. I tried almost everything so far.
 
I'm confused by the very last picture, that is not a 568B wiring pattern, it looks like a 568A as far as I can see, which makes that a crossover cable since the ends are wired one as 568A and one as 568B.

If all the wall jacks are wired like pictures 1 & 2, the wall jacks are all 568B pattern, so any connectors on the other end of the cable would need to be 568B also or they would be crossover.
 




Yes, the last picture is 568A. When I first tried to build the Wan, I finished the cables going into the switch using 568B diagram, but no success- I still got Unidentified Network No Internet Access. Should I repatch using the B diagram again? I know the result would be the same.
 
Even if the result is the same, one step is to correct all the wiring problems, and having a crossover pattern is a problem. So yes, use 569B for all your connectors, since that is what the wall sockets are wired.

I would also order a tester, to check all the cable and in wall cabling to determine if it will work.
 



Thanks Beast,

Ok, I will use 569B again and perform cable tests again. I will post picture and videos here on the forum. I hope we will find out what the problem is.