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[productuser]

I get no connection when connecting the DNS-323 to my network switch. When I connect the ethernet cable, the connection light on the switch never comes on. If I bypass the switch and connect the DNS-323 directly to my PC's ethernet card, the connection light comes on and everything works.

What's going on? There aren't any configurations that would affect whether the connection light on the switch comes on or not. This is the only device which does not connect with the switch. Could it be a hardware issue with the DNS-323?

[fordem]

How about a little "history" of what's been done with the DNS-323?  Is it new, fresh out of the box, or what?

At it's default settings I'd say there's no reason why a DNS-323 should not connect to a network switch, any network switch - it comes from the factory set to auto-negotiate the network speed and duplex settings, and it has a gigabit port that handles "auto-MDIX" so once your switch is set up the same way (auto-negotiate) then the two of them should talk to one another.

Possible problems would be a bad ethernet port on the DNS-323 - which is unlikely since you say it works with your PC and a bad cable.

Now - if you or someone else has been fiddling in the network setup and changed a setting - like setting it to gigabit rather than auto ...

[productuser]

Thanks. The unit was purchased on 11/18/08 and used for a few weeks and then shelved until now. I installed the latest firmware and did a reset. Setting the 100/1000/auto did not help. The switch is a Netgear ProSafe GS116 Gigabit switch.

I called D-Link tech support and they said that the problem is that the DNS-323 will not work with the switch because it isn't a router. They said the DNS-323 requires a network that is managed with a router, but in this office we used a network switch with a PC that manages IP assignments. I was really surprised to hear that the DNS-323 does not work without a dedicated router to manage the network when a PC can do the same thing. What I don't understand is that, whether it is compatible the Windows TCP/IP management or not, it still does not even negotiate with the switch, and that has nothing to with IP management.

[fordem]

I hate to say this, but whoever you dealt with in tech support is - ahh - clueless.

First - if we're discussing the link lights as in your first post, then, as you mention in your second post, ip addressing is of no relevance whatsoever.

The DNS-323 does not need a "network that is managed by a router", in fact, as I believe you already know having connected it directly to your PC, it doesn't even need a switch - you can connect it directly to a PC, assign the PC a static ip address in the 192.168.0.x network range (anything other than 192.168.0.32), allow the DNS-323 to default to 192.168.0.32 and use it like that.

I see no reason why you should have problems using a Netgear GS116 switch - although an auto negotiation problem is one possible cause of your problem.  My DNS-323 is currently connected to a Netgear GS108T, and prior to that a Netgear FS728TS and I believe a Netgear FS726T - the basic difference between my Netgear switches and yours is that mine are SmartSwitches and have some degree of management capabilities allowing me to fiddle with the speed & duplex settings - IF - I need to, something that I have never done with these.

For the record - I have a Netgear router, but, my IP management is handled by the DHCP service on my Windows 2008 server.  My DNS-323 does have a static ip address, as I consider static addresses on servers to be a mandatory requirement.  If it were not my network, I would rephrase that to "for servers, static ip addressing is strongly suggested", but since it's my network, my rules apply, and it is mandatory.

Back to the problem at hand - try a different cable, if you have not already done so - even if the same cable works with your PC - gigabit networks can be finicky where cables are concerned, especially when it comes to length and the "pairing" (which wires connect to which pins in the connector) - there is actually only one correct way to wire the cable, but, the slower networks are more tolerant of miswired cables.  If necessary, move the DNS-323 so it's right next to the switch and use a short "known good" patch cord.

You can also try locking the speed of the DNS-323 down to 100 and see what happens.

[productuser]

First of all, thanks so much for taking the time to help. It was the cable! The cable must be finicky. It works when connecting the DNS-323 to the PC but not to the switch. I tried another cable and it works great. Back in business! 

[fordem]

I'm going to guess that your PC only has a 100 mbit card, and that the cable has a broken wire in it - but - it's just a guess, and it could be wrong.  Here's why...

10/100 requires only two of the four pairs of wire, but gigabit requires all four - so with some of the wires broken, you could still connect properly at 10/100, but when you plug into the gigabit switch, and it tries to auto negotiate a connection, it will fail.

Anyway - good to hear that we got it going and glad that I could help.