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Switch randomly stops connections

Pauluk

Occasional Visitor
Hey all

I have a Tplink Deco BE65 BE9300 mesh system , this connects to a QNAP QSW-2104-2T 2-port 10GbE RJ45 and 4-port 2.5GbE RJ45 Unmanged Switch and this connects
To a TPlink 16port switch TL-SG116.

I’m having issues with the Qnap switch preventing any network throughput, everything connected to it just stops being accessible. If I remove power and reconnect then everything it fine.
It happens at least once a week but I’ve also noticed since I’ve started rebooting automatically the mesh system daily that it’s also occurring daily. Although last nice the Qnap stopped working at 11pm whereas the Deco mesh reboots at 6am.

Any ideas ? Both switches are unmanaged the only indicator on the Qnap is a warning light for loop detecting but haven’t seen that come on at all.

Thanks alot
 
draw us a sketch starting with the ISP connection showing what is connected to what ports.
My guess is you have a bad cable or bad port/connection or incompatible 2.5 Gbit switch port with another 2.5Gbit port or a WIFI7 issue in that order. Possible also power adapter issue on one of the devices.
What spec are the lan cables ?
 
draw us a sketch starting with the ISP connection showing what is connected to what ports.
My guess is you have a bad cable or bad port/connection or incompatible 2.5 Gbit switch port with another 2.5Gbit port or a WIFI7 issue in that order. Possible also power adapter issue on one of the devices.
What spec are the lan cables ?

cables are all fairly new cat5 to cat7 but various specs, maximum 5metres,one is a thin low profile type. I do have a few 15m cables but they go from the main Deco router unit to the mesh units around the house.
I would try disconnecting them one by one but its so random. it may go 4 days without a hitch, and then suddenly nothing.
It does seem to have been worsened by the constant reboot of the Deco mesh units. Before it may occur once a week maximum, but recently its every other day.
thanks
 
Ive uploaded a quick diagram of how my network looks. thanks
 

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Just some ideas to think about and how to try to troubleshoot. Since these are unmanaged switches, you will have to use the link status lights and PING.

On the DECO, are there logs for the LAN ports ?

What do you see on the link activity lights on the QNAP switch when the "freeze" occurs ? Are all the lights there and correct ?
Unplug all of the lan cables on the switch. Plug one in. Does the autonegotiate speed light come on for that port ? What link rate does it indicate ? Add another, etc.

If all the lights are good, can you ping your NAS, the DECO router, PC, and other devices attached to the QNAP switch ? Don't reboot the QNAP switch yet.. Start by pinging devices attached to the QNAP switch only. Try one by one, port by port, systematically and document the results. Easiest if you have a couple laptops/PCs to work with. You will want to do this from the 10Gbit side to the 2.5 Gbit side and vice versa and wholy on the 2.5Gb side and the 10Gb side. Ideally, you would isolate the QNAP switch from the DECO and the 16port switch. If you cannot ping other devices on the QNAP switch , then the issue may be in the switch or power adapter to the switch. If you can ping other devices on each of the ports, then i would suspect a cable/port issue or another device. CAT7 is unforgiving for termination and port pin alignment and dust/dirt. You really don't need CAT7. CAT6 would be more than adequate for these short runs.

Basically, you are trying to see if the issue follows a device/port/cable.
Start local on each switch/router device. Observe the link lights and activity lights
Once each is checked out as OK, start connecting switches together one at a time and testing with ping and watching the link lights. Sometimes, just unplugging a cable and putting it in a different port will solve the issue.

Also, as part of this, move the cable from the 16port switch to another 2.5Gbit port on the QNAP switch. Try same thing. Do the same for the QNAP switch to the DECO LAN ports. You may have to unplug the DECO secondary units.

If you cannot find the issue, one other trick is to get a 5 port Gbit switch, unmanaged, and a quality CAT6 cable long enough to reach your furthest device.
1) install the 5 port switch between the Deco main unit and the Qnap switch using the existing cable and the new cable. Wait and see if the issue changes.

If you need to test cables/terminations, get a CAT6 cable long enough for your longest connection around the QNAP switch and swap it in for each cable, one at a time, waiting for the issue to re-occur.
 
Just some ideas to think about and how to try to troubleshoot. Since these are unmanaged switches, you will have to use the link status lights and PING.

On the DECO, are there logs for the LAN ports ?

What do you see on the link activity lights on the QNAP switch when the "freeze" occurs ? Are all the lights there and correct ?
Unplug all of the lan cables on the switch. Plug one in. Does the autonegotiate speed light come on for that port ? What link rate does it indicate ? Add another, etc.

If all the lights are good, can you ping your NAS, the DECO router, PC, and other devices attached to the QNAP switch ? Don't reboot the QNAP switch yet.. Start by pinging devices attached to the QNAP switch only. Try one by one, port by port, systematically and document the results. Easiest if you have a couple laptops/PCs to work with. You will want to do this from the 10Gbit side to the 2.5 Gbit side and vice versa and wholy on the 2.5Gb side and the 10Gb side. Ideally, you would isolate the QNAP switch from the DECO and the 16port switch. If you cannot ping other devices on the QNAP switch , then the issue may be in the switch or power adapter to the switch. If you can ping other devices on each of the ports, then i would suspect a cable/port issue or another device. CAT7 is unforgiving for termination and port pin alignment and dust/dirt. You really don't need CAT7. CAT6 would be more than adequate for these short runs.

Basically, you are trying to see if the issue follows a device/port/cable.
Start local on each switch/router device. Observe the link lights and activity lights
Once each is checked out as OK, start connecting switches together one at a time and testing with ping and watching the link lights. Sometimes, just unplugging a cable and putting it in a different port will solve the issue.

Also, as part of this, move the cable from the 16port switch to another 2.5Gbit port on the QNAP switch. Try same thing. Do the same for the QNAP switch to the DECO LAN ports. You may have to unplug the DECO secondary units.

If you cannot find the issue, one other trick is to get a 5 port Gbit switch, unmanaged, and a quality CAT6 cable long enough to reach your furthest device.
1) install the 5 port switch between the Deco main unit and the Qnap switch using the existing cable and the new cable. Wait and see if the issue changes.

If you need to test cables/terminations, get a CAT6 cable long enough for your longest connection around the QNAP switch and swap it in for each cable, one at a time, waiting for the issue to re-occur.
That’s great thanks a lot. Will have a go next time it stops working.
The deco doesn’t give much info , it’s pretty basic to be honest but does the job.
 
Just some ideas to think about and how to try to troubleshoot. Since these are unmanaged switches, you will have to use the link status lights and PING.

On the DECO, are there logs for the LAN ports ?

What do you see on the link activity lights on the QNAP switch when the "freeze" occurs ? Are all the lights there and correct ?
Unplug all of the lan cables on the switch. Plug one in. Does the autonegotiate speed light come on for that port ? What link rate does it indicate ? Add another, etc.

If all the lights are good, can you ping your NAS, the DECO router, PC, and other devices attached to the QNAP switch ? Don't reboot the QNAP switch yet.. Start by pinging devices attached to the QNAP switch only. Try one by one, port by port, systematically and document the results. Easiest if you have a couple laptops/PCs to work with. You will want to do this from the 10Gbit side to the 2.5 Gbit side and vice versa and wholy on the 2.5Gb side and the 10Gb side. Ideally, you would isolate the QNAP switch from the DECO and the 16port switch. If you cannot ping other devices on the QNAP switch , then the issue may be in the switch or power adapter to the switch. If you can ping other devices on each of the ports, then i would suspect a cable/port issue or another device. CAT7 is unforgiving for termination and port pin alignment and dust/dirt. You really don't need CAT7. CAT6 would be more than adequate for these short runs.

Basically, you are trying to see if the issue follows a device/port/cable.
Start local on each switch/router device. Observe the link lights and activity lights
Once each is checked out as OK, start connecting switches together one at a time and testing with ping and watching the link lights. Sometimes, just unplugging a cable and putting it in a different port will solve the issue.

Also, as part of this, move the cable from the 16port switch to another 2.5Gbit port on the QNAP switch. Try same thing. Do the same for the QNAP switch to the DECO LAN ports. You may have to unplug the DECO secondary units.

If you cannot find the issue, one other trick is to get a 5 port Gbit switch, unmanaged, and a quality CAT6 cable long enough to reach your furthest device.
1) install the 5 port switch between the Deco main unit and the Qnap switch using the existing cable and the new cable. Wait and see if the issue changes.

If you need to test cables/terminations, get a CAT6 cable long enough for your longest connection around the QNAP switch and swap it in for each cable, one at a time, waiting for the issue to re-occur.
Ok so I just lost connections again, all the lights on the qnap switch were flickering as normal, no errors. But I couldn’t ping a few devices. I disconnected the Deco main router from the Qnap switch and plugged it into the tplink 16 port switch and everything came back. So it’s definitely the Qnap switch that seems to be locking up. I turned off the power and back on and then it was fine.

I’ve now tried a different socket on the qnap from the deco and a different cable.
See if that does anything.
 
So I set the deco to acheduled reboot daily, and straight away next morning the qnap switch had stopped working.
The light on the port to the router flickered every now and then.
The ones to my pc and qnap were solid.

I removed the deco and plugged it in and it started flashing quicker.
Still nothing from the pc or qnap. I removed all the cables and slowly plugged them all back in but apart from a flicker every few seconds nothing.

Pc ipv4 was on a strange 169.254.108.184 port which I assume is because it can’t find a dhcp server.

Powered off the qnap switch and back on. Everything works. It does seem the deco reboot upsets it more than anything. Will try today to plug in a 5 port switch between the qnap switch and the deco.

Thanks
 

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