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Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 08:49:13 GMT

Hi All,

I've recently moved into a new build house and have set up my smart hub by the ONT.
I have the red WAN cable plugged into PORT 1 on the ONT, then I have ethernet ports 1 & 2 serving upstairs and downstairs.

The smart hubont box - grey cable for downstairs and the black cable for upstairs

(Excuse the mess!)
In the upstairs room, I have an ethernet port that's plugged into my PC. I've tried everything, netsh winsock reset, netsh int IP reset. I've tried uninstalling the driver and restarting so windows re-installs.
I even went to the extreme and reset my PC. Nothing has solved this issue yet.

I've titled this as desktop only because for whatever bizarre reason if I unplug the desktop ethernet cable from the wall into my work laptop, it connects fine!?

Any ideas on what might be causing the issue? Anything else I should try?

Kind regards,

Dan

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

gg30340 — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 09:36:37 GMT

Have you turned off the laptop's wireless to ensure that is connecting by Ethernet and not wireless.

Does the PC work if you plug it in directly to the Ethernet port on the BT Smarthub?

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 09:45:03 GMT

Yes, WiFi is off on the laptop. Shows in Windows 10 as "Network 2 - Connected", and googling, teams, emails etc. all coming through on laptop.
Will take PC downstairs and plug into the router. And report back

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 10:00:06 GMT

Can confirm plugging with a huge cable directly into the router works fine.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

gg30340 — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 15:17:36 GMT

If it works when you plug it into the hub directly it can only mean there is a problem with the Ethernet cable connection through your Ethernet socket from the hub to the upstairs room.

It may be that the Ethernet cable has been connected up as a crossover cable rather than a straight through cable. Most devices can auto detect that and adjust accordingly which may be what is happening with your laptop. If your PC is an older device it may not be happening with the networking card it has installed and as such it can not get connected.

You can check the way the cable has been connected by removing the Ethernet socket face plate and looking at the way the wires are placed into the socket. You need to do this at both end. If you do an Internet search on Crossover vs Ethernet Straight through cable you should find diagrams showing how they are wired. Don't get too hung up on the colours of the wires as long as the same coloured wire goes into the correct terminal at either end it will still work.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 17:01:27 GMT

So i took the faceplate off on both sides.
Both look like they are wired straight to me? I've attached the pictures below.

Downstairs wiringupstairs wiring (its a ethernet and aerial port, hence the green board and copper wire)

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

licquorice — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 17:13:23 GMT

You need to check whether the patch leads are straight or crossover as well.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 17:33:05 GMT

Sorry when you say patch leads, you mean the rj45 connectors? Like the cable ends?

One that be checking the leads at both ends or one? (Is it safe to presume if one end is crossed-over, the over would be?)

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

licquorice — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 17:39:35 GMT

Yes, there are 3 discrete connections which have the possibility to be straight or crossover. Hub to socket1, socket1 to socket2 and socket2 to PC. If both patch cords are crossover and the cable between the sockets is straight, the resultant end to end connection will be straight. When you moved the PC and only used one patch lead, the result would be a crossover connection.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 19:35:06 GMT

So Ive checked the cables.

I'm using the yellow cable that came with the smart hub into my pc, that's a cat 5e cable and from the picture below it looks like it's a straight connection? (I'm going to presume that all Bt standard cables are straight?)

Then I'm using a cat 6 cable from the router to the ethernet port downstairs.

Cat6 cable

That also looks straight.

So the layout:

ONT -> Router Wan -> Red cat6 cable (Straight) into Ether Port for Upstairs (Straight) -> Ethernet Port upstairs (straight) -> Yellow bt cat 5e cable into PC

And that would lead into a crossover connection which I wouldn't want?

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

licquorice — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 19:51:31 GMT

That would lead to a straight connection if all connections are straight. If your network card isn't auto sensing, you need a crossover connection somewhere along the line.

However, if all your leads and cables are straight, it doesn't explain how your PC worked when directly connected as that would also be straight.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 13:47:57 GMT

Bought a crossover cable on amazon, installed that from the ethernet port 2 into the upstairs and used two cables now to try and see if it would work.

Still no luck I'm afraid :(.

One thing I have noticed, I've gone into the system log for the hub and noticed this;

So I changed my setting on the ethernet port from auto negotiated to 100 MP full duplex. Now its not connecting at all. With auto its supposedly a 10mbps connection? Is this some kind of duplex mis-match issue?

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

licquorice — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 16:26:02 GMT

This problem is seriously weird.

To prove that the 3 patch leads (the 2 original plus new crossover lead) are OK and that auto sensing is not a problem, can you try connecting the PC directly to the hub with all 3 leads one at a time please.

If that is successful, it only leaves the cabling between the 2 RJ45 sockets. I guess it might be possible that there is a dodgy connection with one or more of the wires that the laptop is less sensitive to but the PC doesn't like.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 18:20:33 GMT

Thought i'd check my laptop again just to be sane.
Now the laptop is not working and that's coming up as unidentified network - no internet :(.

I guess that's better than both are now failing.
Here's a screenshot of the technical log;

LAPTOP-CO37I1DS in OIE process has timed out. No idea what that means. But it doesn't sound correct.

Should also mention I've disconnected everything, and just have ONT -> WAN & ethernet port 1 connected to upstairs with yellow BT ethernet cable.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

licquorice — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 18:37:43 GMT

Can you confirm that everything works ok when directly connected to the hub rather than via the wall Ethernet sockets.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 19:53:04 GMT

So earlier I reset my hub.

When I arrived at the property the ONT ether port 1 was plugged into the downstairs port.
And I initially plugged the router into the living room port and the BT TV box directly into the hub.

I've just replicated that, plugging in the router to the living room port and the BT TV box directly into the hub. THEN I've plugged in a long cable from the living room through the hallway and into the cupboard and the upstairs port.

AND my laptop connection is working. But my PC isn't.

I then thought i'd revert.
So I put the ONT cable back into the WAN port, I have the RED BT wan cable plugged into downstairs port.
Then I've got my long cat 6 cable that was previously in the hallway & into the living room plugged in upstairs and port 3 on the hub.

AND my laptop connection is working. But again the PC does not.

Can confirm everything runs fine when the laptop is directly connected to the hub in any of the three ethernet ports.
The PC I plugged a long cable from upstairs to downstairs yesterday into port 2 only and that did work fine.
I haven't tried the other 2, but I'm confident they would work if the laptop did?

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

licquorice — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 20:30:53 GMT

I'm really struggling to comprehend what is going on here.

One other test you could try.

Connect the ONT to the upstairs port and then plug the hub in upstairs. See if the hub gets a signal and the PC and laptop work ok.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 21:02:33 GMT

So the ONT cable is plugged directly into the upstairs port in the cupboard.

The hub WAN cable I've plugged into the ethernet port upstairs. And then I've got a cable plugged into Ether Port 1 on the hub into my pc.

The hub is just flashing pink/purple. But that should work fine right? Does downstairs in the living room port.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

licquorice — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 21:10:07 GMT

Looks like the cable to the upstairs port is the source of the problem. Check that all the connections are fully pushed home in the IDC connectors of the sockets.

Re: Unidentified network - desktop only.

dan3691 — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 21:15:56 GMT

@licquorice and by idc connectors you mean the ends of the Ethernet cables are all in place fine?

I checked that, took them out and back in to make sure I heard the click all in securely.

Or do you mean take the faceplate off, make sure all the wiring is securely in each bit?