My office was built in 2001…I was privileged to know a guy who helped me wire our phone, cable and Cat5 wire throughout the building, saving thousands of dollars in costs and helped me look at construction with more scrutiny than a typical laymen.
Anyways, he did the block work in the electrical room while I did the wall outlets after we ran the wire together. Forty outlet boxes later, I knew how to make good contact with the Cat5 wiring and we tested each line with great results.
I currently have Charter TV/Internet services and they provided the modem and have since upgraded the original with a SMC8014 model. I recently called Charter to test the modem within the last week, and the tech said that everything is running fine on their end up to, and including the modem itself.
The problem I have is that I get that toolbar message saying that I am losing and regaining internet connectivity (“Local Area Connection”) at the desired 100Mbps. Some days it happens 20-30 times during the day I am here, other days it doesn’t happen at all. A part of me thinks that heat maybe affecting my router or my hub/switch (I do run a small fan on all 3 pieces of equipment), or that maybe one or both items are getting old and starting to fail. I lack expertise when it comes to troubleshooting electronics let alone know the expected life of each item, so that is why I am asking for some recommendations on how to proceed with solving this issue.
In network, I currently have 11 desktop computers from Dell, purchased in 2006 or 2007, 2 network printers (Savin 4035 and Savin 8045), and no servers.
My Router: Linksys BEFSR41 V.2 Instant Broadband Ether Fast Cable/DSL Router I believe I bought this for the building back in 2001, but I may be wrong.
My Hub/Switch: Netgear ProSafe 16 Port 10/100 Switch Model FS116
I believe this was extra equipment my partner already had left over from a previous job and it was the right size for my needs…so this might be older than 2001.
So, how should I proceed? Is there a simple troubleshoot (or diagnostic) that I could do to either item, or is it easier to just go and buy new equipment? I probably have enough patience for 1 to 2 hours of troubleshooting/updating, before I decide to spend $100 per item (you can scale that if you want).
And if I do end up replacing one or both items, what are the best replacement items that you would recommend to a fellow Doper?
Thank You in Advance!!!
Yeti