Unable to see NAS boxes on ADSL connected network

I am sorry if this sounds complicated but it is!

I have just moved house from a Virgin cable to Virgin ADSL network and am having some strange problems with my admittedly complicated network.

Prior to the move everything was working fine and the network was broadly similar with a cable router.

My configuration is as follows:

Virgin provided D-Link DSL-2640R IGD modem
Connected to that:
Ethernet cable (1)
Media Centre PC
The Internet

Devolo dlan 200AV Powerline adaptor
Connected to that
Windows Vista PC

Netgear GS 608 8 port switch
Connected to that
Ethernet cable (1) above
HP Homeserver
Buffalo Terrastation Pro NAS
Netgear ReadyNAS Duo
Devolo dlan 200AV Powerline adaptor

The two PCs and HP Homeserver are all working fine.

The two NAS boxes are not visible on the network. The Terastation status display shows �no link� and the ReadyNAS has a blue flashing light.

If I run Advanced IP Scanner 1.5 from the Media Centre PC � it shows correctly the three connected devices.

I think the issue might be because the NAS boxes can�t pick up an IP address even though DHCP is enabled on the router.

If I go into the Status screen on the router and look at the DHCP connected clients it is only showing the Media Centre PC and HP Home Server and interestingly the Host Name displayed for the HP Home Server is blank.

The Netgear GS 608 8 port switch was installed this morning; previously I had been using the 4 port version with exactly the same result.

If, however, I plug the Ethernet cable(1) directly into the Terastation box, it picks up an IP address and the link is OK. As soon as I unplug the cable and swap everything back to how I described above �no link� is back.

At least the NAS boxes seem physically to be working but it seems to be combination of router and switch causing the issue. But if this is the case, then why are the HP Homeserver and Vista PCs working?

Does anyone have any ideas for what I can do to get the NAS boxes to appear on the network?

Edited by deleted (Sun 18-Apr-10 15:30:11)

Sounds like a cross-over cable problem. Is there an alternative port to plug the ethernet cable into? Or use cross-over cables to connect to the NAS boxes.

Yes, I am probably using different cables to what was in my configuration before the move.

I'll get some cross-over cables and see what happens.

Thanks for your help.

Glenn

Actually, I see the ports on the switch are auto-sensing, so it may just be bad cables to the NAS boxes.

In reply to a post by gmc1:

... Does anyone have any ideas for what I can do to get the NAS boxes to appear on the network?

A previously set fixed IP or a mix of 10/100 and Giganet ethernet connections are the usual suspects.

Edited by Deadbeat (Sun 18-Apr-10 17:27:12)

If, however, I plug the Ethernet cable(1) directly into the Terastation box, it picks up an IP address and the link is OK. As soon as I unplug the cable and swap everything back to how I described above �no link� is back.

You could go back to the setup which you say did work; anmd then move one connection at a time.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Sounds like a cross-over cable problem. Is there an alternative port to plug the ethernet cable into? Or use cross-over cables to connect to the NAS boxes.

An update - I did get a cross-over cable.

My Terastation Pro works fine now.

The Netgear ReadyNAS Duo is still not working unfortunately even with the cross-over cable.

All I get is something like 30 fast blinking blue lights followed by 15 slow blinking lights alternating.

I guess there is more wrong here than I thought and will try swapping out the discs first.

If you go to the ReasyNAS forum on the ReadyNAS site, there is an explanation of what all the light blinking means. As far as I recall, network problems are signalled by the power light fading up and down (but I could be wrong).

In reply to a post by zebedeee:

If you go to the ReasyNAS forum on the ReadyNAS site, there is an explanation of what all the light blinking means. As far as I recall, network problems are signalled by the power light fading up and down (but I could be wrong).

Thanks; I did have a look there but couldn't find the explanation that covered what I was seeing - perhaps I should post a question in one of the forums.

Glenn

Seems like your home network is poorly configured.
An easy setup to try might be:-
1. Enable the DHCP server on your adsl router. I assume that the current IP address of your router is 192.168.1.1
2. Ensure that all devices eg NAS devices have an IP address within the 192.168.1.X range. I think the default ip address of Netgear ReadyNAS Duo is 192.168.168.168. This must be set to 192.168.1.168 as an example.
3. Do the same for the Buffalo terra station. I think the default ip address of Buffalo Terrastation Pro NAS is 192.168.11.150. This must be set to 192.168.1.150 as an example.
3. Disable the DHCP server to all devices eg NAS devices etc except your adsl router. You only want to enable one DHCP server.
4. If any of the device requires additional information of subnet this should be 255.255.255.0 and your gateway will be 192.168.1.1 as the ip address of your adsl router.

The reason your NAS devices are currently not seen by your network is that your adsl riouter currently provides all your network devices ip address within the range of 192.168.1.x by the adsl routers DHCP server. Each device is given a different ip address by the DHCP server of an address within the 192.168.1.X. range eg the x part of 192,168,1, will be different for each device.
However your netgear nas device has an default ip address of 192,168,168,168. This needs to be 192,168,1,168. You have the same problem with your Buffalo NAS device, The default ip addtress of your Buffalo device is 192.168.11.50. This needs to be 192.168.1.50

A good tip when configuring you nas devices would be use one PC and plugin your nas device into this one pc and carry out your configuration, Remember once you have configured your nas device as mentioned above you will then need to plug that device to your network. If the NAS had previously a DHCP server and this is now disabled you will only get access to this NAS by the router on your network assigning it its IP address.

You dont need any cross over cables. Your standard RJ45 cabling will be fine.

Let us no how you get on with the above info. Sorry if i have gone into to much detail but the key factor to your problem is the ip address of your nas devices.