I just spent 4 hours being horrified by my workplace network. It isn't even my job. I'm a multimedia guy. I need to share this experience so I can sleep tonight without nightmares.
Follow me into the depths of hell, fellow anon. I did not un-fuck the network, but I made it work. Work like an undying creature clawing its way from the pits of hell.
>Internet is out, fix it Anon! You're young you know this tech stuff!
>Okay what do we have set up ...
>Pic-Related (post-fixing, it WAS worse)
>NOTHING WITH LABELS AT ALL.
>Oh Christ Almighty help me
>Spend hours figuring the following out:
Cable Modem -> Router A (4 cables out) -> Wireless Router B
Router A -> Switch1 -> Switch 2-> Multiple-Sub-Switches
Wireless Router B -> Switch 2 (Why?!)
>What the fuck am I looking at
>Proceed to figure out why we have no network. All lights are on.
>One computer + Wireless is online, working fine.
>Theorize, Router A -> Wireless Router is fine
>Switch 1 must be bad? Proceed to test.
>Owner shows up, gives me a Switch Box from out back, likely shit, looks older. Doesn't work.
>Proceed digging into other possible problems...
Cont.
>>51285791
derp
too mutch ip routing
Just wait until the tp link switch goes bang
>>51285791
>Wireless Router B -> Switch 2 (Why?!)
There's your problem desu senpai, routing loops are srs bsns.
>>51285791
Sorry for delay, had work shit to do.
>Okay so maybe it is Switch 2 that is bad? I don't know... this isn't my specialty and I don't have the tools to fix this shit.
>I suspect the 'new' box is no good, toss it, put old back
>EVERYTHING WORKS ANON!
>Except Computer # 5
>Try to narrow this down by taking Computer 5 with a new, direct, cable.
Testing as:
Modem -> Router A -> Switch 1 -> Computer
>Works, so it isn't the computer.
>Do this to test all ports
>Ports 9 and 10 are dead...well okay I can work with this.
>Decide to save us effort, begin plugging shit in one at a time, to label what the fuck they are
>Finally get to my Boss' computer, #9, doesn't work. So now I know Cable between #9 and Switch is BAD.
>Replace bad cable temporarily with test cable so he at least has internet until someone can fix the HARD WIRED SECTIONS that are BAD.
>I'm not ripping a wall open for this shit. I'm just a camera man.
>Finish plugging shit up, it works.
>Get excited and rush.
>Suddenly NONE OF IT WORKS
>WHAT THE FUCK?!
>Unplug it all.
>Slow down, plug it one at a time to be sure. 2-5 minute spaces between each plug to be sure nothing is changing
>Find Cable #10. It is the cause. When Cable #10 is plugged in, everything stops working.
>I theorized Cable 9 and 10 were plugged into ports 9 and 10, hence my labeling them as such. Power surge ruined them maybe? Don't know man.
>Go sleuthing to find out where cable 10 goes to...
Cont...
>Pic related more cord shit
>>51286171
>>Go sleuthing to find out where cable 10 goes to...
>mfw cable 9 and 10 are the same cable
Should have told them that you don't know how
>>51286171
Replace Comp #5 with #9, I changed the numbering mid-way so it would make reasonable sense as I told the story. It was #5 in one section of the room but on network is was likely #9.
>Can't find what #10 is, it disappears into the wall.
>Spend 30 min trying to find it
>everyone says their internet is fine, no one is missing it
>never find what the fuck it goes to.
Other discoveries:
Switch 2 -> Switch #Blah -> My computer
Router A -> Long 100ft cord -> Coworker's computer next to me
Switch #Blah has several Ethernet connections out. Some out are also phone lines to office phone.
>Only two of the three cords are used
>Where does the third cord, that could be used for my co-worker go?
>INTO THE WALL
>WHO FUCKING KNOWS WHERE
>Is it cable 10? Not same color. Could of changed cable colors mid-way.
>Don't know. NO one using it.
This is just one of many issues. I'm stopping my story here. I didn't go further. I didn't un-fuck their fucks, but I did make the network work somehow. Fuck if I know how. I figure I may need to sacrifice a child to it at some point.
>>51286248
9 isn't 10, I don't know what 10 is. 9 goes from Switch 1 -> Switch 2 -> Hard cable in wall to wall-port by boss' computer. That entire line is dead-dead. Line 10 does have a signal, line 10's signal is killing the entire network. Which is why I suspect it MIGHT be mystery-cable from pic related...but they aren't the same color. Doesn't mean shit though.
Also, pic-related is the phone system. Which seems to use Cat-5 -> Split -> Phone lines... but those same boxes were hijacked for the network too. So cable mystery might be that. It might even be Cable 10 is the fucking phone network...
In-fact, I realized our phones have to be reset (The server for them) every morning because it crashes regularly... I wonder if 10 is the phone...
Eitherway, 10 heads into a hard wired port on Switch 2. So without tearing the walls down, I don't know where it goes.
>>51286248
Oh to add
>>51286008
There is a loop.
Router A -> Router B -> Switch Box 2 -> Switch Box 1 -> Router A
I never disconnected it, but it is working fine plugged in. Should I?
>>51286413
Eliminate all loops.
baka desu senpai
>>51286171
>>Suddenly NONE OF IT WORKS
Because the loop takes time to build up before it floods the network and grinds everything to a halt.
>>51286463
Will do.
Also, on #10 being a loop?
Switch 1 -> Plug #10 -> Switch 2 -> Hard Wire #10 into wall, goes where?
At first thinking on loops, I said, in order for it to be a hard-wired loop, they would have to plug it into another router somewhere on the other end and route it back...no way they could of done that?
Then I remembered
>Under two desks there was
>Outlet -> Router -> Other shit
I'm wondering if someone has a cord going into one of those traps...
Either way. It stays unplugged. Fuck that cord.
Also just unplugged Router-Loop.
>>51286497
Thanks for re-assuring me it is a loop.
Also got your get.
Have your boss buy you one of these.
Makes it so much easier to trace a cable and see where it goes and whether or not it's working on the other end.
http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-Networks-26000900-Pro3000-Generator/dp/B000FTADX0/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1447199258&sr=1-1&refinements=p_72%3A1248921011%2Cp_89%3AFluke+Networks
What an entanglement!
>>51286949
>rj11
>not rj45