Loss of Internet when New Devices are added to Network

[PX54]

I've recently switched to Virgin from Sky.  Initially I set the Hub up as directed in the instructions, along with the TV box. Everything was working fine, then I started to move other devices from my Sky Broadband connection to the Virigin hub.

Every time a new device is connected I lose the internet on my Virgin devies across the whole network. Sometimes this only last about 10 minutes at most and then things come back on, but other times I lose everything (including having the TV tell me there's no ethernet of wifi connections available). Most recently I've got ethernet connection to several devices (not all) and my Wifi isn't even showing as being available, let alone allowing me to attemt to connect.  Devices with occaionally tell me they no longer have ethernet connections either.

I've rebooted my router several times, with no difference.  I'm unable to log into the hub (192.168.0.1 just gives me a blank page, or the initial log in then a blank page)

Disconnecting the new devices works sometimes but not others.

I don't want to be having friends and family come round wanting to connect to my network and then I lose access to everything all over again.

[PX54]

The 2nd PC has no Wifi capabilities.  However I have since switched on my TP Link WifI extender which has it's own ethernet connection ports, and plugged the PC into that instead of the 8-port switch. I thought the extender could have been causing interference so I hadn't set it up until now, but if the 2nd PC isn't running then there's been no issue with using the extender.

This didn't change the outcome, the internet and Wifi still drop out as they did before.

I can't think of any more information, as this sort of thing wasn't happening with Sky, so I'm not sure what settings I need to be looking at on my PC.  They're more than likely mostly still on the default settings.  The PC has all the same programs as my 1st PC and Laptop, and I don't get any issues when using those over ethernet.

[Sephiroth]

What happens if you directly plug the 2nd PC into the Hub?  Just trying to narrow things down to a device. 

[PX54]

I managed to get the 2nd PC setup so that it was directly connected to the hub but the same thing happened.

It was even showing on the PC that it had no ethernet, even though it did and I could browse the internet. But no other devices would connect and the wifi completely disappeared

edit

just booted my 1st PC up after setting it back up from swapping the 2nd PC and now it appears to be making everything drop out too

[Sephiroth]

Oh dear.   Without hands on, I'm at a loss to help you much further.  Seems I've done enough damage with my suggestion!

Are there any firewall rules that might be interfering?  Otherwise I would suggest Modem mode and a decent router.

[PX54]

So the 1st PC has returned to working correctly, and it's back to only the 2nd PC being the issue.  I had an engineer round yesterday, and he wasn't able to find any issue with the Hub, other than the incoming signal was too high, so he added something to the line-in on the hub (presumably some sort of restrictor) and said that it must be the PC.

He said it was acting like the ethernet cable was looped back on itself (i.e. plugged both ends of the same cable into two different ports on the hub).

He initially recommended a different cable, so I swapped it out with the cable for the TV in the same room (which works fine when the PCs not running) but this didn't change anything.

Initially after he left, it appeared that adding the restrictor to the line-in had allowed for the PC to run and all the other connections remain working - though I had to go to work then so couldn't check for too long, when I got home everything was back to how it was previously.

I still don't understand how it was working with Sky's Hub and it's being weird with Virgin's.

I'm going to try and reset the hub I think and set it all up at once, rather than in stages as I did previously.  I think that's my last option, before shelling out on a separate router with a QoS feature so I can limit traffic to that PC.

I've gone through all the settings on my PC and can't see anything that would cause this, like I say, it's got nothing on it that isn't on my other PC or laptop - in fact it's got less since I mainly use it as a local file server, it doesn't have many programs on it at all.

[Sephiroth]

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@PX54 wrote:

So the 1st PC has returned to working correctly, and it's back to only the 2nd PC being the issue.  I had an engineer round yesterday, and he wasn't able to find any issue with the Hub, other than the incoming signal was too high, so he added something to the line-in on the hub (presumably some sort of restrictor) and said that it must be the PC.

[SEPH]: The engineer wasn't wrong.  Not to say he was right about the PC because we haven't found what may be wrong with it.

He said it was acting like the ethernet cable was looped back on itself (i.e. plugged both ends of the same cable into two different ports on the hub).

[SEPH]: That was a reasonable suggestion (crossover cable), but you have eliminated that possibility.

He initially recommended a different cable, so I swapped it out with the cable for the TV in the same room (which works fine when the PCs not running) but this didn't change anything.

Initially after he left, it appeared that adding the restrictor to the line-in had allowed for the PC to run and all the other connections remain working - though I had to go to work then so couldn't check for too long, when I got home everything was back to how it was previously.

[SEPH]: He had determined that your downstream power levels were too high; so he fitted an attenuator.  Nothing on the incoming side to the Hub 5 can have anything to do with the problem you've got.

I still don't understand how it was working with Sky's Hub and it's being weird with Virgin's.

I'm going to try and reset the hub I think and set it all up at once, rather than in stages as I did previously.  I think that's my last option, before shelling out on a separate router with a QoS feature so I can limit traffic to that PC.

[SEPH]: Presumably you've not set any firewall rules in the Hub 5; or have you?

I've gone through all the settings on my PC and can't see anything that would cause this, like I say, it's got nothing on it that isn't on my other PC or laptop - in fact it's got less since I mainly use it as a local file server, it doesn't have many programs on it at all.

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[Kain_W]

Thanks for the updates on this PX54,

Since your prior post has there still been issues with connecting at all?

Regards,

[PX54]

Yes, I'm still having the same issues.

I've been messing around with all sorts of settings on my 2nd PC and occasionally got it so that other ethernet devices still have connection.  This has also made it so that the Wifi network is visible, but the connection is spotty at best, and usually only lasts less than a minute for disconnecting and disappearing momentarily and repeating.

But still the only definite way to get a stable connection elsewhere is to disconnect that PC from the network.

[Matthew_ML]

Thank you for letting us know and I am sorry to hear this.

I am going to send you a PM so we can look into this, please keep an eye out in your messages for me. Thanks