Premiere Elite Network Switch Compatibility

nexus99 · 04-09-2012, 02:03 AM

An interesting observation:

I have a couple Netgear Switches (10/100/1000 GS605 v2). When I plug my ELite into either of these the Elite is unable to negoiate a gig connection. Sometimes it will negoiate down to a 100mb connection... but it floods the swich with broadcast traffic bringing everything to a crawl. I can plug into both a 3com and a Linksys switch and the Elite immediately connects at 1GB.

So there is some kind of obvious incompatibility between the Elite and this particular model of Netgear switch. I cant tell if its a netgear problem or if its an Elite problem...

Maybe this will help other folks with strange TIVO problems on networks with Netgear switches.

rhettf · 04-09-2012, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nexus99

An interesting observation:

I have a couple Netgear Switches (10/100/1000 GS605 v2). When I plug my ELite into either of these the Elite is unable to negoiate a gig connection. Sometimes it will negoiate down to a 100mb connection... but it floods the swich with broadcast traffic bringing everything to a crawl. I can plug into both a 3com and a Linksys switch and the Elite immediately connects at 1GB.

So there is some kind of obvious incompatibility between the Elite and this particular model of Netgear switch. I cant tell if its a netgear problem or if its an Elite problem...

Maybe this will help other folks with strange TIVO problems on networks with Netgear switches.

I remember reading an article about Netgear equipement having issues with the New comcast IPv6 issues.

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2012-03/...o-ipv6-glitch/

Maybe the Elite is using some of the newer protocols that are glitchy on netgear equipment.

Just a guess I personally use this router: Cisco 24 Port Gigabyte PoE Switch

Something you might want to take a look at also is how big the backbone of the netgear switch is - what I mean by that is its total capacity. If you don't have a big backbone it could explain why everything else is getting slower.
For example my switches specs that I have A nonblocking switching capacity of 48 Gbps

nexus99 · 04-09-2012, 01:39 PM

Its very possible. Luckily there are no problems with my Linksys and 3Com switches.

Gadfly · 04-09-2012, 03:28 PM

I am using Netgear 1G switches (8 and 16 ports) all over my home network set up. I am expecting an Elite by Thursday so I will let you know if I see the same issue.

One thing that could affect dropping the speed to 100Mbps even when the NICs on both ends are 1G is the cable. In particular with my Netgear switches I had to change many of my older CAT5 cables to 5e or CAT6 otherwise the speed would be negotiated at 100Mbps instead of 1G.

If you have a computer at home, I suggest you verify that with the same cable and switch combination you can get 1G.

Do you know the nature of these broadcast packets you see? Are they really broadcast packets (sent to FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF address) or the switch is flooding the network with all packets (switches flood all the ports when they do not recognize which port has the destination MAC address).

nexus99 · 04-09-2012, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gadfly

I am using Netgear 1G switches (8 and 16 ports) all over my home network set up. I am expecting an Elite by Thursday so I will let you know if I see the same issue.

One thing that could affect dropping the speed to 100Mbps even when the NICs on both ends are 1G is the cable. In particular with my Netgear switches I had to change many of my older CAT5 cables to 5e or CAT6 otherwise the speed would be negotiated at 100Mbps instead of 1G.

I use only CAT6 throughout my home. I tested the same port with 2 PCs with the same and different cables. The PCs were able to both grab a 1GB link on the port with the same a different cable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gadfly

Do you know the nature of these broadcast packets you see? Are they really broadcast packets (sent to FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF address) or the switch is flooding the network with all packets (switches flood all the ports when they do not recognize which port has the destination MAC address).

I didnt go so far as to do a packet capture to see what the TIVO was transmitting. The more I look on the web the more I think its an issue with the switch itself. I have seen other reports of the Netgear GS605 V2 having all kinds of problems. The V1 and the V3 seem ok. And there is no way to do a firmware upgrade on the unit. So I think I will be gifting this to someone. I would guess that other Netgear switches will be ok. But if you have the white ones with the rounded edges in the V2 variety... you are probably going to have some issues with the Elite.

aaronwt · 04-09-2012, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gadfly

I am using Netgear 1G switches (8 and 16 ports) all over my home network set up. I am expecting an Elite by Thursday so I will let you know if I see the same issue.

One thing that could affect dropping the speed to 100Mbps even when the NICs on both ends are 1G is the cable. In particular with my Netgear switches I had to change many of my older CAT5 cables to 5e or CAT6 otherwise the speed would be negotiated at 100Mbps instead of 1G.

If you have a computer at home, I suggest you verify that with the same cable and switch combination you can get 1G.

Do you know the nature of these broadcast packets you see? Are they really broadcast packets (sent to FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF address) or the switch is flooding the network with all packets (switches flood all the ports when they do not recognize which port has the destination MAC address).

A true Cat5 cable can't handle gigabit speeds. I say true because many Cat5 cables are actually made to Cat5e specs. When the specs were proposed for Cat5e, the manufacturers started making their cable to those specs, even though they were still marked as Cat5.

We have thousands of old Cat5 cables at work in storage that were built before the Cat5e specs were released so they were built to true Cat5 specs. You cannot get a gigabit connection with them, only 100BT.

Gadfly · 04-09-2012, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nexus99

I didnt go so far as to do a packet capture to see what the TIVO was transmitting. The more I look on the web the more I think its an issue with the switch itself. I have seen other reports of the Netgear GS605 V2 having all kinds of problems. The V1 and the V3 seem ok. And there is no way to do a firmware upgrade on the unit. So I think I will be gifting this to someone. I would guess that other Netgear switches will be ok. But if you have the white ones with the rounded edges in the V2 variety... you are probably going to have some issues with the Elite.

Oh ok. All my switches are those with blue metal casing.

I agree with your call. Sometimes you just have to take the loss and move on with buying new gear. Good luck.

djwilso · 04-09-2012, 10:23 PM

Just another data point here. My Elite is plugged into a D-Link DGS-1008G 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch and gets a gigabit connection with no issues.

Good luck in getting the issue sorted out.

gteague · 04-10-2012, 12:11 AM

i had problems with a netgear switch. monoprice.com has an '8-port desktop gigabit ethernet switch' for half the price and you can pick up some cat6 cables at the same time.

/guy

aaronwt · 04-10-2012, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djwilso

Just another data point here. My Elite is plugged into a D-Link DGS-1008G 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch and gets a gigabit connection with no issues.

Good luck in getting the issue sorted out.

My ELites connected to the 5 port Dlink Gigabit swithes are fine too. I'll need to dust off one of my old Netgear gigabit switches to see what the ELite does with it. I replaced all my gigabit Netgear swithes with Dlink gigabit switches several years ago. But never got around to selling them, so I have at least half a dozen sitting in storage.