mini losing packets

[jma]

We have a strange situation with one particular WS-6 MINI (firmware 1.4.5, but we tried firmware ranging from 1.3.9 to the most recent one). When we put it in our network, the switch loses packets when you ping to it. We thought it was a cable or radio problem but then we have replaced cables, radios, ... and we still saw the same behavior. The packet loss also results in constantly losing connection to the switch. The GUI shows us then 'attempting to reestablish communication with the device' with regular intervals. Sometimes that interval was every 5 seconds, sometimes every 3 seconds, depending on the traffic that passes through the switch.

Strange thing is that if we ping any device that is powered and connected to that switch, there is no packet loss at all.
It is only the switch itself that loses packets when you ping its IP address. Naturally on our monitoring system that switch is shown off line all the time. And we did get complaints about disruptions in streaming from customers behind that switch.
As soon as we replace that switch with another WS-6 MINI, the problem is gone.

If we test the switch separately, not connected to the network, there is no packet loss on any port.

Is there something that we can do/try or is this simply a bad switch?

[sirhc]

Could have been a result of a corrupted config file?
Factory defaulting the unit and then manually setting back up.

Could be that you had a service configured on the old switch that is not on the new switch such as a Discovery Protocol or Tab?

Could be a service such as SMTP alerts was configured improperly?

Some people set their SMTP servers up to pol the switch to often which can cause the CPU time to get eaten up which could cause this?

I do not "think" the switch itself is bad, I am guessing something was different?

However you can RMA it and we will check it out.

[jma]

@sirhc : thank you for your reply.

We have put a backup of this switch on a new one and that new one does not have these problems so I guess it is not the configuration.
But we will factory default it and then try to use it in a different setup in our network.
If we have the same problem, we will RMA it.

[jma]

@sirhc: we did a factory default reset. As soon as this switch is in our network we have the same problem with it. We then even did this factory default reset procedure: Press the factory default button and hold for 10 seconds when powering up. But the problem remains. Anything else we could try before we RMA it?

[sirhc]

Not really but when you RMA it make sure to explain how we can recreate the issue so we know if we found and fixed the issue.

[jma]

@sirhc. OK. We will do that. We hope you will be able to recreate the problem. We only have it when we put the switch in our network. It does not matter where in the network. When we replace a good working switch with this one, it does exactly the same. When we test it with a cable connected directly to the switch we do not lose any packets and we also do not lose connection with the GUI.

[sirhc]

@sirhc. OK. We will do that. We hope you will be able to recreate the problem. We only have it when we put the switch in our network. It does not matter where in the network. When we replace a good working switch with this one, it does exactly the same. When we test it with a cable connected directly to the switch we do not lose any packets and we also do not lose connection with the GUI.

OK, have you replaced this WS-6-MINI with another WS-6-MINI and it works fine?

If not this may be a configuration issue not a hardware issue.

[jma]

@sirhc: yes, any location where we use this mini ... as soon as we replace it with another mini everything is fine.

[sirhc]

@sirhc: yes, any location where we use this mini ... as soon as we replace it with another mini everything is fine.

OK that is what I wanted to know, so you had problems with "this" WS-6-MINI, replaced it with another WS-6-MINI and your problem went away, correct?

[jma]

That is correct. And we also tested it like this to see if it was not related to the particular location where the switch was used before: we have switched a good working MINI in another location in our network with this one. Exactly the same as in the other location.
As soon as this particular switch is used, we lose packets when we ping to it and we lose connection to the GUI every couple of seconds. No matter where it is used in the network. When we put back another MINI, everything works fine.
Strange thing is that you can not detect this behavior when you are connected directly to the switch.