Causes of router/switch hangs?

[Benjamin Scott]

   I'll chime in with others and say that it appears to be common for "SOHO" 
network equipment to peridoically go out-to-lunch on its own.

   I had one client who, after a corporate takeover, got sent a LinkSys "VPN" 
box that needed to be power-cycled at least daily.  It was on an APC 
Smart-UPS, which supposedly provide conditioned, unterruptible power, so I'm 
confident power was not the problem.  The only signal connections were to the 
main network switch (a 3Com) and the Cisco router from the ISP.  So I'm pretty 
sure it wasn't the signal cabling.

   There's also a LinkSys wireless-to-Ethernet bridge that will negtiate a 100 
megabit Ethernet link, but will consistently lock up if actually fed data at 
100 meg rates.

   I've got nothing against LinkSys.  Indeed, I own several pieces of LinkSys 
gear, and am generally quite happy with it.  But I'm one person with rather 
small demands.  That's what the stuff is designed for.  It isn't designed for 
a busy, multi-user network.

   I will say that you can never go wrong in having the cables tested to meet 
all the Category 5 standards, which is what I assume you mean by "scope the 
cables".  A marginal cable can give you link lights and even appear to work 
sometimes, but still have some kind of flaw (that usually only manifests 
itself at 3AM on a Saturday).

-- 
Ben <dragonhawk at iname.com>