PSA: My home network died after I plugged a cheap switch into the wrong port

I was setting up a new Ethernet switch in my living room in Chicago last Tuesday, and I accidentally plugged it into the modem instead of the router. Suddenly the whole house lost internet for 20 minutes while I rebooted everything. Has anyone else dealt with a bad port causing a full network crash?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_perez12d ago

Bad switch ports can definitely take down the whole network lol. Gotta check those VLAN settings next time.

hayden_martin2912d ago

Oh man, that "definitely take down the whole network lol" part hits way too close to home. I once spent an entire night shift trying to figure out why our network kept dropping, only to find a dusty old switch port that was dying. It was like a slow motion disaster, one device at a time. VLAN settings? I thought I had them all sorted out, but nope, I had a trunk port misconfigured and it brought the whole clinic down. So yeah, I feel that pain REAL bad, but at least now I double check every single VLAN before I blame the hardware.