Networking - Switch?

[Magnum X]

I just got a D-Link DSS-5+ 5-Port 10/100 Switch that I bought off amazon.com so me any my roommate could be connected to the college's wired internet ( since their wireless sucks lol). So, last night I connected all the cables and everything and it worked just fine. This morning I unplug everything from my laptop so I could take it with me to class. I get back to my room and plug everything back in and now it won't work..I've tried everything I could think of to get it work, but it still isn't working. Now, I've just got a cable running directly to my laptop so I know the college's internet isn't down. Maybe the switch is broken? It is a used switch so maybe.. The light for the 3rd port is always lit up even with no cable in it so i dunno...
:|

 

[Glock_Coma [JONES]]

Have you reset the router?

 

[Magnum X]

umm
im in a dorm
the router is probably in some basement somewhere
o_0

 

[BREAK_EM_OUT_JONES]

ok so plug in your wireless router and try to connect to it. If it doesnt work, repair your connection by right clicking your wireless connection and hitting "repair".

It may stop at one point if things arn't working right. So tell me the error message you get if it does.

 

[GreenMonkey]

ok, um,.. first, is it a router, or is it a switch? this makes a huge difference in diagnosing a problem. (if it is a router with a built in switch just call it a router) if it is a router, is it wireless or JUST wired?

 

[Magnum X]

[quote1190063170=.Magnum X. -RR-]
D-Link DSS-5+ 5-Port 10/100 Switch
[/quote1190063170]

wired.

 

[GreenMonkey]

OK, so being a switch and not a router, forget the people saying to restart the router since they probably thought it was one.

Just to make sure (no offence) there should be 5 female rj45 plugs in the back but they will not all be the same. One of the plugs should be an uplink plug (sometimes there is a button to switch between uplink and normal operation) this uplink is what should go to the wall - or the schools network.
If in the event that there is no uplink port, and no way of making an uplink port, then you should be using a crossover cable to connect the school network to your switch.

The subsequent computers will connect via standard cat 5 to the normal ports. The lights on the front should indicate when there is somehting turned on and pluged into the switch. Once plugged in to the switch, each computer should be restarted (or ip's released and renewed) and the school should assign IP's in their regular mannor. Wehn you unlig a computer or your laptop in this case, you should only unlug that one cable and no others - each of the other ports should be acting independantly of each other, in sorts, and weather you plug things in or not (unless you plug a router or some dhcp server into the wrong port) the other connections should always remain working.

That being said, if the port #3 light is always one even when empty i would return the product for having a defect. If you decide not to for some crazy reason, avoid using port 3.