Netgear GBIC Modules

[garethEds]

Evening guys,

 

We've just received our 4 free GBIC modules from Netgear - part of a promotion that was running the other month. So we plugged one into our new Netgear switch - a GS724TS and connected it to the network - it didn't work.

 

So we plugged it into our new 48 port switch - GS748TS - and it didn't work.

 

So we tried the three others and not one of them worked.

 

So we moved a DLink GBIC module from a DLink switch and plugged it in - ahh it worked.

 

Has anyone got any idea what we need to do for the Netgear ones to work? At the moment they are just dead. Do the switches need to be turned off and then on with the gbic modules installed? I assumed they were hot pluggable like the DLink ones are.

 

Any help appreciated,

 

Gareth

[m25man]

Just because they are gbic does not make them compatible...

What module is at the end of each link?

An 850nm module will not talk to a 1300nm and vice versa.

 

Your diagnosis sounded like you ended up with the same modules at each end of the link?

 

Try fitting a Netgear module at each end - does it work?

[plexer]

Does the switch identifu the module when it is inserted?

 

Latest firmware on them?

 

Ben

[john]

Plug and Play and hot swappable they are.

 

Your making me worry now I've just put my 2 that have arrived so far on the shelf called Spares! First time I've EVER had spare GBICs at this place but run out of holes in my current switch to fit them in But think I may need to just go and test them now.... Still got one to arrive so hopefully that will arrive soon

[rich_tech]

Hello,

 

I am the new IT technician working with Gareth, at the moment we have the old DLink GBIC module, inserted into a netgear GS724TS which forms part of our stack backbone switch and it works fine, the other end of the fibre is a DLink GBIC module, going into a DLink DES-3526 switch and the connection is working fine on them. If I plugged the fibre lead into the netgear module it fails to work at all while the dlink one is connected within the other department, we assumed that the GBICs were pretty much all intercompatible, so thanks for pointing that out to us.

 

Both switches are up to date firmware wise also.

 

I havent tried sticking a netgear GBIC both ends yet, same for checking the module specs against each other for compatibility(though that is probably the reason that they dont work), obviously because the connections are live, its not something I can just unplug until the end of the day, but thanks for providing us with possible solutions to the problem.

[3s-gtech]

We have had a problem like this with HP GBICs in newer Procurve switches before, but the modules worked when paired with the same switch each end. It seemed that the the auto-negotitation on the switches wasn't working properly - have you tried setting them to force 1000mbps at each end?

[rich_tech]

Hello,

 

Yes I did try to replicate the settings both ends and I also tried manual configuration of the fibre port, I read somewhere on the netgear site that sometimes the auto config can be a bit flaky so I gave that a go as a quick fix one morning and that did not fix the problem either.

[m25man]

I've used almost every manufacturers gbic in a Netgear without a problem it's normally only the major league switch manufacturers who lock out other OEMs modules and they are all meant to be interoperable eg NG to Cisco etc etc...

 

Are your leads compatible? Are they correctly crossed? TX-RX RX-TX etc

 

As for the Auto Sense the SFP and Copper uplinks are NOT useable at the same time

EG the GS724TS is a 20 port switch with 4 dual personality ports.

You can't use ports 21-24 for copper when an SFP is installed.

 

You have free setup support from Netgear have you called them yet?

[rich_tech]

Hello again,

 

Yes nothing else is plugged into the ports reserved for the fibres, all 4 rj45s are empty, we now have all the DLink GBICs plugged into the backbone stack we have and they work fine without problems or issues so far.

 

the existing fibres plugging into the stack all have DLink modules at both ends of the fibre and they are working fine at the moment, we are hoping to test one of the fibres with netgears at both ends to see if that is the issue, the netgear modules are 830nm ones and I will endeavour to check one of the DLink modules tomorrow when I get onsite early, ill get the full numbers off them and post them on here.

 

Netgear support is also an option which I have been hoping to get around to checking with as well.