TP-Link (TL-SG1016D) Accidental Network Error Discovery!
The other day I saw a used GIGABIT switch for sale on Carousell, Hong Kong's local version of eBay + Amazon. I bid on it and I won! Yaay!When the unit arrived, I did an unboxing video - but switches are pretty boring devices and there's not much material to do a "show and tell" with.
So, at the suggestion of Mrs. Maker, I also did a "teardown" video where I took the switch apart in search of a moving part (like a fan) to check on, like with a 3COM switch I refurbished almost 10 years ago.
No dice. The TL-SG1016D is a passively cooled device, which means that it has heat sinks and uses airflow and convection to keep itself cool. Maybe in a future video I'll install a miniature fan, but first I would need to determine that such hackery is needed by using a thermal imaging system (like a FLIR camera).
Anyways, I did my best to bulk up the content by taking the switch apart, putting rubber feet on it and so on...and then ran out of stuff to say...
So I went and put it into service, fully expecting a no-drama situation - only to have a "WTF!" moment when I realized that one of the ports on the switch (PORT 4) was not reporting a Gigabit connection when it should have!
After a little bit of investigation, I found out that the cable in question was not working properly. The fix was pretty simple. I swapped out the ethernet cable for a different one.
After that, the link came up at the correct speed:
So what had originally started off as a pretty banal video about a very simple device with no moving parts, no problems and practically zero user experience, I discovered a mis-behaving part of my network that was negatively affecting Mrs. Maker's enjoyment of her computing experience.
Fixing this problem made me a hero to Mrs. Maker! Mostly because I somehow magically improved the (perceived) speed of her computer...So...THANKS TP-LINK!
Help a Maker Out?
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Bill of Materials
TP-Link 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch | Plug and Play | Metal | Desktop/Rackmount | Fanless | Limited Lifetime (TL-SG1016D)
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