Connecting Switch to a Router

[snipersmods]

I am trying to setup a small lan with ~7 computers. I have a belkin
router(4 port + wan port) and a belkin switch(5 port). I tried earlier
today to connect my desktop to the router, the switch to the router via a
regular port(not the wan port), and my laptop to the switch to see if the
router's DHCP would assign the laptop an ip. It did about 50% of the
time. The main problem I have is that when I go to play some DOD, the
player on the laptop will jerk around every few seconds (just enough to
make it unplayable). It seems like lag, but the laptop pings <100ms
consistently (in game). Do you guys know of anything I could be doing
wrong? I have updated the firmware on the router.

Thanks,
-Steve

[Greenstead]

Whats DOD ?

It should work fine. You should get an IP 100% of the time and ping on the LAN should be a few ms, not 100.

[snipersmods]

DOD (Day of Defeat) is a multiplayer game based on Half-Life. When I use my router only to connect the 2 machines, the pings in DOD are <15ms, but somehow the switch is throwing a loop in it. I tried setting up static ips for the two machines, but I get the same result...

[cszeto]

Switches, depending the switch modules that they use, can introduce timing issues. I just ran into one myself... I hate to say it, but I got what I paid for... I got a great deal on an 8 port unit.

It's minor in my case, I just had to rearrange the configuration and order of my equipment. I blew an hour out of something that should have only been less than 15 minutes to reconfigure with the new switch. In most cases, as long as you can rearrange things around the switches, it's not a big issue.

[snipersmods]

Could you elaborate as to what I should move around or what you mean by arranging things around the switch?

Thanks for the reply!
-Steve

[cszeto]

The short answer is no, since I have no idea what all your equipment is and its intended uses.

If it is a matter of a few pieces of equipment needing better access to an external source, then moving them to the primary switch may be in order. If it is good access amongst internal equipment then grouping them on the same switch should help.