[rescue] What is this traffic?

[microcode at zoho.com]

On Thu, Oct 29, 2015 at 11:13:29AM -0400, Sandwich Maker wrote:

> " To be (hopefully) a little clearer: only the light on the switch, for the
> " port where the router is plugged into the switch, is flashing at a high
> " rate. The router WAN/LAN port lights behave normally based on idle, usage,
> " etc. There is no indication of high activity on the router itself, nor on
> " boxes connected to the switch.
> 
> [to further clarify: the local ethernet port lights on the adsl router
> - the other end of the switch cable - are quiet?]

Yes: "There is no indication of high activity on the router itself, nor on
boxes connected to the switch"

> but if you unplug the switch and plug a computer directly into the
> router you could have one of two outcomes:
> 1. the computer gets buried with this spurious 'traffic' from the
>    router, and the switch is not the problem.
> 2. the computer internet connection flies at your full 15Mb/s with no
>    hitches, suggesting the switch is the cause.

Ok, thanks. That is worth a try and I'll do that shortly.

> can your isp remotely upgrade your router?

Theoretically yes but I set a long random password and changed the userid so
they would have to work on it, and I have checked the firmware date and
version a few times and not observed any changes.

> perhaps they've changed a setting and it's no longer replying properly to
> some housekeeping message from the switch [keepalive?], causing the switch
> to go ballistic.  perhaps it *is* responding, in a way that it shouldn't.

I myself could have messed something up trying to fix the performance
problem over the past few years but after doing a few hard resets and
starting with the default settings I didn't see any difference.

Thank you. I'll post again when I test your idea above.