I think one network switch (out of many) is bad causing network-wide problems. How do I find or locate it?

We run Windows Server 2003 with XP clients. We had an electrical storm recently, and I suspect that it may have caused one of our network switches to malfunction. I fear that it is causing the entire network to be having issues right now. The symptoms are as follows:





People throughout the building lose their Internet connection after a period of time. (Their network connection is okay -- mapped drives, etc. -- but their Internet/email does not work).





To restore connectivity, I must either 'repair' their network connection or do ipconfig /renew (even though ipconfig seems to show that their IP address is just fine without that).





I have rebooted our server to no avail. I have checked the server's DHCP settings, and they are unaltered.





Is there some software or hardware that I need that is best for helping me? (I suspect that sniffer software might help me detect something, but even if I ran it, I would not know what oddities to be looking for).





Thank you,





Riven

I think one network switch (out of many) is bad causing network-wide problems. How do I find or locate it?
I would trace the jack that the e-mail server and the Internet connection is on to the switch and move them over to a different switch.


Try moving the networks connections (e-mail\interent server jack connection) to a different port on the switch. You may want to move the connections to a different switch to see if the issue clears up, but you will not know if it is just that port or the whole switch is bad.
Reply:I was finally able to resolve this issue. I located every switch with help from the previous administrator, unplugged them for a few seconds, and then plugged them back in.


Thank you for your help on this; however, the problem turned out not to be hierarchical in nature.


Thanks,


Riven Report It