Well I went with the "let's see what happens" option and it wouldn't even spin a fan. Ergo it must at least be the psu.
I'll start by replacing that and hope it hasn't done a Kow. 

Thanks to all; I'll let you know how it pans out (when I can afford a psu).

A switch is a specific network component designed to do a job much more advanced than what you need. You need either a hub (which I'm not sure you'll find now) or, more simply, another router.

If you have an old one you can use that or I've got to assume old G ones can be had for peanuts on eBay.


You need to connect it to a PC, open the control panel, and turn OFF DHCP.  If it's a wireless router, which it probably will be, you almost certainly want to turn the wireless off as well. Running two different wireless networks in the same close space is rarely a good idea*

Then you just connect the homeplug to the router, and then everything else to the router. Bob's yer Dad's brother.

If you don't have or can't get an old router, then yes, a switch will do the job without the minor DHCP faff.

*unless you want to make them both the same wireless network but that's a whole other ball game.

Nope, all the same thing.


Well, the three I've used variously over the years to do what I typed up have always just worked fine.

You shouldn't need to turn the modem bit off. I'm not sure how you would other than if there's a "use as access point" option. Which is basically a shortcut to what I just described but leaves on the wireless.

Just want to make a correction here, because I'm a pedantic bastard.

Almost certainly, nobody makes hubs any more because they're shit and switches are so cheap - if you search "network hub" on Amazon, the first result is a £7.50 switch.  It's a switch connecting all the network ports together in your router, for instance; the router itself is actually the piece of hardware that's sitting between the modem and the switch.

What Mod's thinking of - which is much more advanced than most people, even most companies, need - is a managed switch.

AJ_ wrote:

What Mod's thinking of - which is much more advanced than most people, even most companies, need - is a managed switch.

No, I'm thinking of a switch. Even the consumer ones do (should do) more networky management stuff like traffic priority than he really needs to just split a connection a couple of ways to save changing plugs.

Admittedly I didn't realise the comsumer ones had fallen to £7.50. The cheapest Netgear one I can see on PCW is £20.

Hubs have no place in the world.

Your router almost certainly contains a switch, as AJ_ said.

Which is irrelevant.

Or a hub.

Why won't Alienware let you put 2 Geforce GTX690 cards into a PC (SLI thingymabob)?

But they allow you to put 2 GTX 680s together.

Oooo, bravo.

I've got modem/router issues as well (as per my post in the gadget thread) with the basic gist being my wireless is on the blink in my current BT Homehub.

I ordered a Cisco Linksys E4200 as it received the best reviews but it turns out I need to connect this to my existing modem and I just want a simple all-in-one solution. Any recommendations greatly received, ideally something I can get from Amazon so I can get it tomorrow.

Or new batteries, might be quicker.

Use a real pen and write on the screen.  It's really writing on the screen!