I’ve bought a Cisco 2960 switch and was hoping that it was a simple plug and play procedure to setup. I connected it to the router and my network player and NAS and all the flashing lights appeared but no sound! Can someone offer some advice on setup please! It’s meant to be set to factory settings. Many thanks.
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If you press the ‘Mode’ button for more than 10 seconds, it will restore factory defaults, and erase the configuration. That’s what I did with mine to get them to work. Once you connect devices it takes about 30 secs for them to be active.
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A full factory reset requires you to ‘console’ into it. If it has been configured by a previous user, there can be many settings that can only be cleared in this way.
Before you try that, which is a little daunting if you’re not familiar with that sort of stuff, remember that compared to a consumer grade unmanaged switch, it takes a couple of minuted to start up, so you shouldn’t do anything until the four lights on the front have stopped flickering.
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I have the same issue.
I sent it away to be tested and factory reset. The guys said it’s not plug and play because it is a managed switch and it would need to be configured at home.
I’m confused.
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Take nobody’s word about factory resets. Do it yourself and then you know.
@simon-in-suffolk suggested enabling an IGMP Querier would make discovery even better. This I did as well as enabling the portfast option.
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Look on the back and press the reset button. Its not a full reset but should be enough to get you going
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I’ve performed a reset and everything looks like it’s working on the 2960. But no sound or connectivity.
So what are the next steps? How do I configure the switch? Do I need any additional cables to configure the switch?
Many thanks.
Why are you plugged into the console port? Im guessing that you have 3 items connected …plug them into 1,2,3.
The console port is for management only.
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What is that cable you have in the console port on the L side? It you’re using that to try to connect one of your devices, it won’t work. Try it in a different port.
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I have the same Cisco 2960 switch. I have my ethernet cable from the router to one of the yellow marked sockets on the right. The console socket is not to be used for signal in, only for setup.
If you swap the cable out it should work ok.
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Yes those are two benefits to optimise network audio that you can do on your Cisco Catalyst switch, but you do need to log into your switch and configure IOS.
Portfast removes spanning tree loop protection on the port which means the port enables quicker like a simple unmanaged switch… but you have no protection from network loops.
IGMP querier initiates from the switch a query of which hosts are in which multicast groups. This helps keep MAC address tables and multicast group statuses current without having to rely on the app issueing a membership broadcast message. This can hugely speed up the Naim app responsiveness on some home network and application setups.
In the above photo the left hand connector is a console port, not an Ethernet port… don’t use that for your lan connections, it won’t work … use one of the numbered switchports or the right hand side uplink ports.
Console ports are only used for out of band management uses… and sometimes for setup… don’t use endless you know what you are doing,
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And therefore we buy our Cisco’s from a respected company.
This company uses a 26-step test-program that each Cisco must complete.
In addition,.lifetime warranty,and quick change if any error would occur on any Cisco.
This costs about £35:- more than the many buy on ebay,.but then we know it’s a flawless top-product we connect to our expensive music-systems.
This I have written about lots of times.
•You get what you pay for,.think about it.
PS: This company is Dutch and specializes in Cisco products.
We have bought over 60 Cisco’s from this company without any problems.
Two Forum members here in Sweden have purchased from ebay,.and they have had problems with their Cisco.
In one of these,.the sound quality was also worse.
/Peder🙂
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That is good to test a product… but uneccessary with factory reset. If used then best login and clear the running config file if present.
In some circumstances it could lead to a security breach if a commercial organisation sold devices with config still in, therefore most genuine switches will have the config cleared. If it’s not it does raise a question of where the switch came from unless it was from a hobbyist or enthusiast who didn’t know better.
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One of mine had the identity of the previous owner fully visible on it once I’d consoled in, along with various warnings, password and configs. All cleared with a factory reset, although it took a few attempts before it was cleared. I have a suspicion it may have left the previous owners by the back door.
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Hurray! It works! I love this forum 
All working now. Thanks for all your help, was just a case of switching ethernet cable from console to right hand side number 9.
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As thats a CG switch you have gigabit on all ports so you can use any port from 1 to 10 and get the same speed on all.
The 9 and 10 ports do have different management options but for audio use there’s no need to worry about it.
Plug away … in any port you like except the Console port. 
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On my ND5XS the buffer level has now gone from 9 out of 10 to 10 out of 10. Shows it works. What ethernet cables is everyone using? Are you running short lengths or long lengths from the switch. Currently I have a short length from the router to the switch and then two long lengths around 6m each to the network player and NAS.
Any length of Cat5e certified cable from 30cm to 100m is fine.
You may find longer (50m plus) of Cat5e between streamer and switch sounds better as the serial switching voltage is more attenuated… but most don’t bother with this … so any length is fine.
Unless you are into vagaries of noise shaping with connected cables, any Cat5e or ‘better’ cable will be fine… although you may find different cables ‘sound’ different because of noise shaping… but that will most likely be largely dependent on your specific setup, length of cable and cable positioning.
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Just picked up 2960 8tc l for £35 so I may be asking for set up help soon!!
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