Help with Medium Netork

[yarla98]

Scenario:
I have, on average, 6 machines that I want connected to my home network. 2 of these are wireless, so I've been able to get by with having the other 4 using the wired setup and it has worked fine, until recently. I bought a NAS drive and want to connect this to the network through a wired setup, but I have no free ports. So, I'm looking at expaning my network somewhat.

Problem:
I have a DSL connection, and the company that I go through has provided me with an Actiontec, DSL/Wireless/4-port router. I can connect to this and run fine, but now that I have my Network drive, I cannot get this to connect without removing an active device. I do have 2 d-link routers (one 4-port wired and one wireless with 4-port wired). These don't really help at all as if I hook them into the Actiontec DSL/Wireless/router, they do not work as if it is the same network.

From what I understand, in order to connect more, I will need to buy a switch and plug that into the router, and then extra new devices into this switch. Is this correct or can I use one of the routers I currently have? The Actiontec DSL/wireless/router is really flaky and I dislike this item and would rather go strictly with the D-link. The DSL/wireless/router does say it has some 'bridging' ability. From what I understand, isn't this like a 'pass-through' so that this unit will read the internet signal coming in, but then just pass this data onto the router that I would currently be using? Or, will I just have to buy a new DSL/wireless/router to replace the cheapo one that they have provided?

Thanks,
Michael

[neouser99]

yes, you need a switch...it is possible that some of those extra routers could double as switches...look on the back, and if one of the ports is an UPLINK port, then it can double as a switch. That will allow you to install more things on more ports...up to 50 on most consumer routers.

-neo

[mbossman2]

add a switch and daisy chain it off one of the LAN ports (do not hook anything other than a WAN/Internet connection to the WAN port...you will have issues) on your existing router. try for an uplink port but that is not critical. having multiple (active) routers within a network can lead to some head pounding configuration issues.

[yarla98]

Okay, I got myself an 8 D-link switch, and everything under it works great and the networking speed seems faster and more stable than before even. But, now I have an additional problem. The Router that I am using has wireless built into it and I was and am using this for my laptop. Now, even though I've read/heard that the laptop SHOULD be able to see the same network that the other PC's are on, it doesn't (it does however see any of the other PC's if I plug them back into the router and not the switch). What am I doing wrong here? All the networking setup has been checked and is correct to allow the PC's to see the laptop and vice versa. Please help me out if you can. I'm quite lost with this problem.

Thanks a lot once more!