Two hubs bad in one week?

[Dojo]

I oversee a small office network (15 PCs running Win98, File server Win2000, Linksys Stackpro II 10/100 24 port hub, 3com firewall) and last week have had two hubs malfunction.

The problem started with a sporadic connection (network status in Win2000 alternated between connected and not connected) and then went completeley dead (network neighborhood in Windows displays only local computer). After basic trouble shooting such as reset power to hub, verify all connections, reboot connected PCs,etc. still no connection.

I switched out the hub with an older model (Bay Networks 10 base-T)and was able to connect. That worked fine for a couple of days but then the same thing happened to the replacement hub. I installed yet another hub and was able to get the connection back.

The only thing I can think that would cause two hubs to go bad in one week is an electrical problem but they are connected to a surge protector( and the other equipment sharing the sp are working okay). Does anyone have any suggestions. I am stumped.

thanks-

[HAL9000]

You're sure it's not a cabling or connector problem. Maybe the movement of stuff around to swap out the hub is what is really restoring your connection.

[Dojo]

I don't think this is the case- since installing new equipment I
have gone back to the original hub and tried reconnecting multiple PCs to try and TS some more, with no change in the status. Also, before swapping hubs, I
reseated all the connections on the original hub.