firewall spontaneously disconnects from Ethernet hub

[sgordon at kenan.com (Seth Gordon)]

Following the advice of several folks on this list, I bought another hub
and configured the nework like so:

   --------------   ---------   --------------------
---| DSL router |---| Hub 1 |---|   horse-nettle   |
   --------------   ---------   | (216.254.79.186) |
                        |       --------------------
             ------------------------
             | (WAN 216.254.79.185) |
             |       Linksys        |
             |  (LAN 192.168.1.1)   |
             ------------------------
                        |
                    ---------
                    | Hub 2 |
                    ---------
                      |    |
       -----------------  -----------------
       |    petunia    |  |   eggplant    |
       | (192.168.1.3) |  | (192.168.1.4) |
       -----------------  -----------------

The (next) problem started when I turned petunia back on and tried to
configure the Linksys.  After a few minutes of perfectly normal operation,
the connection between the Linksys and Hub 2 went down, or perhaps I should
say "half-down" -- the LED on the "LAN" side of the Linksys *stayed on*,
but the link light on the appropriate port of *Hub 2* went out.

Unplugging the Linksys from the hub and plugging it back in doesn't seem to
work.  Disconnecting Hub 2's power supply for a few seconds and then
plugging it back in worked once, but not always.  The most reliable way to
bring the connection back is to disconnect the Linksys from the hub and
then reconnect it *to a port that it has not been connected to before*. 
(The Linksys has a switch on the back to choose between a straight-through
or crossover connection, so I can either plug it into the "uplink" port on
Hub 2 or one of the regular ports.)

But the connection went down again a few minutes after I turned eggplant
back on, and after I corrected the problem again, it went down again some
time between last night and this morning.

If swapping out the cable between Hub 2 and the Linksys doesn't resolve the
problem, what should I do?

-- 
"The big dig might come in handy ... for a few project managers
 whom I think would make great landfill."  --Elaine Ashton
== seth gordon == sgordon at kenan.com == standard disclaimer ==
== documentation group, kenan systems corp., cambridge, ma ==
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