WAN port does not detect network connection

Phobbos

Morning all,
Please please could someone shed some light on the issue I'm having, and please be patient with me, everything i know about routers and how they work I learnt from Google,so I may not understand all the terminology :-\

I installed pfsense onto an old desktop I had lying around, I have managed to get my LAN side working perfectly, the dhcp system assigns the IP addresses to my users though an access point etc etc.

Problem is that the WAN port simply does not detect a connection to my modem. I don't need to add a username and password on my existing system, I simply plug the Ethernet cable into my existing router and it works using dhcp connection to my ISP.

I've checked the network card I'm using and it's fine.
I've spoofed my existing routers Mac address on pfsense, but still nothing
I've rebooted my modem a million times, nothing!
I've rebooted my pfsense box 2 million times, nothing!

One clue, the lights on the network card I'm using for my WAN to flash once when I plug the network cable in then nothing. If I plug the LAN Network cable into the WAN network card they light up like a Christmas tree!.

Any advise would be greatly Appreciated :)

cmb

Sounds like the cable you're using for the WAN side is bad, or maybe a crossover when you need a straight cable.

Phobbos

I will double check that. It is the same cable I always use, but maybe my standard router works with straight or crossover cables?

cmb

@Phobbos:

I will double check that. It is the same cable I always use, but maybe my standard router works with straight or crossover cables?

Possible your router's auto-MDI/MDIX and the NIC you have as WAN in the desktop isn't.

Phobbos

Solved it!!
A very strange problem I must say.

For whatever reason my pfsense machine would not pick up my modems connection, yet any other piece of equipment I had lying around would?? I ended up getting it working by first plugging my modem into a basic switch I had lying around and from there I ran another cable into my pfsense machine. Very strange, but at least it's working now.

cmb

Unusual, but it happens. Some devices don't play well with certain others. In those cases, you're generally always fine with the switch in between. Where that works at all, it'll generally stay stable.