said by 97177105:said by wyked:is portfast turned on for the switchports the workstations are plugged into on the 6509?
I'm guessing it's not. I have heard of this before and thanks for reminding it. I've heard it will take 30seconds to more for the ports to kick in and with the switches on the ports they stay alive and respond faster
Was the "cheap switch" you put between stations and Catalyst 6509 switch configured to do portfast? If not, then portfast configuration is not the issue. Further more, I doubt that any cheap switches support portfast feature in the first place.
I believe the cheap switch you put in acted as "signal repeater", minimizing the distance issue between stations and the 6509 switch. As I suggested previously, reviewing inside wiring condition should be the first approach to evaluate your infrastructure.