What is a workgroup switch?

[Argitoth]

So I bought a workgroup switch. The router goes out to three computers and this switch. The switch goes out to two more computers. That means that virtually 5 computers are connected to the router.

One computer lost its connection. Now I'm wondering if the word "SWITCH" indicates that I have purchased the wrong thing. If it is a SWITCH then theoretically it should be SWITCHING which computer gets the 4th connection.

Well, the computer that is not connected to the switch is the one that lost connectivity. Does that mean my switch is using two connections and the 3 other computers have to share between the other two connections?

Am I having a connectivity problem or is a switch actually supposed to SWITCH?

[Katsurugi]

I believe that if you have this set up, a port on your router will be unavailable. So your router has 4 ports, 1 will be de-activated. That means you have 3 working ports. Use 2 for the computers, and then 1 for the switch. All of the ports on the switch should work. Hopefully this isn't too much work. Also, for your information, the term "switch" doesn't really mean anything particularly special. It's technically just a internet hub with some inbuilt features with better bandwith efficiency.

I forgot the term of this phenomenon. I thought it was called port burn out or something similar. But Google yields no helpful results. If I recall correctly, I read about this in one of the manuals for my linksys router.

[Argitoth]

So I need to have 3 computers connected to the switch, 2 computers connected to the router.

[Katsurugi]

That is correct.