Home LAN/WAN - Cabling

[iCeD00D]

Good afternoon folks. Ok so I'm totally confused here. Here's the situation .... Just bought this house about 3 months ago, and I'm finally now free to setup my network. I bought a Nighthawk 1900 cable modem which is doing ok (another topic probably later ) on the wireless side and in the office here, I'm using one of the 4 ports for my 'wired' network. I noticed the other day, that there's a RJ-45 jack in the living room and low and behold one in the office here.

So grabbing my old trusty network tester, I found that both jacks are connected! The tester showed good on the loop back and with the tester adapters it came with. Now for the problem. When I put a RJ45 cable from the modem into the jack, and then a RJ45 cable from the living room jack to the computer ... absolutely nothing! I get a connect / disconnect and then that it. For troubleshooting, I've even tried a cross-over cable with the same results. Lastly I took the laptop in the office here and plugged directly into the modem and connects like a charm. Soooo embarrassed here, but what am I missing? I want to be able to use the laptop in the living room 'wired' and not wireless. Tks in advance...

 

[degrub]

is the jack wired for phone or ethernet ?

 

[CaptainSTX]

When you tested your cables did you use an Ethernet cable tester that would verify that all the pairs are connected and pinned in the correct sequence?

You also need to find the communications wiring central location in your home. Might be in the basement, garage or a metal in the wall cabinet.

If all the wiring is punched down on a 66 Block that will need to be removed. Then you will need to verify that all cable ends are terminated either using the 568B or 568A pinning pattern. If it is phone wiring all the jacks will need to be replaced and pinned 568B.

Redoing the jacks with female Ethernet jacks is simple, inexpensive, requires no tools other than a pair of scissors and the small plastic punch down tool included with the jacks. Male cable ends are more difficult to install and will require purchasing a tool. While a $10 tool from the hardware will get the job done it will require much patience, some practice and probably some do overs. If not done correctly your network speed will suffer.

What ever way you go test all cables and connections using an inexpensive Ethernet cable tester. It will tell you if the pairs have continuity and are connected in the correct sequence. It won't tell you if the cable is fast Ethernet or Gigabyte capable.

 

[iCeD00D]

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate the feedback. I do have a professional network kit that I use at work. Over the weekend I looked at the wall jacks and did not like the way it was punched. So I replaced them with regular RJ45 ends. Used the network tester and it came up normal - 568B. Verified this also by using a regular cable and using the loop-back feature to ensure the tester was working. After replacing the ends, I tried the connection again -- hooking the router to the network jack in the office and my computer to the living room wall jack. Nothing. I even went so far as to run a cable from the router to the living room to ensure the routers ports where working. Connection was fine.

I'm assuming that if there was a break in the 'wall cable' that the tester would come up with 'no connection' but it didn't. It came up fine. So now I'm totally stumped as to why I can not connect. Hope this makes sense. Thanks much ..

 

[CaptainSTX]

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate the feedback. I do have a professional network kit that I use at work. Over the weekend I looked at the wall jacks and did not like the way it was punched. So I replaced them with regular RJ45 ends. Used the network tester and it came up normal - 568B. Verified this also by using a regular cable and using the loop-back feature to ensure the tester was working. After replacing the ends, I tried the connection again -- hooking the router to the network jack in the office and my computer to the living room wall jack. Nothing. I even went so far as to run a cable from the router to the living room to ensure the routers ports where working. Connection was fine.

I'm assuming that if there was a break in the 'wall cable' that the tester would come up with 'no connection' but it didn't. It came up fine. So now I'm totally stumped as to why I can not connect. Hope this makes sense. Thanks much ..

Is the cable in the living room directly connected to the jack in your office? Normally you run from individual rooms to a centralized access junction point which is where you would locate your switch and/or patch panel.

Is it possible that you have looped through wiring where multiple jacks are daisy chained? Have you checked that each jack location only has a single cable?

 

[MichaelCG]

Have you confirmed if the cable is actual Cat5e or Cat6? I know back in the day Cat3 would link up on 10Mbps just fine and "maybe" link up on 100Mbps if you were lucky. I am assuming your cable tester is only looking at the basic electrical continuity paths and not the actual electrical properties. My guess is the cable is kinked horribly, is Cat3, or damaged (split case, nail/staple damage, etc) in some other manner within the walls.