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Home Ethernet Cabling Not Working
JAEF
Unstoppably BaldRegistered User regular
Unstoppably BaldRegistered User regular
Howdy H/A. I'm having some trouble with my home ethernet. Just moved into a new house and I've got ethernet ports in every room that lead up to a central hub in the master bedroom:
On the left I have the modem and router set up in the living room. I have an ethernet line running from the router to the wall, which ends up in the master bedroom hub. I used a tester to check the line when the router is connected vs disconnected, there's definitely some signal coming through:
However my switch doesn't recognize the incoming connection, my laptop plugged into that ethernet port isn't able to connect to the router IP. Basically the line is running but none of my equipment will recognize it.
My router is a TP-Link AC1200 and my switch is a TP-Link 8-Port GB Unmanaged Switch. Am I missing some kind of settings on the router, or backend fiddling I have to do? Is it a case of bad wiring? I tried setting up the modem+router in the hub and running it out from there, had the same kind of luck.
Any troubleshooting ideas?
Thanks!
On the left I have the modem and router set up in the living room. I have an ethernet line running from the router to the wall, which ends up in the master bedroom hub. I used a tester to check the line when the router is connected vs disconnected, there's definitely some signal coming through:
However my switch doesn't recognize the incoming connection, my laptop plugged into that ethernet port isn't able to connect to the router IP. Basically the line is running but none of my equipment will recognize it.
My router is a TP-Link AC1200 and my switch is a TP-Link 8-Port GB Unmanaged Switch. Am I missing some kind of settings on the router, or backend fiddling I have to do? Is it a case of bad wiring? I tried setting up the modem+router in the hub and running it out from there, had the same kind of luck.
Any troubleshooting ideas?
Thanks!
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I noticed some jacks, are they punched into a punchdown panel or right into an RJ45 end? (this doesn't work usually, you've essentially made a crossover cable IIRC).
Are you saying that presents an issue? I'm not familiar with cabling very much, just the computer side of things.
That switch model claims to be autosensing, though. It ought to see the router one way or the other, true/false? (Maybe only on port 1? Never played with one.)
JAEF:
Have you taken the home wiring out of the equation? Ie: Tried everything in one room with known-good patch cables to verify if the hardware is behaving itself?
Not sure if that's what this meant:
Also: Tried different ports?
What I would do is take off the face plate on those jacks, and figure out how they're punched down into the keystone (probably 568B, but maybe it's A).
Then snag one of these motherfuckers:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=7260
with these : http://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5384 (grab blue if you want them to match, get however many you need)
You will also want one of these: http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=105&cp_id=10509&cs_id=1050903&p_id=7043&seq=1&format=2
I'm not sure what skills you have for this, or what tools, but punching cat5/6 is super easy to do. You basically match color to color depending on if you want A or B (it should all be color coded on the keystone)
This way you can ensure both sides are matched and done well, and eliminate any possible wiring issue. The physical structure of the wire is fine, I'm sure. It's incredibly difficult to break cat5/6 cable in any meaningful way while running unless you're a moron. (I say this, but it's happened)
But yeah, I deffo immediately shake my head against male/male and male/female cat6 cabling when I see it. (@trace had male/male and was having a lot of network issues at his job before we fixed them)
You also don't want to leave too much of the cable outside of the shielding because that has cross talk (and enough of it can cause failure), but that should at least help you get started (again I apologize if you already know like 80% of this)
Edit: I've never used one of those testers, but theoretically all 8 of those lights should light up I thought. Like this:
Replace the patch panel with jacks straight into the router.. but, yeah, you get the idea. (edit: it looks like right from the pictures but I want to make sure)
Looks like A? I removed the plate off of one of the wall jacks, also looks like A?! The site is saying they should both be B for a straight through to have a router->switch or switch->computer connection through these wires, is that right?
Yeah the lights all light up sequentially, but I wasn't getting any signal. So the issue then is that they're just wired in the wrong way at the caps? If I grab this stuff, set them both female/female with type B setup, I should be able to run it the way I'd like? That diagram is pretty much my ideal setup as the living room is the best coverage for the wifi.
Appreciate all your help bowen. I have 0 electrical engineering knowledge but I can definitely follow a manual/youtube video.
It looks like they are from your picture, so I can't see how that would be the problem.
might be a small break in a single cable near the jack if they cut it sloppily, i've seen that as a problem before.
It looks like you had a connection tester? did you plug it into each end at the box and at the room for each cable to see if they worked?
So bad wiring then? Recapping would solve this too, right?
is that wire coming out of the end???
If they wired the jack right with A, then they did it upside down on the RJ45 crimp.. nothing would work.
edit: oh ya just noticing what bowen is seeing, those crimps do look weird, maybe it's just the type of connector.
What I'm guessing is that it's pinned out with A (looks like A) on the jacks, but, all the RJ45s are upside down (clip goes down) because when it's turned over when the clips up, it looks like 568A pinout
yeah that's 100% what I'd do. Get the keystone patch panel so you can organize them, then get a dozen or two keystone jacks, then make them all jacks and hook them up to the patch panel (also double check all the jacks on the wall outlets).
Then get a whole ass ton of patch cables (get them from monoprice) in the length you need, and then win the day!
you could just get a bag of connectors and a crimp tool.
having a punch board is nice, but nothing wrong with the cables just going straight into the switch.
punching is easier than crimping, and a lot less frustrating
I avoid crimping whenever possible, let the companies and machines handle that for me, punching down the panel is ezpz
well I won't argue with that.
Though having a crimp tool, bag of connectors and a box of cat 5e around can be real handy when you need a cable and don't want to wait for shipping or pay $30+ at a best buy.
Not true. While "any random order, duplicated at both ends" may work, there's a reason why each of the four pairs of wire is twisted slightly differently than the other three. It's to minimize interference and crosstalk. This is more important with gigabit ethernet and PoE since both use all four pairs, but not following the 568A/B standard technically could cause problems.
@JAEF - The pic you have is definitely 568A, albeit backwards. When looking at the bottom of the RJ45 end (tab down, pins away), the correct order (left to right) should be White/Orange, Orange, White/Green, Blue, White/Blue, Green, White/Brown, Brown.
If you want to get super technical and follow the wiring specs exactly, both ends of the wire run should be the same. By that I mean, if it's a female adapter on one end, it should be female on the other. For example, if you have a run to your wall, it would have a keystone (female) adapter. The other end should be punched down to a patch panel and not terminated in a RJ45 (male) end (and likely plugged directly into a switch/router).