Hi, I have 3 computers, 2 desktops and a laptop on a Lan. The desktops are plugged in to my router with ethernet cables and the laptop is wireless. At least once a week I have trouble going online. When this happens I check the cables and usually find that one will move in about 1/32" and I'm online. apparantly the METAL connectors in the cable do not make contact in the socket. This happens to several different cables and doesn't seem to be caused by anything pulling on them. It may be that I inadvertantly bought cheap cables. Rather than replace them, (they are relatively new) I would like to find some way to make them fit tighter but be removable. Maybe coat one side with RTV silicone? Any ideas? Engineman
Buy a good quality RJ45 crimper and some good quality plugs, then search for "how to make ethernet cables" online and fit new plugs. Crimp guru Don Nichols :-) of this group likes AMP crimpers. I've no doubt that AMP crimpers are good, but I like Paladin's 8000 series crimper because it costs a lot less and is more heavily built. Cheap no name crimpers are almost always crap. This solution will undoubtedly cost you more than buying new, good quality cables, but if you're a tool nut that probably won't matter.
Make sure you are using the correct connectors. There are two types, one for solid wire and one for stranded wire. If they are for cat 5 cable, then its for solid wire.
On 15 Mar 2007 19:45:58 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, " snipped-for-privacy@aol.com" quickly quoth:
He's also a complete hypocrite, posting OT threads when he screams at everyone else for it. Please just twit filter the asshole so the rest of us who have him plonked don't have to see his crap.
Likely bad crimp on cable (copper wire, metal content). I wired up my previous place of employement and found a year or so later my crimpers that were side loaders didn't crimp pin 1 properly. Only 4 out of those 8 pins count, think it was 1236 iirc.
Most Cat 5 cable is really not meant to have connectors crimped on the end. It is not flexible and a percentage will eventually fail. The best job is to terminate the cable by punching it down. IIRC it is usually terminated on a
110 block. Data outlets or patch panels have a punch-down block on one side and a female RJ-45 on the other. Then you use a pre-manufactured patch cord with strain relief, etc. to link the device.
Hmm ... do your cables have rubber "boots" over the point where the cable enters the connector? This might be compressing the clip which normally retains the connector in its socket.
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Correct. Pins 1&2 for one direction of signal, pins 3&6 for the other. If you want to connect two computers without a hub (not the case here) you cross over pin 1 at one end to pint 3 at the other, and pin 2 at one end to pin 6 at the other -- and vice versa.
Normally -- the connectors should not back out, because there is a plastic clip on the side opposited the connector blades which locks the connector in place, and which has to be depressed to pull the connector. You could wedge something under the clip to hold it latched.
Is there anyone else in the house? (With three computers, this suggests that there is.) Someone else might be intentionally loosening the cables in the sockets. A kid might do this to reduce the chance of someone monitoring his net activities -- or perhaps simply to get the maximum bandwidth for his own purposes by depriving the other computers of any bandwidth.
Anyway -- if you wedge the clips as I suggested, and the wedge is removed, you *know* that it is someone doing this intentionally. :-)
That would not be likely to solve the connectors on multiple cables backing out of the hub/router. Unless these connectors are missing the clips. They can break off from snagging on something as you are pulling them into place. What happens when you tug gently on the cables? (Of course, I guess that it is possible that the maker of the hub/router used female connectors which are missing the detent for the clip to engage -- in which case the proper cure is a new router from a different manufacturer.)
And remember -- if *you* can access it via wireless, the odds are that so can your neighbor's kid. Make sure to set the encryption on both the router and the laptop end.
As he explained -- punch-down blocks with punch-down tools. The standard J66 punch-down tool can be fitted with a bit for 110 blocks. I have one with both bits.
But most installations won't care. They don't need the flexibility of stranded wire -- you just flex it once when you plug it in, and that is it.
Go to Home Depot and get some cable connectors for making your own cables. Cut the connector off that offends you and put a new one on. The pack on connectors should come with a plastic punch down tool that works fine if you only do few connectors(if you did many, you'd want the real tool, not the throwaway).
I've done my office like this (3 computers and router) and everything works fine.
As Don explained. The network tech at work has been fixing quite a few that were done the old way, just crimping the connectors on. Eventually some of them fail. If you feel the jacket on the cable, you can tell it's not meant to be used as a cord. BTW, the better telephone hardware out there utilizes punch down connections, even available at the borg.
I've has some ethernet ports that were slightly oversize before, causing the RJ-45 to have to much wiggle room. What I did was apply some scotch tape to the sides of the RJ-45, using a razor blade to trim the excess from the top and bottom. You can build it up in successive layers until a snug fit is achieved.
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