Home network not working

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MG1976

43 posts

Geek

#449747 18-Mar-2011 20:14

The connection to TelstraClear is DSL, so hoping this will work OK. Here are some pics, the patch panel full view, a close up of three nework ports on the patch panel, and a close up of the plate/ports in the study. Keen to know if this all looks OK. Cheers, Greg
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/blog74e967facac4eaee1de36a580d6d38b0.jpg
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/blog4c31fd48a747de5bd960a657ec7c7d9b.jpg
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/blogc9df3a629a0a1c184bfe7aad090580c8.jpg

Oldhat

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#449791 19-Mar-2011 01:25

While I'm not familiar with the requirements for a data hub, long lengths of untwisted and exposed cable can definitely be a cause for poor ethernet cable performance.

For ethernet, the less untwisted/exposed, the better and some of those appear a bit excessive to me.

cyril7

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#449802 19-Mar-2011 08:40

Hi, thats a typical electricians job, most sparkies have no idea about data or the transmission of radio frequency signals (which ethernet is) and as a result terminate it like a simple phone or security connection.

You should not untwist the wires, add more twist if it helps align the IDC header to where you go. Also exposing the pairs by unsheathing whilest not an issue in itself does make the pairs more prone to splitting or splaying the two conductors, which causes return loss issues.

That all said I dont see why that should not work assuming all the wires are punched down and in the right slots.

Pity he had to put that surface mount phone socket in there for the DSL connection, I would have just terminated the DSL side on one of the spare RJ45 sockets on the top patch panel.

Cyril

cldlr76

289 posts

Ultimate Geek

#449924 19-Mar-2011 18:13

will have a good look at the wiring tonight and hopefully post photos soon (pending Internet at home as tomorrow is a public holiday here in Chch).

Is it possible the cat5 got damaged inside the walls during the quake? or maybe water or slit got into the cabling?

illicit

553 posts

Ultimate Geek

#450003 20-Mar-2011 10:52

God thats a mess. Electricians should stick to electrical.

It doesn't look like the terminations onto the patch panels are done very well, I would get a cable tester and a label maker and test/label each outlet and if able re-terminate and dodgy outlets - which may be a few.

sbiddle

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#450007 20-Mar-2011 11:07

Looking at the patch panel many of those connections look very poor, the brown ones in particular in the middle of the photo look like they may not even be punched down properly. The brown pair isn't used in 100/100 ethernet so won't be the cause but it gives an indication of a poor wiring job so the best place to do would be to test all the pairs.

The amount of poor new wiring around these days is shocking. There is an apartment block we service at work where every apartment is wired for 568A back to a ground floor patch panel that's wired for 568B. It's obvious that no testing was ever done on the cabling!

MG1976

43 posts

Geek

#450269 21-Mar-2011 08:58

Thanks for all the help guys. A quick update, it looks like the 2 ports in the living room are OK (the LAN light on the router lights up, and the PC is getting the correct IP address). I can't get anything out of the other ports though (study, lounge and bedroom). I had a look in the roof, the cable run for the living room splits off from the other cables just up from the patch panel. All other cables (except the study) share a run across the house, and it appears to share at least part of that run with power cables (something to investigate further). It looks like I also need to invest in a cable tester and punch down tool to properly test and fix the wiring.

Cheers
Greg

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cyril7

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#450271 21-Mar-2011 09:17

Hi, whilst running with power cables is not desirable it rarely causes any real issues.

The standards require for safety purposes that SLV/TNV(<50V) and LV(50-1000V) cables are maintained 50mm apart, and if you cannot achieve that a solid barrier between. For interference mitigation purposes keep them 300mm apart. If they must run together at less than 300mm (but more than 50mm) then try keep the parallel run of togetherness under 3m in length.

Reality is that ethernet and power operate at totally different frequencies, and the input coupling circuits of the ethernet port are designed to not hear mains frequencies, unless however your power cables are carrying high levels of HF hash, which can occur near switch mode power supplies such as solid state halogen supplies, and most modern electronics goods, but you have to be close to these devices as HF energy does not carry far along the cables. Electronic Halogen supplies in the ceiling space are a big one to watch for, always give them a good 300mm birth, fluro light fittings also are not good.

Cyril

trig42

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#450283 21-Mar-2011 09:45

I'd say definitely make sure all those cables are punched in correctly, then try and identify which ports on the patch panel go to which wall outlets. Plug one cable into one port from router to patch panel and run round house with laptop to see which one gets a signal

cyril7

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#450288 21-Mar-2011 09:54

Even easier way to check which outlet goes to where is plug the phone line into a socket on the patch panel and use a phone to test for dailtone, much quicker than dragging the laptop, but hey what ever suits.

Which brings me to the other issue, you have had the cabling wired in a structured manner and then run a parallel phone service using BT sockets, this in my view is a bit odd. I would have only run structured cabling, with a proper phone distributor rather than the old fashioned one that Vinco have supplied (as linked below), that way you only have RJ45's, fully wired for data or phone (or both) which is a lot more flexible, you can still do that change if you wanted

The unit below will take place of the big white socket, and the current phone module, and provide a mounting point and connection point for the DSL filter.

http://www.sigtech.co.nz/uploads/72000/files/ST2206_Installation_instructions__A4_Single_.pdf

Cyril

MG1976

43 posts

Geek

#450622 22-Mar-2011 09:19

A quick update, I borrowed a cable tester from work last night, and looked at the patch panel wiring in more detail. I turns out almost none of the wires were punched down correctly at the panel. After spending a bit of time punching every wire down as far as it would go, most ports are working nicely now. There are a couple where the tester (at the socket/remote end) was showing 'reverse' (when I can be bothered I'll look at these more closely, I know at least one of those had a loose white wire when I looked inside previously), and another couple where the LEDs lit up in order 1, 3, 2, 4 (instead of 1, 2, 3, 4) which I have no idea what that means - although a PC in those ports works OK. And there is one port in the bedroom that I still can't get anything out of at all - not even a single LED on the tester (the cable itself has a lot of paint splashed around and some inside too - either that or it's not actually wired into the patch panel). But everything I want to work is working now so I'm happy.

Cheers Cyril for the advice regarding the phone connection, I'll definitely look into that down the track. At this stage I just want to get it working before I go about enhancing things.

Now for TelstraClear to connect us up... (2 1/2 weeks and still waiting!)

Cheers
Greg

illicit

553 posts

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#450703 22-Mar-2011 12:27

The 'reverse' indicates one end has been wired as 568A and the other 568B (causing the 1-3-2-4 issue) Most LAN cards in PCs can detect and allow for this but you best to wire all as 568A (NZ Std) - its most likely done as 568B in the wall plates but from the photos above it could actually be in your home distributor panel - the green and orange need to be swapped over.

As for the phone hub that Cyril mentioned, its not so much 'enhancing' things but doing them properly in the first place as the electricians have done it wrong to start with...

webwat

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#452012 26-Mar-2011 12:02

The white BT outlet in the main cabinet is the DSL outlet? Really don't know why it didn't go onto the patch panel, there are two spare ports there waiting for it. Also don't know why they would install expensive BT outlets in each room when the far better RJ45 ones are so much cheaper.

Reverse might mean that coloured and white wires were swapped, rather than being a crossover. Both errors are easy enough to do and should have been tested. Job isn't finished until everything has been tested.

Time to find a new industry!

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