ethernet Cat 6 works, but Cat5e fails ?

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fran1942

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#171281 12-Apr-2015 20:25

Has anyone else had the situation where you cannot establish a network connection between your PC and a switch, router etc. using Cat5e cable, but as soon as you use Cat6 it works fine ?
Normally the problem is the other way around. Any ideas why this might be happening ?
Thanks for any comments.

sbiddle

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#1281610 12-Apr-2015 20:32

So the cable is damaged - that's really the only scenario.

And by damage it could be physical preventing anything from working, or a poor quality cable preventing Gigabit (assuming both devices are Gigabit) so it fails.

billgates

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#1281611 12-Apr-2015 20:32

faulty cat5e cable? have you tried another cat5e?

Do whatever you want to do man.

CYaBro

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#1281615 12-Apr-2015 20:48

Or perhaps the CAT5e is a crossover cable and the router/switch doesn't to auto MDI/MDIX?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Aredwood

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#1281633 12-Apr-2015 21:17

Is it a really long cable run? Might be too far for cat5 but Ok for cat6.

richms

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#1281663 12-Apr-2015 23:03

$2 shop cables have done that for me. Force to 100 meg and it will link, but gig doesnt work. Stripping them back and its all brown coloured muck with a tiny hint of copper, rock hard insulation and a jacket that crumbles apart.

Never had it happen with a proper cat5e cable. But throw a tester across it just to check its properly wired and all conductors are conducting. Otherwise just throw it out and replace it.

Richard rich.ms