Data Not Carried Through Network Cable But Tester Says Cable Is Working

[elabuwa]

Hi guys,

Made a new cat 5 network cable which is about 60ft long.
I clipped the two ends following T568B and plugged them in to a network cable tester.
All the 8 lights blinked indicating that the cable is working.

But, when I plug the cable in, a connection is detected but no data is transfered. Nothing wrong with the switch or the computer. I have check with another cable which worked.

Re-clipping didn't work. My confusion is why would the tester show all 8 lights blinking but the cable would not work? I have come across this issue a several times with different cables in different instances.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Are the lights blinking in the right order? You need to check both testers.

Those cheap testers with the 8 lights only check that it's wired in the right order, not that the actual connections are good. Ethernet can be very picky about connection quality, especially at longer lengths.

 

[elabuwa]

Are the lights blinking in the right order? You need to check both testers.

Those cheap testers with the 8 lights only check that it's wired in the right order, not that the actual connections are good. Ethernet can be very picky about connection quality, especially at longer lengths.

Yes they are blinking in the right order. My checker is a simple basic tester no fancy stuff. just blinks 8 lights and thats it. Any suggested products? Any idea on what could have possible gone wrong?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Usual answer is to reterminate each end.

Could you post a picture of both ends? Might be obvious. Possibly too long a length untwisted, or you mis-remembered the colour code.

Unfortunately, testers that actually check crosstalk and the like are still prohibitively expensive unless you do networking for a living.

 

[jsmithepa]

Crimping RJ45 seems like simple, but in real life, well, u found out.

Not what u wanna hear, but I buy pre-made, Monoprice.com sells them cheap enough, and for in-walls I use punch-down instead.

 

[elabuwa]

Usual answer is to reterminate each end.

Could you post a picture of both ends? Might be obvious. Possibly too long a length untwisted, or you mis-remembered the colour code.

Unfortunately, testers that actually check crosstalk and the like are still prohibitively expensive unless you do networking for a living.

Will post the pictures up tomorrow. Thank you for suggesting a better tester by the way. Might as well get a better one. I do IP camera setting up as a side income earner. Might as well get a better tester.

Also on a side note, I found a cable tester that is in an acceptable budget range. I'm not trying to promote the product by spamming here. But if you have some free time, can I send you the link so you can check it out? I can PM you if it's not acceptable to posting those links on the forum.

 

[elabuwa]

Crimping RJ45 seems like simple, but in real life, well, u found out.

Not what u wanna hear, but I buy pre-made, Monoprice.com sells them cheap enough, and for in-walls I use punch-down instead.

Thank you for the suggestion. I would love to buy premade too. But it is hard to use premades since I have to run the cables through conduit pipes and through holes in the wall etc etc. Plus the lengths normally go up to 50m in some instances so using premade in all the wiring conditions tends to be troublesome.

 

[tman1]

If you don't arrange the wires properly, then the cables won't work and can pass on the tester, as it's only checking continuity on each wire.

 

[bill001g]

You likely have not even stumbled upon a actual cable tester....unless you consider $1000 in your acceptable budget range. They go to outrageous prices for high end units that can test fiber also.
http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-Networks-DTX-1200-MS-120-Multi-Mode/dp/B000KIPJ58/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443910663&sr=8-1&keywords=DTX-1200-MS

I have been watching for years to even acquire a used one of the lower end devices and have yet to get one I will even consider cheap enough for personal use.

All you can really do is keep trying until you get one terminated correctly. It tends to be a little easier to get good termination on the wall jack keystones for beginners than crimping on rj45 ends. They have nice color patterns you can't mess up and you do the wires one at a time so there is no slippage of wires like you have in rj45. You could then use a commercial ethernet cable to go from the wall to the computer.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I'd suggest using keystones, too. Nicer for the end user and much easier to terminate.

 

[Ralston18]

Many years ago I once worked in a corporate office environment directly supporting about 60 people including the company owners. We also supported several remote locations with a couple hundred people therein. The VP of Accounting was very much into micro-managing purchases of anything and despised computers. He did not like the number of patch cables we had to purchase nor the “cost per foot” of the Ethernet cables.

We technicians, on the other hand, were trying to get the hang of crimping cables so we could salvage patch cables as often as possible. Borrowed crimpers and scrounged connectors….

Sans any tester (thanks to above VP) I jury-rigged (Rest in Peace Radio Shack) some salvaged RJ-45 wall plugs/keystones so I could at least do continuity testing with my own personal multi-meter.

Requesting to purchase a Fluke would have been death by a thousand cuts…..

What we ended up doing (when we could and at “lower cost per foot”) was to buy pre-terminated cables at least twice as long as necessary. First we would check cable continuity and then mark each end of the cable.

At that point the cable would be cut either into half or some other desired lengths knowing that the marked connectors would be good crimps. After DIY crimping connectors on the cut end we could do another continuity test and either put the cable into use or cut off the bad crimp and try again. Occasionally the cut end would be carefully pulled through walls or ceilings beforehand. Then crimped and "tested".

Hard on the first few connectors. The saving grace being that said VP thought the cost was all in cables and not the labor and connectors. If we bought the connectors ourselves he would reimburse us 30 to 60 days later....

Not sure why he hated cables so much. One time he dragged in a trash box full of used telephone wires/wiring from somewhere (office demolition on another floor we think) and told us “wire is wire”. Tore up our requisition for a spool of Cat 3 wire.

Hope no one has to go through all that sort of nonsense again.

Moral of the story agrees with the previous postings. I.e., use keystones for long runs and pre-crimped cables for patching. But please get a quality punch-down tool. 🙂