[SOLVED] My gut tells me this is easier than it seems

[Brent Neilsen]

I am currently trying to make our in home LAN exist/function.

We live in a condo, and until Covid our Xfinity wireless network had been just fine for everything.

doing more work from home, I got inspired to try to make out in wall wiring work. Throughout our unit we have several wall plugs with cat 5/cat 5e/coax.

I have used a cat 5e patch cable to connect the xfinity gateway to one of the wall ports.

I have purchased an 8 port
switch that I have plugged into power in our “phone box” and I have plugged the 7 unmarked rj45 cables into this switch.

when I plug my Mac into a wall port it recognizes there is a switch with no internet so it self assigns an IP address.

Is there an element missing, or do I need to activate some piece? I am truly a rookie at all of this, and would typically call a tech to help, but with Covid it seems business is limiting send techs out.

 

[rgd1101]

how is the gateway connect to the switch?

 

[Brent Neilsen]

how is the gateway connect to the switch?

I used one of the wall ports to run cable from gateway to wall. I can’t connect directly because the gateway and switch are in different rooms.

 

[bill001g]

It should work but in wall cables may have never been used and/or tested when they were installed.

Hopefully you switch has lights. You should see the port you think goes to the router light up. You should also see the lights that go to the remote jacks light up when you plug a pc into it.

If the cable is good it is that simple. When the it is not correct fixing cable issues can get complex.

 

[Brent Neilsen]

It should work but in wall cables may have never been used and/or tested when they were installed.

Hopefully you switch has lights. You should see the port you think goes to the router light up. You should also see the lights that go to the remote jacks light up when you plug a pc into it.

If the cable is good it is that simple. When the it is not correct fixing cable issues can get complex.

Thank you. That gives me more to try to dig into...

 

[Brent Neilsen]

It should work but in wall cables may have never been used and/or tested when they were installed.

Hopefully you switch has lights. You should see the port you think goes to the router light up. You should also see the lights that go to the remote jacks light up when you plug a pc into it.

If the cable is good it is that simple. When the it is not correct fixing cable issues can get complex.

I tested all seven outlets. 5/7 gave me green lights at the switch. The two that didn’t are (Murphy’s law, of course) the two closest to the gateway. So that makes the problem pretty clear, are there any Easy solutions?

 

[Brent Neilsen]

I tested all seven outlets. 5/7 gave me green lights at the switch. The two that didn’t are (Murphy’s law, of course) the two closest to the gateway. So that makes the problem pretty clear, are there any Easy solutions?

The plug immediately in the Cabinet where we have our gateway etc...is the same outlet where our routers coax connection comes from.

The coax is connected to the comm box.

is it strange that on an outlet with RJ 45 x2 plus coax, that the coax would be live but the other ports woudn’t?

 

[bill001g]

Fixing wall jacks is more tedious than technical. You need to check that all the wires are connected and follow the proper wire sequence. Even if they look proper the wires may not be making proper contact. You really need a punch down tool and repunch all the wires on both ends. (I assume they are not RJ45 plugs). You can use a small screw driver to try to seat the wires but be extremely careful to not press on the center of the connection just on the sides on the wire.

Many times you pull the wires out cut off about 1/4 inch and repunch them down and it will work.

After that you start to suspect a bad jack or even worse bad wire in the wall. Lucky bad wire is the wall is extremely uncommon.