[SOLVED] RJ-45 Tester has me confused

[kojaks43]

I wanted to bring Cat 6 Ethernet to two tv's. Never did anything like this before. Bought 10 terminal ends and crimper. Figured I only needed 4, the rest would be used to practice. Got everything connected. One tv recognized hardwire. the other tv still thinks it is a wireless connection. Bought a tester. The lights on the main and remote cable for the TV that does not recognize the cable is green led's 1-8. Both ends. The tester on the cable that does work goes 2-1-3-4-5-6-7-8. I tested the tester with a factory made patch cable and it was fine. So it is not a flaw with the tester. I have also tried using different ports on the router. The cable with the "error" gets orange and green leds to light when inserted into the slot. The cable that the tester says is just great, does not light up in any of the ports I tried.
Any guidance for this noob is greatly appreciated.

 

[bill001g]

The wrong light pattern means you have the wires swapped on pin 1 and 2 on the different ends.

Be very careful to follow the wire pattern 568a or 568b.

Just because say pin 1 connects to pin1 and pin 2 connects to pin 2 if you do not have the proper wire pairs it still will not work. If for example you were to put the solid green in pin 1 and solid orange in ping 2 on both end it would test fine but not work because you have the pairs wrong.
Only very expensive testers can detect that type of cabling error.

It takes a lot of practice to make cables. A cable tester is just putting a battery on 1 end and a led on the other. This is very different than actual load. It is good enough in most cases but there are times the cable will test good and still not work. Even commercial cable sometime are bad from the factory.

Unless you need very special length or you have some need for very special cable colors you are almost always better off buying commercial cables.

Note be sure you have the correct cables and ends. Most cables is the standard solid copper with wire size 22-24. Stranded copper cables need different ends. If you bought fake cable like CCA or that flat cable you are going to have massive issues. You need special connectors and even then it has problems.

 

[kojaks43]

Thank you for the prompt reply.

If for example you were to put the solid green in pin 1 and solid orange in ping 2 on both end it would test fine but not work because you have the pairs wrong.

Here is where the wheels fall off the wagon. The cable with the wrong pairs on both ends, work. I understand how it shows the error, I don't understand how that cable delivers an Ethernet connection to that TV.

As I used T-568B, the out of sequence lights would mean I flipped orange, white/ orange on both ends, rather than white/orange, orange. Is that correct?

The other cable that shows the correct sequence, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8, but does not work, would mean I can cure the issue by redoing both cable ends? Only this time doing it correctly.

 

[bill001g]

Look very carefully you might be able to see the end you flipped. Using 568b you have one end you put solid on pin 1 and the orange/while on pin 1 on the other. Sometimes it will work like this. Ethernet is measure the difference in voltage between the 2 pairs not the actual total voltage. Not sure been years since I look at the details on how data is actually encoded...ie the voltage levels.. and why having them reversed can cause issues.

Many times bad cable like this may work but drop to 100mbps rather than 1gbit. Then again some equipment tolerates it.

Not sure why the cable that tests good does not work. Again if you look very closely you might see the problem. A magnifing lens or good clear closeup photos with your phone might let you see the wires. Even with a $1000 fluke meter you many times still blindly cut off one end and hope that was the one that was wrong.

Cables are purely a matter of experience. The more you make the fewer bad ones you get.

 

[kojaks43]

Many times bad cable like this may work but drop to 100mbps rather than 1gbit.

A magnifing lens or good clear closeup photos with your phone might let you see the wires.

The one that works is going to a TV. 100mbps is more than adequate for Netflix. I'll not mess with something that is working. If I did, I certainly would make it even worse.

On the cable that reads correctly, but doesn't work, I have a 10x engravers loupe. Still can't see inside the plastic cage. I might just get out my Dremel and cut away parts of the plastic to expose the wires. That way I might see what I have done wrong. The worst that can happen is I will have to replace two ends.

By the way, I have already checked the cable run. Found only one spot that looked like I pressed into the cable sheath with the nail-in cable clips a bit too hard. Don't think it got into the insulated wires, but I can cut out that portion of the wire and redo the ends. I'll try this if the Dremel exercise does not expose the problem.

But thanks for your patience and replies.

 

[SamirD]

I would run a long cable to the television that's not working and see if it works that way--it could even just be a bad port on the tv.

And most TVs are still 100Mbps ports. I don't think I've seen a TV with a gigabit port yet.

 

[kojaks43]

Oh, geeze, I don't even want to think this is a possibility. The router is upstairs, the TV is downstairs. I'd have to try to send a second cable down to the TV. I doubt there is enough room in the hole that I used to go from upstairs to downstairs. She who must be obeyed would be less than thrilled I am making another hole in the floor. The work around would be run a new cable from the router down the actual stairs and through the living room, past the kitchen and to the family room where the TV lives. That would mean having to go out buy another cable about a mile long to reach. And yes, I am exaggerating, my house is not that big. But I would have to get another run of cable.

The thought that the connector on the TV might be bad makes me shudder. Oh wait, I can't be that because while the tester shows that wire to be good, when I plug it into any of the empty RJ-45 ports on the router, none of the green or orange led's light.

 

[bill001g]

If these are basically in wall cables I would use keystones. They are much simpler since you do 1 wire at a time. They make wall mount stick on boxes to put the keystone in. You could then use a short commerical cable to run between the keystone and the device.

A little most costly up front but it depends on how many bad plugs you do and in the long run you will not damage the keystone and can just replace the patch cable if you were to break a end.

 

[kojaks43]

It is not an in-wall cable installation. The router is in a closet upstairs. I ran the cable through the closet to the bedroom upstairs, then drilled a hole in the floor in a somewhat hidden place down to another closet downstairs. The TV down there is mounted to the outside of the closet wall. I have access to the rear of the TV when I am in the closet. It is a fake wall closet I built for extra storage.

That being said, I just watched a couple of tutorials as to what is a keystone jack. I could add a keystone to the wire upstairs then buy a short factory-made jumper cable from the router to the keystone. I could do this at both ends. I'll have to do a bit more research as Amazon seems to sell these keystone thingy's in bags of a million. I only need two. I will also have to see what that press down wire setter tool will set me back.

But keystone gives me a better chance of getting the wire order correct.

 

[bill001g]

They sell single units at the local home improvement stores. Many are either toolless or have a plastic punch down tool . All it really is a thin piece of plastic with a slot in the middle. Unlike a real punch down tool it does not trim the wire but you can easily trim it with a normal wire cutter. It of course takes more time but for a home user speed is not the primary concern.