cat6 cabling, Finding the Fault?

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chris_shadez

chris_shadez

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Oct 22, 2013
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Running out of space in house so built a new extension to the back of the house on 2nd floor, became an office with 4 pc's, few laptops, few printers/scanners.

There is full 5 bar signal WiFi, but wanted some devices i.e. printer/pc's wired to router, so with some drilling and scurrying in tight spaces, ran a single Cat6 snagless STP patch (new and provided free from a construction site) from the router at front of house (where original BT socket is) into the attic and eventually down into that office, took around 10hours.

The internet speed drops to around 20% compared to the wifi connection or wired direct to router... Direct to router, the speed is fine but with this extension it's terrible. I chased and checked the cable for tears, all clear.

How do i find out where the fault is? It's simply too time consuming to re-run or replace the cable again
 
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Normally the problem is the ends of the cable. It sound like you bought a commercial cable with the ends on it and ran that....much more work that running just bare cable. Normally I would recommend cutting off and re terminating the cable since that is the most common problem but I am betting you do not have the tool to do that. Still it is rather hard to damage either the cable or the ends. Unlike fiber you can bend it pretty sharply and it will not cause any damage.

A TDR is a expensive item.... i have been watching for a cheap used one for quite some time. There are a number of tests these device can run some you can hook to a bare cable and others you must place a device on the far end for the TDR to measure against.

I...
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InvalidError

InvalidError

Titan
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The real way to test cables is to use an actual Time-Domain Reflectometer cable tester. These things send pulses down the wire, record any signal reflections and report whatever anomalies they find.

The ghetto way of troubleshooting would start by trying different devices at both ends of the cable to rule out the possibility of a device with a weak LAN port at either end. If you have a multimeter, you can fairly easily test for shorts between pairs from both ends and by cobbling together some method of shorting two wires to each other at either end, you can also do a basic continuity test... or you can be lazy and buy a $10-20 basic RJ45 cable tester that can do this automatically: attach the remote at one end of the cable, connect the base unit at the other end, turn it on, done.
 
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bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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Normally the problem is the ends of the cable. It sound like you bought a commercial cable with the ends on it and ran that....much more work that running just bare cable. Normally I would recommend cutting off and re terminating the cable since that is the most common problem but I am betting you do not have the tool to do that. Still it is rather hard to damage either the cable or the ends. Unlike fiber you can bend it pretty sharply and it will not cause any damage.

A TDR is a expensive item.... i have been watching for a cheap used one for quite some time. There are a number of tests these device can run some you can hook to a bare cable and others you must place a device on the far end for the TDR to measure against.

I know one of the motherboards ethernet ports I have says it can test cables like a TDR. I never did play with it much but it did correctly tell me the length of a cable.

Still you don't have a lot of options. You could get the tool to crimp ends on but what would likely be simpler would be to buy rj45 keystone jacks. These have simple punch down connectors and you would then run short patch cables from these to your end devices. If this doesn't work it means the cable is somehow damaged and you would first have find the damage and splice. It would likely be simpler to run another cable.

I would be sure to test the cable running it over the floor before you run it in the wall. It is rare to get a bad cable, most times it is only certain equipment that will not work with it because it is slightly out of spec.
 
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chris_shadez

chris_shadez

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Oct 22, 2013
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Had the guy (construction project manager(father)) i got the cable from (ends were fitted for my convenience) checked the ends hooked to another quickly made cable, were fine, he reterminated with new ends but no change. Said he'll get me more cable and i should just try rewiring it all over again lol ;(
Got a new rig coming soon, maybe the motherboard on that can perform tests on it? ASRock Z97 EXTREME6 ATX
If not, guess i'll have to borrow a TDR off a client and figure out how to work it in this situation lol, re-cabling last resort for which i'll have to find time after a few months since i work 7days a week
 
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