Diagnosing Network Problems
Discussion
They're all gigabit, I have a feeling one of them is managed as it has its own IP address, but I've never done anything with them other than plug them in as they just work out of the box.
I'll see how things go now they're working, it doesn't feel like an intermittent issue as such. Behaviour has been consistent across the various configs I tried, just doing strange things, consistently.
I don't think I changed anything at all that might have caused it though, I mean I can't even think what I could have changed, but unfortunately I didn't realise it was a network issue for a while as the only thing that was online there was a server and I wasted ages rebuilding that to fix this issue first!
I'll see how things go now they're working, it doesn't feel like an intermittent issue as such. Behaviour has been consistent across the various configs I tried, just doing strange things, consistently.
I don't think I changed anything at all that might have caused it though, I mean I can't even think what I could have changed, but unfortunately I didn't realise it was a network issue for a while as the only thing that was online there was a server and I wasted ages rebuilding that to fix this issue first!
Actually, just realised there is a relatively easy fix if the issue comes back - the cable enters the house in the corner of my bathroom under the floor. It's under a cabinet, so I can access it there and put a switch there instead without making a mess, then run as many cables as I need or to the workshop and replace them if the break too until the conservatory you can see becomes an extension and the cables to the workshop go underground.
Indoor cable perishes in time outdoors, even if its protected in ducting and conduit. I cant explain how it fails when its inside a duct, but I have seen it hundreds of times. Even without sunlight and much moisture it still becomes brittle and the insulation begins to break down.
It can pass a continuity test on a basic tester but fail a certification test on a fluke and cause intermittent problems passing data. Impedence, crosstalk and frequency response are affected.
It gets really f
king tiring after a while when you get customers who think they know a bit and say "its not exposed anywhere, its in ducting and conduit everywhere, my spark says indoor cable is fine in a duct, he tested it ok with his tester blahblahbla" your spark had a few goes and you are still having issues so you called me out. Look at the fking results on my proper tester. Yes it disagrees with a 15 quid sparky wholesaler special flashy lights toy.
Oh look pulling a length of exterior duct rated cable solved the problem. Why are you so shocked? Why do you still doubt my diagnosis? Hurry up and fking pay me before i come an rip out every cable on your site...
Ahhh it helps to vent sometimes.
If its not too bad you can use a midspan poe repeater, or experiment with different pairs on the cable using pins 123 and 6 to try to get reliable 100Mbps but it looks easy enough to pull fresh with the old as a draw wire, or just run it outside the containment.
There is a huge difference in quality in rj45 crimps too. Ebay/amazon ones are mostly ste and dont last. I have good results with ultima.
It can pass a continuity test on a basic tester but fail a certification test on a fluke and cause intermittent problems passing data. Impedence, crosstalk and frequency response are affected.
It gets really f
king tiring after a while when you get customers who think they know a bit and say "its not exposed anywhere, its in ducting and conduit everywhere, my spark says indoor cable is fine in a duct, he tested it ok with his tester blahblahbla" your spark had a few goes and you are still having issues so you called me out. Look at the fking results on my proper tester. Yes it disagrees with a 15 quid sparky wholesaler special flashy lights toy.Oh look pulling a length of exterior duct rated cable solved the problem. Why are you so shocked? Why do you still doubt my diagnosis? Hurry up and f
king pay me before i come an rip out every cable on your site...Ahhh it helps to vent sometimes.
If its not too bad you can use a midspan poe repeater, or experiment with different pairs on the cable using pins 123 and 6 to try to get reliable 100Mbps but it looks easy enough to pull fresh with the old as a draw wire, or just run it outside the containment.
There is a huge difference in quality in rj45 crimps too. Ebay/amazon ones are mostly s
te and dont last. I have good results with ultima.Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Wednesday 24th April 12:11
Thanks, it's good to know there's someone here that properly knows what they're talking about!
Speedtest is still showing it's all working as it should as far as I can tell, I've just tested it now, so I'll let sleeping dogs lie as long as I can. Apart from the CCTV that's hooked up in the workshop for convenience, I have a PC out here that I use for Googling things or watching sport on while I'm working, so it's not mission critical exactly.
There's no way I can replace the wire in the containment, it's heat-shrink wrap stuff and if you dig through my renovation thread from 11 years ago you'll see that the only way I got the wires in there in the first place was to plug a hose-pipe on one end to lubricate everything while I pulled the wrap over the wires! Once it was dry again and then the wrap shrinked over the cable it became a permanent thing.
But it would be no bother really to remove the bathroom cabinet, terminate the cable there in a switch and run a new cable clipped to what's there now, except that as soon as I do that my wife will start asking about the new bathroom that we really need - it all got a bit trashed when the ceiling was pulled down as part of putting another room on top - so it will spiral into a massive job involving underfloor heating, moving the shower, constructing a cupboard, just for the sake of fitting a new cable, so I have to tread very carefully!
Speedtest is still showing it's all working as it should as far as I can tell, I've just tested it now, so I'll let sleeping dogs lie as long as I can. Apart from the CCTV that's hooked up in the workshop for convenience, I have a PC out here that I use for Googling things or watching sport on while I'm working, so it's not mission critical exactly.
There's no way I can replace the wire in the containment, it's heat-shrink wrap stuff and if you dig through my renovation thread from 11 years ago you'll see that the only way I got the wires in there in the first place was to plug a hose-pipe on one end to lubricate everything while I pulled the wrap over the wires! Once it was dry again and then the wrap shrinked over the cable it became a permanent thing.
But it would be no bother really to remove the bathroom cabinet, terminate the cable there in a switch and run a new cable clipped to what's there now, except that as soon as I do that my wife will start asking about the new bathroom that we really need - it all got a bit trashed when the ceiling was pulled down as part of putting another room on top - so it will spiral into a massive job involving underfloor heating, moving the shower, constructing a cupboard, just for the sake of fitting a new cable, so I have to tread very carefully!
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