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My friend and I (a fellowed LBDer) made a network cable at work. It lights up when you plug it in but doesn't seem to transmit data. Anyone know what may cause this? Did we screw up the cable or what? aAny tips when making them?

MattSharp wrote:
My friend and I (a fellowed LBDer) made a network cable at work. It lights up when you plug it in but doesn't seem to transmit data. Anyone know what may cause this? Did we screw up the cable or what? aAny tips when making them?

Yeah, first, make sure you didn't cross any wires. If you have a breakout box or cable tester it can tell you instantly whether it is correct or not. If you don't, then you'll have to eye it through the RJ-45 jack to make sure you have the same pin order on both heads.

Second, use standards every time you make a cable so that if you see that you get used to always putting them in the correct order. I always use T568B:

White-Orange
Orange
White-Green
Blue
White-Blue
Green
White-Brown
Brown

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2003 10:45 am Post subject:

and dont forget to configure your systems to work as a network

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2003 11:40 am Post subject:

and you can't use a straight through if you're connecting two machines directly together. You need a crossover cable if there is no hub between your machines...

wt/gr -- wt/or
gn -- or
wt/or -- wt/gr
blu -- blu
wt/blu -- wt/blu
or -- gr
wt/br -- wt/br
br -- br

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2003 12:28 pm Post subject:

I don't believe that you can even get a light if you connect two PC's together with a straight-through. Look at the tops of the RJ-45 connecters and see if you can see the copper pressing against the top. If you notice that some of the wires are sunk down, then you made a bad cable. Also look at the underbelly and make sure that your wires are the way they should be. How long of a cable are you making? Are you using Ethernet or Broadband? (Coax) Have you tried turning off "Auto Sense" on the network cards themselves and perhaps slowing the speed down to 10baseT Half-Duplex? Did you IP correctly?

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2003 1:21 pm Post subject:

Dont forget, there is always that change that you have an open short on a home made cable and you wont know it till you test it with even a cheap tester.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2003 10:57 am Post subject:

Question one, where can you get a tester and how much do they cost?

Next, I am not making a crossover and I am testing on a network where everything is working. I can swap in a working network cable and everything works fine. It's just this cable that doesn't work. So I am positive its the cable.

Will the tester help me figure out whats wrong or just tell me it doesnt work.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2003 11:37 am Post subject:

http://reviews.cnet.com/4505-3245_7-6966619.html

Might be cheaper to buy a premade cable. Also remember cat 5 is limited to approx 900 ft (if memory serves me 100m)

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2003 1:37 pm Post subject:

edh wrote:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4505-3245_7-6966619.html

Might be cheaper to buy a premade cable. Also remember cat 5 is limited to approx 900 ft (if memory serves me 100m)

Cat5 = 328 ft. (100m) max... if you are using 1000baseT then it goes down to something around 80 ft.