OK So I am trying to diagnose a problem where the internet hangs for a few seconds, and then works fine. When I ping my adsl router I sometimes the request times out, most of them time it is 1ms ping. I am connected to the router via a fairly long LAN cable that is routed through the house, and has been soldered in a few places, so I think this is the most likely culprit. Is there a software based test I can do to isolate the cable as the issue?
Soldered cable? Uh ooh. I sense there may be some form of interference coming in from there as they are no longer shielded. I may be wrong though.
Well none of the wires are shielded, its only a twisted pair cable. The cable is slightly untwisted at the soldered point but only for a few centimetres. It is also possible that the cable is pinched or damaged somewhere along the route, so I only want to go looking for problems if I am sure it is the cable at fault!
Are you able to move your pc next to the modem/router or use a laptop and connect via Ethernet to test? I would be 99% confident in saying that the cable is the issue, and you will probably need to run a new cable.
That's enough. You can't just solder two lengths of twisted-pair cable together and expect it to work, sadly. The twists in the cable are there to eliminate cross-talk: untwist the cables and you've got a problem. You're going to need to run new cable - I'm guessing the 'hanging' is packet loss. Run a ping test like so: ping -t routerip That'll ping your router continuously until you cancel with Ctrl+C. Let it run for a half-hour or so, then hit Ctrl-C (or Ctrl-Break to keep running but display statistics) and see what the packet loss is. If the cable's fine, it should be 0%. If not, run new cable - and don't solder it this time!
Might be easiest just to use the knackered cable as a draw wire and pull a new cat5e (at least) through in its place...
I would do this, easiest way to get a new cable into an old run if you are going to be removing the knackered one, and run 2 runs, just for kicks but then you have more options and some movement to expand on anything in the future, plus, you might as well if you are pulling through one new cable.
That's a (Margon) Man with a plan. I meant more than one when I said (at least). Damn my lazy typing and Margon for showing me up
I set a ping command running, and then went and wiggled the cable joint, lots of ping timeouts. So looks like thats the problem. Having another look at the cable it has actually been soldered in two separate places, as a bodge because the connector is too big to fit through the holes in walls etc for the cable. I think I need to sort out a new cable, I will go for a cat6 one given how cheap the cables are, also I believe cat6 cables are shielded which might make the cable more robust if it gets pinched somewhere. Motto of the story if you do a job in a hurry you will end up doing it again! I never seem to learn that one! Thanks for input as usual,
oh man I didn't even realise you wrote at least I was more enforcing your good idea No showing up, more, agreeing with your master plan!
I was planning to drill the holes in the wall out bigger so that I can fit a cable with the connectors already fitted.
I quite often buy it off amazon. or comms express, or fruity cables. http://www.comms-express.com/ http://www.fruitycables.co.uk/
Crimp the connectors yourself (if you feel confident enough to do so) and it'll require a) a smaller hole and b) bespoke lengths! Margon - good idea fistbump
Well the cable goes through several walls, all of which are brick so it would be quite a big job to do. I think If I buy a cable with connectors already on and I am careful not to give it any sharp bends it should be fine. Our adsl connection is only 2mb so I hardly need the cable performing at peek speeds.
Not having much luck with LAN cables this week! I have noticed the cat5e cable going to the garage connects at only 10mb, one end is a router with gigabit ports and the other is a computer with a 10/100mb port. If I change the ethernet card settings from "auto" to "100mb" it says ethernet cable unplugged, so it looks like this cable is damaged somewhere aswell. I have seen some ethernet cables that say they are suitable for outdoors, I guess I should get one of those, or look for a reel of outdoor lan cable and get a crimp tool given that I now have two cables to sort.
