Network Cable installation fail - what went wrong?!

[Ani42]

Hello! My name is Andy and I will appreciate any help regarding a network problem I am facing: Recently I installed a 20-meter Cat5e Network Cable (Solid Copper Core) across my home in order to set Wireless access point in the poor reception area.

 

On both ends of the cable, I hooked up RJ45 wall sockets (by the B type configuration) and so I was able to use an ordinary RJ45 cable (male-male) to connect to one of the LANs connectors on my ISP’s Modem/Router Combo.

 

To my understanding, because RJ45 cable can reach up to 100 meters without any signal loss, my 20m cable was way under the limit – and so if I was to connect a laptop or an access point (after the proper settings have been set) I would have a working network connection.

 

Sadly that is not the case: even though I checked my wiring abilities With an RJ45 network cable tester and all 8 lights fired up in the right sequence (meaning I haven’t cross-threaded the wires and there is no disconnection along the cable) I don’t have internet.

 

I should mention that even though hooking up my laptop to the far end of the cable does not connect my computer to the internet if I do so directly to the Router’s LAN connectors I am getting connected immediately.

 

I have tried to troubleshoot the problem for a long time but I am completely out of ideas – why isn’t the cable transferring data as intended?

 

 

For connivance, I have attached a schematic illustration of the network:

 

 

[Dutch_Master]

How does the WAP-box gets its power? If it's a PoE device, does the ISP router provide (sufficient) power?

[Ani42]

2 hours ago, Dutch_Master said:

How does the WAP-box gets its power? If it's a PoE device, does the ISP router provide (sufficient) power?

Great question - I forgot to address this:

 

The ISP router comes with its own 12.0V power brick (2.0A).

I think that is sufficient to a distance of 20m, isn’t it?

[Lurick]

4 minutes ago, Ani42 said:

Great question - I forgot to address this:

 

The ISP router comes with its own 12.0V power brick (2.0A).

I think that is sufficient to a distance of 20m, isn’t it?

That's to power the ISP device itself. The WAP needs it's own power source unless your ISP device is providing power over ethernet which is not something I've ever seen a stock ISP device provide. So how are you powering the WAP?

[Ani42]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

That's to power the ISP device itself. The WAP needs it's own power source unless your ISP device is providing power over ethernet which is not something I've ever seen a stock ISP device provide. So how are you powering the WAP?

 

The same thing – with another 12.0V power brick (this time for the WAP).

The WAP is working, and as far as I know I have set all the AP settings correctly. I see my Wi-Fi network but when I am trying to connect to it and input my password – the Connection fails. Because of that I have tried to hook up a laptop directly, but to no avail …

[Ani42]

1 hour ago, zhnu said:

Are you sure the cable is OK you mentioned that you used solid copper core and 20m isn't much distance, my 2 cents either you got a portion of the cable damaged (can occur when it does aggressive bends or gets snagged somewhere and you pull it), or maybe you have interference on the cable, if the cable isn't shielded or the drain wire isn't properly installed you can have interference from nearby power cables for example.

 

You raised up two potential problems:

 

1.       Cable damage – first, the Network Cable run inside its own dedicated subfloor pipe, and it's almost completely straight line (so no extreme bands and such). Second, as I mentioned above I ran a test on the cable using RJ45 network cable tester on both ends of the cable and the device showed a normal result. This leads me to think that the cable is not damaged or otherwise a signal would not have been passed through the testing device.

 

 

2.       Interference issue –  Here I must admit that this is an area in which I do not understand much, but I can say that the cable has foil shield all along it. In addition, I didn't pay any attention to the drain wire and just set it aside.

Can that be the cause of the problem? And if so, how do I fix it?

 

[Ani42]

Among all the questions and clarifications I feel that now is a good time as any to say thank you to everyone who has read the question and thought of a possible solution! 

[Lurick]

21 minutes ago, Ani42 said:

 

The same thing – with another 12.0V power brick (this time for the WAP).

The WAP is working, and as far as I know I have set all the AP settings correctly. I see my Wi-Fi network but when I am trying to connect to it and input my password – the Connection fails. Because of that I have tried to hook up a laptop directly, but to no avail …

Hmmm, ok. If you connect your PC to one end and your laptop to another do you at least get a blinking light on the PC or laptop's ethernet port?

[Ani42]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Hmmm, ok. If you connect your PC to one end and your laptop to another do you at least get a blinking light on the PC or laptop's ethernet port?

 

I did not try to move the PC tower to the other end of the house and my laptop has no lights near the outlet.

 

Would it help if I did?

[Lurick]

Just now, Ani42 said:

 

I did not try to move the PC tower to the other end of the house and my laptop has no lights near the outlet.

 

Would it help if I did?

Oh, I thought your PC was near your ISP router. I was suggesting connecting the PC to the laptop through the 20m cable but only if it's convenient to do so

[Ani42]

1 minute ago, Lurick said:

Oh, I thought your PC was near your ISP router. I was suggesting connecting the PC to the laptop through the 20m cable but only if it's convenient to do so

On it!   give my a sec

[Ani42]

8 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Oh, I thought your PC was near your ISP router. I was suggesting connecting the PC to the laptop through the 20m cable but only if it's convenient to do so

 

Whan connecting the PC to the laptop through the 20m cable I get a flashing orange light near the PC ethernet port.

 

[Lurick]

Just now, Ani42 said:

 

Whan connecting the PC to the laptop through the 20m cable I get a flashing orange light near the PC ethernet port.

 

Well that's a good sign then, that means the cable works at least. Check under:

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Center

Click on Ethernet and look for Speed

See if it says 100M or 1.0Gbps.

[Ani42]

1 minute ago, Lurick said:

Well that's a good sign then, that means the cable works at least. Check under:

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Center

Click on Ethernet and look for Speed

See if it says 100M or 1.0Gbps.

 

Checked on my PC:

 

Connection speed: 100/100 (Mbps)

[Lurick]

Just now, Ani42 said:

 

Checked on my PC:

 

Connection speed: 100/100 (Mbps)

Hmmm, ok, that's not necessarily bad if the laptop only has a 100mbps ethernet port. Otherwise at least one wire is damaged or not properly crimped into one of the jacks or connectors.

[Ani42]

3 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Hmmm, ok, that's not necessarily bad if the laptop only has a 100mbps ethernet port. Otherwise at least one wire is damaged or not properly crimped into one of the jacks or connectors.

 

Neither my laptop nor my WAP (Belkin N600DB) has a gigabit Ethernet Port, I think, so no harm in that… 

[Lurick]

3 minutes ago, Ani42 said:

 

Neither my laptop nor my WAP (Belkin N600DB) has a gigabit Ethernet Port, I think, so no harm in that… 

Cool, then I'd say you're good there. Now the question is why the ISP device doesn't provide anything to the same cable. If you connect something to the same port directly I assume it works but when you swing the cable to the wall it doesn't?

[Ani42]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Cool, then I'd say you're good there. Now the question is why the ISP device doesn't provide anything to the same cable. If you connect something to the same port directly I assume it works but when you swing the cable to the wall it doesn't?

 

Exactly!

The same laptop in the same port - using a short male-male RJ45 cable - and everything works smoothly

[Dutch_Master]

Try swapping the connectors for the PC and WAP on the ISP router. Reasoning is that the PC port is known to work, so if you swap and the PC doesn't work after, the port on the ISP router is at fault.

 

As for WiFi: the bandwidth reserved for WiFi is segmented off into chunks known as channels. These are numbered. It's a good idea to set a different channel number as default on the WAP over the ISP router.

 

5 minutes ago, zhnu said:

Your WAP is a router by default, have you configured before hand to be a AP?

Now there's a thought: the WAP has a DHCP server in it and that can conflict with the same from the ISP router. So you need to make sure on the WAP the DHCP server is switched off.

[Ani42]

5 minutes ago, zhnu said:

Your WAP is a router by default, have you configured before hand to be a AP?

 

Of course!

 

Configured it to be an AP (And I did not forget to change the password from the default password ;)!

 

* And that does not explain why the laptop does not connect as well...

[Ani42]

4 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

Try swapping the connectors for the PC and WAP on the ISP router. Reasoning is that the PC port is known to work, so if you swap and the PC doesn't work after, the port on the ISP router is at fault.

 

As for WiFi: the bandwidth reserved for WiFi is segmented off into chunks known as channels. These are numbered. It's a good idea to set a different channel number as default on the WAP over the ISP router.

 

Now there's a thought: the WAP has a DHCP server in it and that can conflict with the same from the ISP router. So you need to make sure on the WAP the DHCP server is switched off.

 

Hello there!

 

Swapping the connectors is an excellent advice, but sadly I get the Same result...

 

With regard to the DHCP server issue, the WAP I am using has a dedicated AP setting. As far as I know activation of that function Handles the DHCP server matter automatically.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[Ani42]

9 minutes ago, zhnu said:

Are the cables going from the outlet to your laptop/router ok?

 

I replaced them with others and even new ones - but that did not solve the problem.

 

As I mentioned in the opening, I really did my homework before I turned to hear your advice 

 

Now you are my last resort...

[Ani42]

10 minutes ago, zhnu said:

What RJ45 outlets did you get? Are they those that clip to the cable or the ones you have to crimp? If they're the ones with the clip try moving a bit the cable and clipping down again on both sides.

 

The crimp ones. Those you need a special tool to fit the wire in...

[cole0622]

8 hours ago, Ani42 said:

 

The crimp ones. Those you need a special tool to fit the wire in...

honestly sounds like interference that your pc and laptop can handle, but the isp box can't