Diagnosing Network Problems
Discussion
I've lost the internet in my workshop! About 11 years ago I ran ethernet out to my workshop, it's work flawlessly ever since, then about a month ago I lost access to my server and went all round the houses trying to fix it, only to eventually realise that it was simply not on the network to remote into. Got the server sorted and started looking into why it dropped out and realised that nothing that's int he Workshop has internet anymore.
Setup is Modem > Google Home Device that does DNS > Network Switch > Workshop Switch > PC. Everything has been restarted, no issues anywhere else on the network, swapped out the workshop router, no change. No changes to the network or any config changes at all prior to losing the connection. I figured a mouse must have eaten through my cable, but I've just had my cable tester on it and have a solid connection across all 8 wires as far as I can tell.
The only thing that stands out is that the lights on my workshop switch suggest the connection is not gigabit, but 10, whatever you call that. Not sure if that's genuine, or something to do with the underlying error. But I'm out of ideas, other than getting my big cable box down from the loft and terminating a huge cable to test that the cable really isn't faulty.
What else can I do?
Setup is Modem > Google Home Device that does DNS > Network Switch > Workshop Switch > PC. Everything has been restarted, no issues anywhere else on the network, swapped out the workshop router, no change. No changes to the network or any config changes at all prior to losing the connection. I figured a mouse must have eaten through my cable, but I've just had my cable tester on it and have a solid connection across all 8 wires as far as I can tell.
The only thing that stands out is that the lights on my workshop switch suggest the connection is not gigabit, but 10, whatever you call that. Not sure if that's genuine, or something to do with the underlying error. But I'm out of ideas, other than getting my big cable box down from the loft and terminating a huge cable to test that the cable really isn't faulty.
What else can I do?
mikef said:
Get a simple network tester like this for a tenner. It will tell you whether all the ethernet wires are connected from one end of your run to the other
If not, first thing to try is re-terminating both ends, before considering replacing the cable
That's what I've done already.If not, first thing to try is re-terminating both ends, before considering replacing the cable
hstewie said:paulrockliffe said:
Generic TP Link gigabit switch, not sure what model. I tried a second switch too and had the same result.
Yeah I've seen cheap switches do a "lights on but no-one's home" thing before.If you have a spare network cable maybe just try the workshop switch in the other switch using a different cable but assuming your devices work if they're connected to the other switch directly it seems a stretch to have tried two bad switches in the workshop so I'd go with a cabling issue as a decent probability.
White-Noise said:
Quite possibly you have the answer now unfortunately. How tricky is it to re run?
Cable runs up to my bedroom, under that floor, through a hole in the brickwork to the bathroom floor, it comes out the end wall a few meters up and then runs on a catenary cable to the workshop, then it's all just in the roof space there. No way to rerun it easily, but I can do some climbing and see if I can find where it's damaged, it must be in the workshop surely. Then I can probably move the switch into the roof space wherever the shortened cable allows. Just a pain as it'll involve rerunning all the CCTV cables, though I guess there are ways around that.
But then the cable tester says it's ok, so????
paulrockliffe said:
The only thing that stands out is that the lights on my workshop switch suggest the connection is not gigabit, but 10, whatever you call that.
It usually goes 10mbit, (just about connected)100mbit( maybe cameras etc)
1gbit.
It seems like something has happened to the wire somewhere.
paulrockliffe said:
Cable runs up to my bedroom, under that floor, through a hole in the brickwork to the bathroom floor, it comes out the end wall a few meters up and then runs on a catenary cable to the workshop, then it's all just in the roof space there.
No way to rerun it easily, but I can do some climbing and see if I can find where it's damaged, it must be in the workshop surely. Then I can probably move the switch into the roof space wherever the shortened cable allows. Just a pain as it'll involve rerunning all the CCTV cables, though I guess there are ways around that.
But then the cable tester says it's ok, so????
I'd just grab a short cable and try one/both of the switches in the working switch from 1M away.No way to rerun it easily, but I can do some climbing and see if I can find where it's damaged, it must be in the workshop surely. Then I can probably move the switch into the roof space wherever the shortened cable allows. Just a pain as it'll involve rerunning all the CCTV cables, though I guess there are ways around that.
But then the cable tester says it's ok, so????
Rule out the cabling to the garage least then even if it's a sod to fix you know it has to be the cable.
Have you properly ruled-out the “main” switch in the house yet? Almost every network issue I’ve had over the years has come down to switches failing, and not just cheap/nasty ones. And they sometimes fail in strange ways.
The last time I had a switch go bad the symptoms were very similar to yours but for some reason I assumed that because the lights were on the switch must be Ok.
What was actually happening was that a range of ports on the “master” switch were going bad: lights on but on 3-4 specific ports (out of 24) nothing was getting through.
Definitely rule this out before recabling!
The last time I had a switch go bad the symptoms were very similar to yours but for some reason I assumed that because the lights were on the switch must be Ok.
What was actually happening was that a range of ports on the “master” switch were going bad: lights on but on 3-4 specific ports (out of 24) nothing was getting through.
Definitely rule this out before recabling!
Solid core cable? If it’s connecting at 10Mb, and it runs on catenary, I would suggest that it has fractured inside over the years from movement. Solid core cable doesn’t work well where it can move.
If it’s difficult to replace the run, you may be able to replace the outdoor section with suitable cable and patch it in.
If it’s difficult to replace the run, you may be able to replace the outdoor section with suitable cable and patch it in.
bangerhoarder said:
Solid core cable? If it’s connecting at 10Mb, and it runs on catenary, I would suggest that it has fractured inside over the years from movement. Solid core cable doesn’t work well where it can move.
If it’s difficult to replace the run, you may be able to replace the outdoor section with suitable cable and patch it in.
My thoughts too, plus corrosion, you’d need a proper tester to prove that, but I suspect it’s just breaking down inside, and a 3v continuity test won’t show that.If it’s difficult to replace the run, you may be able to replace the outdoor section with suitable cable and patch it in.
It's not solid core, it's not amazing stuff, but wasnt the cheapest rubbish either.
The cable crimp was terrible, but worked, it was probably the first one I've ever done, so the first thing I did was redo that properly, it wasn't that.
The catenary is only a few metres, it's properly supported and sheltered with the cable fully covered, it's not a bodge install, but who knows? If it's that it lasted 11 years. Worst case I can probably lash something up then it's all going underground when we extend the house.
Anyway, I've a few things to test and I'm off work today, so will report back later.....
The cable crimp was terrible, but worked, it was probably the first one I've ever done, so the first thing I did was redo that properly, it wasn't that.
The catenary is only a few metres, it's properly supported and sheltered with the cable fully covered, it's not a bodge install, but who knows? If it's that it lasted 11 years. Worst case I can probably lash something up then it's all going underground when we extend the house.
Anyway, I've a few things to test and I'm off work today, so will report back later.....
Obviously doesn't help OP but this is why whenever I do site to site connections via cable I always run two. I've later switched to using wireless bridges. Simpler to fix in the event of a problem.
Onto the problem at hand. Can you move a laptop into the workshop and directly onto the end of the cable (turn off laptop WiFi)? It should work if the cable tester showed eight greens.
Onto the problem at hand. Can you move a laptop into the workshop and directly onto the end of the cable (turn off laptop WiFi)? It should work if the cable tester showed eight greens.
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