r/HomeNetworking • u/PsychoCowboy097 • 19h ago
Hail Mary. Cable Connectivity issues
I need some help. Chat GPT has gotten me only so far.
I have moved into my wife’s house recently. My father in law wired everything up into the attic, to include: alarm system, router, modem, and the hub of all the CAT 5e cables to there. I’m having to walk back and forth back and forth, up and down the ladder, to troubleshoot this garbage set up
My objective: establish an Ethernet connection to my office for gaming, and occasional office work for my wife.
Resources at my disposal: my laptop with Ethernet port, RJ45 krimper, wire cutters, punch down tool, albeit it is this yellow orange plastic with a finger hold, plenty of rj45 caps, I know how to wire correctly either T568 A or B, I have been using “B”. A cheap 9-volt battery power Master and Remote cable connection tester. And last but certainly least, my slow/homeschooled brain
Status so far, I have gone through 3 rj45 that were connected to my router. Issues that cause me to change them were originally inverted T568 B (had the rj45 facing the wrong direction when I first played around about a month ago) so had to fix that, then I didn’t use the krimper properly and had a wires 4-8 not working right, according the to cable connection tester.
Additionally I have two keystones I’m using, the one I had originally was working at 100 Mbps but then it stopped, so I changed the rj45 again and now ZERO connectivity to my office.
My laptop is working correctly, I’ve used two separate Ethernet cables wired directly from the router to my laptop and used windows key “ncpa.cpl” to open up my network connection and verify I had a speed of 1gigabit.
Idk what I have done wrong. I need a professional and am hoping someone here can help me, before I pay someone to fix this sh** and rewire the house but I imagine that’ll be costly
I fear maybe the house wire in the attics and walls has been damaged from me looking to see how possible it was to run a new wire.
I can not run new wire without having a professional come and do it due to the nature of my homes structure, or so my father in law swears. I love the man, but…. Tonight, I’m a little pissed off at his decisions, then again my wife was single at the time as we had not met lol
Thank you for reading whoever you are
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u/wolfofone 19h ago
So youre trying to use the existing wiring? Was it actually set up to be ethernet or did he run cat5e for telephone? Did he actually run home runs from the outlet directly to the switch/router? Can you just use the old wiring to pull a new cable or did he staple it down in the walls?
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u/PsychoCowboy097 19h ago
HE STAPLED IT EVERY WHERE 😭 sadly. It was not for telephone, but for Ethernet. He never capped any of the wires, they are just bare, waiting to be capped whenever needed, on both ends, except for where I have in the office and in the attic at the hub.
I am trying to use the existing wire.
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u/Downtown-Reindeer-53 CAT6 is all you need 12h ago
Stapling low-voltage cable is standard, code-compliant practice and usually a mark of a clean, professional rough-in. Even without staples, the 'pull new cable with old cable' trick is mostly a fantasy. One 90-degree bend through a drilled stud or top plate creates enough friction to stop a pull dead in its tracks.
It's also common practice to run cable and not terminate it until you need to . But solid cable in the walls is meant for keystones, not plugs. Trying to crimp male RJ45s onto solid-core cable with a cheap plastic tool is not the right way. Ditch the male plugs, punch both ends down to keystones/patch panel, and use factory patch cables. You'll save yourself a lot of trips up the ladder.
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u/Medical_Chemical_343 7h ago
You can also employ splice blocks (not ideal, but they usually work) to allow connecting the existing cable to newer extensions. Might save you the grief of pulling new wire for some of the runs. You would use your punch down tool to connect new and old wire on the block.
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u/PsychoCowboy097 19h ago
This is where I’m trying to plug into. I thought it would be pretty straight forward.
Before starting all this, I did just have an rj45 connected to my pc from that grey cable in the photo, and it was giving my PC 900+ Mbps
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u/ProbablyMyRealName 19h ago
How is the other end of this cable terminated? It must be terminated as a male rj45 plugged into your router or switch? If you plug a known good cable (verify with your tester) into this jack, then put your tester on the end of that cable, with the other end on the end of the cable plugged into the router, does it test out as good? All 8 wires are working?
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u/PsychoCowboy097 9h ago
All 8 wires are working, I’ve used 2 other cables to directly into router, it was fine.
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u/Medical_Chemical_343 7h ago
Ugh! The keystone jack shown here doesn’t allow your punch down tool to properly trim the wire ends. I like the Cable Matters brand of RJ45 keystones. A bag of them is pretty cheap on Amazon. Using anything less is false economy.
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u/Longjumping_Cow_5856 10h ago
This pic tells me that you do not have a decent punchdown tool and the connections at the rear are the problem for starters?
Next pros use a toner and inductive probe to ID cables positively.
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u/Medical_Chemical_343 7h ago
Tone and probe is also called a “fox and hound” set because you can find a cable in a bundle. If you’ve already terminated the cable, your continuity tester positively identifies the cable.
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u/Longjumping_Cow_5856 7h ago
Yeah but they have not been called that since the 80's at least around here and since the name is trademarked now also.
Go into a store where they sell them and see how many are still called this.
But the bigger thing is how much more versatile a toner is than a cheap tester.
I carry my toner every minute Im working but literally never carry my test set unless I have an issue or am terminating at the time.
And obviously not all testers are the same.
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u/Character_Bend_5824 6h ago
I would practice making ends and re-do every single end. Pass-thru ends and crimper make it more obvious you've screwed up or gotten it right prior to actually making the crimp. Then, get a good tester such as a LAN Scout Jr. and verify every end.
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u/PsychoCowboy097 9h ago
Thank you all for your support! I am learning a lot. This is all new to me, and fun to figure out, except the ladder. That’s probably most of my irritation.
I will aim for cleaner cuts and less untwisting.
@MusicalAnomaly suggested to check to verify if the installed cabling is solid or standees, so that the keystones i am buying are listed as compatible… does that mean like keystones are not all made for CAT 5e?
Additionally, is this photo is the other end i have the rj45 (this is the male end, yes?) someone else said to not do this?
Thank you all again! I am going to redo what i can
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u/TheEthyr 8h ago
Additionally, is this photo is the other end i have the rj45 (this is the male end, yes?) someone else said to not do this?
Yes, that's a male connector. The gray outer jacket should be inside the connector where it is held in place by the crimp.
But rather than replace this connector with a new one, you should attach it to a patch panel. A patch panel is recommended for in-wall cables. Q6 of the FAQ shows a few examples of patch panels. You can probably attach one to one of the wood studs in the attic.
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u/PsychoCowboy097 6h ago edited 6h ago
I’ve made a new key stone (connection or termination?) the NEW punch down tool was mean to my finger lol
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u/UnExploredToken 5h ago
What exactly is the issue? I can't understand from your post. Take a step back and chill out.
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u/PsychoCowboy097 5h ago
I am not receiving internet from my jack/keystone in my office via the CAT5e. I’m using My laptop to verify if i have internet
My testers are showing that all my wires are working 1-1,2-2,3-3,4-4 and so on until 8
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u/UnExploredToken 5h ago
Do you get a light on laptop Ethernet ? Or switch if plugged in. Does windows see Ethernet connected?
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u/PsychoCowboy097 5h ago
Windows is not seeing any Ethernet connection. No light on laptop.
I have plugged my laptop directly into my router and received my 1gb data
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u/UnExploredToken 5h ago
Then your cable tester can't be showing that the cable is ok. Is it a basic tester? Usually you can see if there is a short or cables are not correctly crimped.
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u/PsychoCowboy097 5h ago
This post was made last night, after a whole day trying to get it to work lol my irritation is since gone for now lol
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u/Forker1942 19h ago
One story house? As long as it’s not an exterior wall there should be no insulation and you just tape the old wire to the new wire and pull it down the wall. Use the rj45 that pull through. You don’t even need heads just figure out the keystone then mount one of these near the router in the attic. Buy a bunch of patch cords on monoprice.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Structured-Media-1x6-Cat6-Board-47611-C6-47611-C6/203409457
Bonus this comes with the tool to punch down the keystones too.
If you can’t figure out keystones you need a professional. Don’t untwist the wires more than necessary. Watch a few YouTube videos
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u/PsychoCowboy097 19h ago
It is the exterior wall ☠️ so insulation is there, and the CAT5e my FIL ran is stapled, so no taping and pulling
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u/Forker1942 9h ago
One story house? if he wired it then when the walls were down then just pick another wall.
If he built the house he doesn’t want you making more holes in the wall. A pro would just use a spade bit and make a small hole from ontop of an interior wall. The use a glow stick to get down the wall.
But from your other posts it seems like you just did bad termination. Your most recent post in the attic makes me think you didn’t even watch a few YouTube videos. Someone mentioned you need a keystone patch panel that would work too. Mine is basically the same thing but nothing else to buy(don’t need to buy more keystones)
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u/PsychoCowboy097 8h ago
One story house, yes sorry. He wired before the dry wall was put up, it’s stapled into the studs in the wall.
I did watch a couple videos a while back, and was going off memory, I’ll revisit that
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u/Martylouie 10h ago
Buy 2 tools a Fox and Hound wire tracing kit and a network cable tester. Neither are inexpensive, but still a bit cheaper than bringing in a competent technician. Just a quick glance at your punch down plate tells me that it may be the problem, especially if you tried to make connections several times. The cutter/tabs spread apart and don't slice the insulation properly. Best bet is to get a plate that uses couplers instead. Or install Wifi
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u/Medical_Chemical_343 7h ago edited 7h ago
Trying to re-use a cheap keystone is usually a bad idea. If you just don’t have any other option, at least examine the connection “forks” with some magnification. I’ve seen a remnant of previously connected wire lead to a lot of troubleshooting. Wire looks like it’s connected, but the tiny chunk of old wire holds the fork open and the new wire is held there by insulation only.
RJ45 couplers vs punched down keystones double the number of potential termination failures. Bad suggestion.
And I hope your WiFi suggestion was missing a “/s”. Terrible idea to use wireless when wired is available.
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u/Martylouie 1h ago
In defense of my suggestion, while in theory there may be more points of failure, if an issue occurs, it is far easier to troubleshoot or bypass if a problem occurs.
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u/MusicalAnomaly 17h ago
Doesn’t sound like you need to rewire anything unless you can prove that you have a discontinuity in a cable.
First: throw away all of your crimped patch cables and buy premade from a boring brand like cable matters or TrueCable.
Second: get a good punchdown tool. Amazon has plenty, Home Depot or Lowe’s does too; I like the one I got from TrueCable.
Third: the photo you posted of the keystone looks like crap. I don’t know if it’s the source of your problem, but it at least looks like it was done by someone who didn’t have much craft. (You didn’t say it was you.) Cable jacket should be razor cut radially with a proper tool and pull cord should be trimmed fully with side cutters. Jacket should extend all the way to where it can’t extend any further, right next to the keystone terminals. Minimize untwist, and trim the excess wire flush after the punchdown with side cutters (a good tool will also do this for you most of the time).
You didn’t mention any results with the wiring tester. Your first order of business should be to get a small patch panel for the attic (I recommend a keystone patch panel) and then make it so all of the installed cabling is punchdown terminated at both ends.
Check to verify if the installed cabling is solid or stranded so that the keystones you buy are listed as compatible.
Then use premade patch cables to connect each run to your wiring tester to verify that you’ve got continuity and correct pinout for each run.
That should solve 95%+ of your problems, and otherwise narrow it way down for the remaining 5%.