House Wiring Help

[Smartiepants]

Hey Everyone,

I know there are a few computer and handy sort of people, so I thought I would pop in and ask.

I am trying to hookup cat5e cable between 2 rooms in the house, and I have run the cable through the wall, but I suspect that there might be a break in the cable, but before replacing the cable, is there any way to test that the cable itself is intact?

Or any advice on things I might have done wrong?

Thanks,
Nick

I also realized I but this in the wrong place

[R_Ethug]

Re: House Wiring Help

you need a continuity tester.. or a fluke if you have $$ (bad joke) what doesn't worK did you self crimp the cables or is it a store bought? if a pin is off no worky for you.. (well depending on the pin)

[Smartiepants]

Re: House Wiring Help

Yeah I don't really want to shell out for a fluke, if theres a cheap continuity tester somewhere, I'd go for that.

I crimped them myself, but its only the one that isn't working for me, but the cable runs through 2 floors, so it'd be a big pain to pull a new one.

[Stonewall]

Re: House Wiring Help

Did the cable ever work? If you crimped the ends double check the colour pinout. If you are going straight computer to computer you need to have a crossover layout. Also make sure that you pushed the wires all the way to the end of the connector before you crimped it. If in doubt just cut them off and redo them.

[Vulcan]

Re: House Wiring Help

They have some new "Easy" ends that let you push the 8 wires all the way through the end.....lets you easily see if you have the wires in the correct order. Personally I always use a wallplate where the cable enters the room. The wallplates have a punch down for the wires...very easy to connect. I then use a short cable from the wallplate to the computer. This makes it easy to move the computer within the room etc. I also have a cable tester that quickly tells you if you are wired up OK or not. The low end testers run around $60 at Home Depot etc.