RJ45 Cat5e plugs

[Andrew Gabriel]

Old Italian telephone plugs looked like and fitted perfectly into our 3-pin 2A BS 546 mains sockets.

[T i m]

Quite, but not in the spirit of the comment I was making.

Yup.

Yup?

Agreed, but see above.

My point was *if the interconnecting cable between the plugs has 8 wires, and that the wires for such network cables are wired in pairs, then if there isn't a full compliment of connections available then there 'must be something wrong'*. I wasn't actually commenting on 'pairs' at all.

But I agree, it sounds like there could be an issue with the tester (contacts within) or more than one duff cable.

Cheers, T i m

[RobH]

2 l >>> Sounds like you are trying to plug them into a socket that is not >>> RJ45...

[RobH]

I tend to think it is something to do with tester and I have ordered another one, not the same tho'.

[RobH]

A big ooops from me. I connected each of the cables, which I deemed as not working when connected to my laptop, to another desktop, and hey oh, they did work.

It now looks like there is something wrong with my laptop's ethernet RJ45 socket is at fault.

[RobH]

A big oops here as when I tried them connected direct from the router to a desktop, they all worked.

It now looks like the RJ45 ethernet socket on my laptop has bit the dust.

[John Rumm]

So its not a RJ45 plug then is it...

[Tim+]

Methinks RobH is just playing with us.

Tim

[T i m]

<snip>

I would first look inside the socket at the pins and check they haven't been distorted / miss located.

As I believe has been mentioned, you can easily plug a Type A USB plug into an RJ45 socket and 'sometimes' the pins get bent, losing their shape and so tension.

I have generally been able to straighten and re-tension the pins using a couple of small flat-bladed screwdrivers and some quality fine tweezers.

And / or one bent, they don't it back in the right places (little 'bays' in the socket moulding).

Or it could also have been damaged electrically / just failed. ;-)

If the Ethernet port is on the mobo then you might find a new Mobo on eBay pretty cheaply or it may even be on a 'remote' board (even cheaper). Or you can use a USB <> Ethernet adaptor, if you just need USB for connectivity rather than performance etc.

Cheers, T i m

[Andy Burns]

check for "fluff" or bent spring contacts

[spuorgelgoog]

Or, if you have small children, chewing gum, cat biscuits, etc.

Owain

[RobH]

I had a look inside the rj45 socket using a small torch and it looks like the the brown wire pin and the orange / white wire pin are right up to the top of the back slot. The brown / wire wire pin looks like it is flat down to the bottom of the back slot, and the rest of the wire pins are all in a line just up from the bottom of the back slot.

[John Rumm]

Worth noting that some of the intermediate level testers that are capable of not only identifying that the right point to point connections are made, but can also identify when split pairs have been used, will often have a minimum length of cable they can reliably test for this. On mine its about 0.5m

[RobH]

The new tester arrived and I tested 2 bought cables and one I made up myself. They all tested fine with all 8 lights lighting up.

[RobH]

Err, no I wasn't actually. Anyway I have measured the width of a couple of RJ45 plugs, and the standard ones I already have is 11mm across the width of the plug, whereas the too wide ones are about 11.2mm or a bit more

[T i m]

<snip>

Once you have ascertained what is 'normal', you might be able to 'gently' ease each of the pins back in place.

Cheers, T i m

[Andy Burns]

The spec says 11.684mm

[Andy Burns]

Could someone have inserted a 6pin plug instead of 8pin? That might force the contacts out of line.

[Tim+]

And I?ve just measured a bunch of standard network cable plugs. All 11.6mm.

Once again you provide information only to confuse. You haven?t yet provided a link to the ones that you bought that you say are too big (and yet according to your measurements they?re too small).

Tim

[RobH]

I doubt that very much as it's only me that uses the laptop