Network Cable bad

[Scott Shepherd]

Boy, I think I just wasted 2 1/2 hours of my life beating my head against a wall. I was using the internet when I suddenly lost connection. I looked and saw the blinking light on the router, so I thought the signal was down. Reset it a couple of times, nothing. Went to another computer, it went to the internet fine.

Went through a solid couple of hours disabling my network card, uninstalling it, trying to use the secondary network card I have installed. Nothing. Zero, ziltch.

Looked at the router and see that it's not seeing that computer at all. How can that be? Run network card tests, everything passes. Disable, enable, system restore to this morning, system restore to yesterday morning. Nothing. Same thing.

Pulled out another ethernet cable, plugged it in, came right up.

Now how in the world does a cable go bad like that? It's not like it has moving parts!

Oh well, for those who were like me and never thought a cable could instantly go bad, think again.....

Sam Adams will be getting a call from me shortly

[David DeCristoforo]

FWIW, the cable is always the first thing to check after rebooting the computer, modem and router. It's like checking the battery first when the car won't start. It's the easiest and cheapest to replace and as you have learned, yes, they do "go bad"...

[Scott Shepherd]

What exactly goes bad? It's not like the cable was being wiggled. The cable ends are still stuck in the plugs, so what exactly "goes bad" all the of the sudden?

[skip coyne]

home made or store bought cable

I rarely see failures in store bought

[Tom Veatch]

What exactly goes bad? It's not like the cable was being wiggled. The cable ends are still stuck in the plugs, so what exactly "goes bad" all the of the sudden?

Corrosion/Oxidation causing an increased resistance at the contacts?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Or in the case of a network cable....the fingers that make contact in the jack lose their tensil strength and no longer make good contact.

Just for the record Scott, I work on Cat scanners, MR scanner and x-ray equipments. While it doesn't happen often, I replace network cables on occasion. It's not that rare.

[Scott Shepherd]

home made or store bought cable

I rarely see failures in store bought

Store bought and not a cheap one either. It's about 12 months old.

You learn something new every day, I guess. Who would have thought that a cable that sits there and never moves could or would go bad.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

It's not like it has moving parts!

Actually - there is an enormous amount of "movement".

Even though the Ethernet is a digital signal, there's an analog component also. Each time the wave goes up & down, some "movement" of the contacts takes place.
The obvious signs - a spark such as you see when flipping a light switch - aren't visible to the naked eye, but they are there. Eventually, that spark degrades most common metals - gold is somewhat immune, which is why it's used on high end or critical surfaces such as memory chips.

You see this also with chipsets that plug in & also coax cable to a certain degree.

[Jim Becker]

Everyone has completely missed the real reason it failed...Murphy's Law.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...the real reason it failed...Murphy's Law..."

There it is! I did not offer any reason for cables failing. All I know is that they can and do and when you lose connectivity and you have rebooted your computer and your modem and your router (you do those first because they are the easiest), the next thing to try is another cable. This is exactly why I never "bundle" my cables. Well that and because I'm just too lazy!