Kinda like reorganizing a record collection. 
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I have checked all my RJ45s at wall plates and at the attic patch panel. All are good, except for the master bedroom wall plate that I have royally fucked. I put on that connector back to front, and Iāve already cut the line too short to be able to fix it. There are other more fundamental issues with that line so I am not worried about it for now.
I tried to bifurcate the search by testing the lines from the attic to the main patch panel and separately the lines from the attic patch panel to the wall plates. With this I am completely at a loss. My tester will give me a reading all the way from the main patch panel through the attic patch panel to the wall plate but, when I try and get a reading from the attic to either end I get nothing.
I really need to know if the wiring issues are on the original lines in the walls, but I canāt do that without being able to isolate them and test them from the attic patch panel to the wall plates. Any ideas as to why my tester wonāt give me a reading when I plug one end into the patch panel and the other into a wall plate?
Typically, itās a complete loss of continuity. I.e., a line cut.
I know thereās not a complete line cut, because I can plug in a device and get 100mbs internet. When I run the tester from end-to-end it registers a connection. Itās only when I try to test from the mid-point to either end that I get nothing.
Iām starting to think I should just run new wireā¦
Oh manā¦this is turning out to be simply an elaborate scheme to prove the theory of Messrs Dunning and Kruger.
So my RJ45s have the correct sequence of colors, unless you slotted the connector on with the clip side up instead of down. Theyāre all completely back to front. I donāt know whether to laugh or cry, but at least I have now identified the main problem. Me.
I got some rewiring to doā¦
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Be smarter than a RJ45 plugā¦
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Troubleshooting can seem hopeless, right up until itās obvious.
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Your keys are always in the last place you lookā¦
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At least this explains the tester anomaly. Because it lights up to indicate which (hopefully all) of the 8 strands is connected correctly, and the lines at one end are 100% reversed, it wonāt light up at all. Yet, somehow, even in in this configuration, it can still pass through 100mbs.
Well, except that you have to read from right to left.
.way that web wide world the surf to hard Itās
Not if you know how to read Arabic.
Anyone who has ever assembled ethernet cords has made that mistake at one time or another.
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Yeah, but I did it eighteen fucking times!
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Absolutely read this in Robin Williamsā voice.
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As was intended.
As someone who spent a lot of time crimping Cat5 cables at his first job, I can tell you that there are few things more annoying than finishing a crimp and marveling at how great it came out only to realize you mirrored the pairs and have to clip the end, toss it, and start over again.
It got to the point where I had written on my whiteboard above my desk: Clip side down with the cable pattern under it written in the corresponding colors.
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Network Update:
I replaced all the RJ45s in the attic so that they are all the right way round. Testing from those jacks to the main patch panel, all my connections were good save one.
On the problem line - the Living Room - my tester read: 1ā¦2ā¦3ā¦456ā¦7ā¦8. When I tried the the whole line from patch panel to wall plate, I got the same error, so the good news is that the error isnāt in the walls. I checked the patch panel connection and everything looked correct, but I removed it anyway and re-did it.
When I run the tester on that line now, I get: 1ā¦2ā¦3ā¦46ā¦46ā¦7ā¦8. Either I am somehow fucking up just this one line, or the wire itself is buggered. Running new line from the panel to the attic is my next move unless there is any other advice.
The state of the other lines is as follows:
- Office line is all greens and running at gigabit speeds. I am a networking God!
- Guest Bedroom and Kitchen both have an error on the line either at the attic patch panel or in the walls
- Master Bedroom is the one I completely bollocksed up at the wall plate, so I canāt test that one yet.
I am glad that my office line is working; itās the most important one anyway. The living room is the next most important, and I am hopeful I can get that running properly with a new line into the attic. As to the others, if the problem is with the lines in the walls, I can deal with that. I plan to run additional lines to those locations anyway, as well as to the office, so I will end up replacing the faulty lines by default in that process.
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Second update:
I had run six lines to the attic as I have six lines in the attic, even though I have only 5 wall plates where they come out. So I took the spare line from the attic - which had tested as all good - and used that to connect the main patch panel to the Living Room.
End-to-end test gave me: 1ā¦2ā¦3ā¦4ā¦ ā¦6ā¦7ā¦8
Close, but no cigar.
Seen a few more reviews on the new HomePod. Consensus is that the sound quality upgrade over a Mini is not worth the $200 premium (if youāre an audiophile, you arenāt going to be listening to either version anyway). Other than a slightly meatier sound, the functionality of the the big one and the Mini is identical.
However, the sound quality when two are connected as a stereo pair is a noticeable improvement over having just one. As an option for TV sound instead of a soundbar, a pair of HomePods is going to sound better than a soundbar of a similar price. This is compared to just a soundbar, as the spatial audio of the HomePods plus, potentially, a wider lateral separation of the speakers, does a better job of filling the space.
Most soundbars allow you to connect remote rear speakers and/or a subwoofer, and this is going to provide a better surround sound experience than a pair of HomePods, but it will also add to the cost.
So, buy zero or two.
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