HELP: I am going nuts!!! Cable Length, is it the issue?

[CURLYnoodle]

Okay, this makes no sense to me whatsoever... so can someone please explain to me what the issue is!? I have a HP laptop with the Realtek 8139 chipset. I was using a 50ft cat5e cable with it when i wanted to get the best transfer between my computers instead of wireless. Then one day it stopped working, so i figured it was the port or the cable. I tried a 6 ft cable and it works fine, so i determined it had to be the cable. I tried another 50ft cat5e and it doesnt work and then i tried a 50ft cat6 and it doesnt work either. could someone PLEASE explain to me why this isnt working? was there some driver update that affected this, is there some setting i can change? i know those sound like dumb questions, but i am perplexed...

Thanks in advance,

dan

 

[ScottMac]

Were those cables hand-made (you or whoever) or purchased, commercial-grade stuff?

If you hand-made them, did you follow the EIA/TIA spec?

If not, that's likely to be your problem.

FWIW

Scott

 

[CURLYnoodle]

nope, all store bought.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: CURLYnoodle
nope, all store bought.

something is really not right then if they are store bought cables.

BUT - it does happen that pre-made cables are bad. Or, the NIC could be bad. Its rare, but it does happen.

 

[CURLYnoodle]

BUT 3 DIFFERENT 50ft cables? Doesnt that seem odd? and i know that 2 of them worked fine before! any other ideas?

dan :disgust:

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: CURLYnoodle
BUT 3 DIFFERENT 50ft cables? Doesnt that seem odd? and i know that 2 of them worked fine before! any other ideas?

dan :disgust:

If you've swapped 3 cables and those cables have been verified good (either by certifying them or using in a different installation) then it must be the network card.

My angle is that most all network problems are from the physical layer (cable). Make sure they are indeed cat5 cables.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Can you test the 50ft cables between two other systems?

I personally wouldn't expect much from a realtek 8139 card.

 

[CURLYnoodle]

yeah, i tested them with my desktop system just now and it works fine. The only reason why i am confused is the network card shouldnt see the difference between a 6 foot cable and a 50ft cable... ya know? its very very bizarre....

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: CURLYnoodle
yeah, i tested them with my desktop system just now and it works fine. The only reason why i am confused is the network card shouldnt see the difference between a 6 foot cable and a 50ft cable... ya know? its very very bizarre....

If its bad it will "see" a difference.