Networking help

We just had WildBlue installed. WOW! Now the problem is I can't get a signal to my other system. We have a NetGear WGT624 Router after the Sat. Modem. The run to the other system is like 220 feet using wires. If I take the system into the room with the router and plug in there it is fine (roughly 5 feet cord length). I am using a Asus P4B 533e motherboard with the built in Lan port. If I go to where it is going to be located (220 feet away). I have a light come on solid on the back of the motherboard by the port. I assume this is showing power from the router? There is another light on the bottom of the port that is solid when I am close to the router. When I get any kind of distance on it, it flashes sometimes briefly and very faint. At 100 feet it does this too. I have my computer tell me the network cord is unplugged. Unless i am right next to the router. I ohmed the wires out thinking I had a bad crimp. No go...works perfect. I have talked to the tech who put the sat. system in and he is lost on it. I know the tech somewhat well and have even called him on his cell at all kinds of different times on this. Told me to put a switch hub in to boost the signal. Used a NetGear FS605 v3 switch. Tried this. It shows my computer on it but briefly but atleast a strong light though. It shows a super faint quick flicker sometimes from the router. Distance is roughly 110 from computer and 110 from the router. I read that supposedly I should be able to go max of 328 feet with this setup and no switch to boost it. Anybody have any ideas? Getting ****ed because I ran a new line all the way to my system thinking maybe bad wire somewhere, the tech doesn't know what to do, and I am paying for a system I can't use. Waited forever for this to be available in the area. Now that we have it, the one system is fine, but I have nothing on my end. All the local install shop wants me to do is spend money saying, wireless is what I should have gone and you need to buy all this stuff to do it. I dont see how this gunna help if I am direct with wired.
Thanks in advance

That's kind of hard to read, but you might be getting interference. iirc, you can get 320 - 330 feet on cat5.
Have you tried a straight run?

Try dropping your speed/duplex on your pc to 10Mbps/full and see what happens. If the other end of the equipment (the wildblue gear) can perform Auto MDI/MDX and negotiate it on its own to 10/full you might be ok.


Moving the ethernet speed to what I said can in some cases allow you to resolve link issues, and in some circumstances, allow you to break the 300-foot barrier on CAT5 cabling.... It won't (or shouldn't) hurt your speed to/from the internet, as your WAN connection is slower than 10Mbps anyway.

Is prefab cable being used? If not, how much has been untwisted at the crimped ends?

AMD Phreak makes a good point about dropping the link speed. Also,

is the cable homemade, or where was it purchased from, I can't imagine a 220 foot cat 5 cable being cheap. If it is homemade, then it may be the length coupled with the ends giving too much interference. The 328 foot limit is based on an assumed amount of noise, and a cable with the ends put on properly, which I admit I have trouble with.

The biggest things that I would check are:

Cable properly made, it is imperative that the ends are twisted tightly right up until the connector, even a 1/2 inch of untwisting them would give you problems for this setup.

Are there any other wires running parallel to your cat 5 cable? Esp power lines.

If you can get a Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) normal cat 5 line is Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) This would be CAT 6, and is more expensive.

Sometimes companies do not give soho equipment enough power to do their job, your router may not conform to the maximum distance spec. I am not knocking net gear or anything, but if it works right next to it, then either:

1. Your router isn't putting out enough power to make the distance
2. Your cable is bad.
3. Your cable is picking up interference from something.

Imagine that you are shouting to your friend who is 220 feet away, this is the signal, if your friend is wearing headphones (noise) then can he hear you? It gets difficult to determine, but basically you want to test the individual pieces by maximizing the amount of signal to noise received. Then eliminate them one by one.

Try coiling the 220 foot cable up, and connecting it to the pc in the same room, that should narrow down whether it is the cable / router, or noise from where the cable is run through.

The best way to do this would be to fold the cable in half at 110 feet, and then coil it up from there, this would reduce the amount of inductance in it when it is coiled.

Good point on the STP, but do not forget that the STP must be bonded to a properly operating grounding system before it will do what it is intended to do.

That was my first thought as well. Get a tester and test the ends that were put on.

Was the cable ever sucessfully used?

Here is what I have so far as of reading this.

I tried reusuing the cable that I have that is 2 piece. 110 foot and 110 foot length. I have the switch box in the middle of it. I still have the full 220 foot cord ran still, also next to it. Using the 10 mbps as AMD suggested I have a good signal to the box from my computer ( solid green light and system saying connected). It will not however show anything from the router. Now if I boost it up to 100 mbps half duplex, it goes back and forth on the screen between connected and not connected. If I go with the 100 mbps full duplex. It says nothing connected. Originally my settings on the computer were set at auto detect. The cord was a homemade one. The installer I know says he never makes them up. He always has problems. He told me to just go with a socket on each end and a premade up cord. He told me he never has problems when doing this. The ends have roughly 5/8 inch untwisted on it where it is crimped. It seems to me though, that if it ohmed out it would be fine? I guess not the case always? I will keep looking.

Thanks so far

You say the ends have about 5/8's of an inch stripped back and untwisted....


Not good. The jacket needs to enter into the RJ45 connector (part that plugs into your pc or router) and fit flush and snug against the end on the inside. As per standards you are only allowed 1/2" un-twist for CAT5 connections (and even less on CAT6!).

Can you get some pics?


Do you have access to any IM clients like AIM or MSN? Perhaps we can chat real quick.

AMD

The ends are untwisted about 5/8 inch and crimped in the connector. The outer sheath is pushed all the way in till it bottoms inside the connector. The connectors I am using are clear so everything can be seen real easy. Total wire exposed out of sheath in plug is 1/2 inch. I did try and go from the Sat. modem to the hub also. Same end result. Light flickers real faint and real fast. I think I might just order up premade cords and put sockets on the end of the cords as was suggested to me. I will try my one piece cord first. If this shows problems. I will than use the two piece cord with the hub in the middle of it. Any other suggestions? The sat. tech I know called me today as I was writing the earlier message. He is still stumped and wants me to keep him updated on it. I will keep looking and keep you guys updated on what I find.

AMD
I also responded to your PM you sent