Curiodity switching from USB to Etnernet

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimL
  • Start date Start date
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JimL

I've been running my cable internet modem through USB. Today I got a couple
Cat5e's in the mail and hooked one up (I don't recall specifying the "e").
I got nothing.

An hour or two later a gal at Comcast is telling me to swap ends on the
cable. I did. Now I'm on with ethernet.

Question:

Do all ethernet cables need a certain end at the computer? Is this
something specific to cat5e?

Thanks
 
JimL said:
I've been running my cable internet modem through USB.
Today I got a couple Cat5e's in the mail and hooked one up
(I don't recall specifying the "e"). I got nothing.

An hour or two later a gal at Comcast is telling me to
swap ends on the
cable. I did. Now I'm on with ethernet.

Question:

Do all ethernet cables need a certain end at the computer?
Is this something specific to cat5e?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Ethernet cables (5e included) don't care which way the data
floweth. Unplugging/replugging might have jiggled a loose
connection into service. Next time, try wearing a tinfoil
hat.
 
JimL said:
I've been running my cable internet modem through USB. Today I got a couple
Cat5e's in the mail and hooked one up (I don't recall specifying the "e").
I got nothing.

An hour or two later a gal at Comcast is telling me to swap ends on the
cable. I did. Now I'm on with ethernet.

Question:

Do all ethernet cables need a certain end at the computer? Is this
something specific to cat5e?
Click to expand...

You don't have to have a certain end plugged into a certain device.
Your Comcast tech does not know what she's talking about.
 
Bryce said:
Ethernet cables (5e included) don't care which way the data
floweth. Unplugging/replugging might have jiggled a loose
connection into service. Next time, try wearing a tinfoil
hat.
Click to expand...


Yeah ... Just what I wanted. An ethernet cable with loose parts.

Tin foil? Never touch the stuff. Always use lead foil don't ya know.
 
No the cable is identical at both ends. Seems more likely it was
something else the gal had you do, or the act of disconnecting and
reconnecting caused the modem to refresh it's NAT table (power cycling
the modem might've resolved the issue).
Click to expand...

Agreed, a Cat3/5/5e/6 cable is perfectly symmetric with respect to the
direction of connection (even if it's a crossover cable).

I think it's quite likely that disconnecting and reconnecting the modem
caused it to try to figure out what it was connected to again... perhaps
it reinitialized its DHCP server, or routing table, or any number of
other things that could have caused the problem.

Cable modems are notorious "black boxes." Some of them provide minimal
configuration and status information at a URL like http://192.168.100.1
or http://192.168.1.1 (from behind the modem, of course). Often though,
power-cycling is the only and/or best way to fix situations where a cable
modem isn't working with your local network.

Dan
 
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