weird problem

[jeffmoss26]

ok, this one baffled me:
I have 7 data jacks setup around my basement.The cables all go to a 12 port patch panel. On the panel I also have 2 single line phone connections, 2 digital phone system connections, and 1 phone system programming connection.

What I would do is patch the workstation outlets to the phone connections so I could have extra phone jacks.
What happened was I had a single line phone connection patched to a data jack that my computer was plugged into. For some reason this made the phones in my house stop working. Any ideas why this happened? I have that part disconnected now so it all works but I was pretty confused. jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[franklin97355]

Let me get this straight. At the patch panel you plugged a phone jumper into the same port you already had a data jumper in. or have you played with the standard wiring scheme so you could do this? Each cat5 should feed to one connector and be used by one device. You probably shorted your phone line out by doing what you did.

 

[jeffmoss26]

here is what i did:
I have 7 Data jacks (workstations)
I have 5 Phone feeds
this is all on one 12 port patch panel
on the front I can connect a patch cable from any given data jack to any given phone feed. Only one cable goes to each jack, I did not change any wiring scheme.
I wish I could post a drawing on here, it would be simpler to explain jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[Lucentguru]

unplug the workstation at the end of that patch cable you are using. see if you still have dialtone in the rest of the house. if you do, there is something shorting out the wiring at the workstation. also, try a known good patch cord.

 

[jeffmoss26]

I did that last night, it works again. I am just confused as to why it happened. once i unplugged the computer from the jack I had dialtone. Well, im gonna go to my shop now and check some stuff out. jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[jeffbouldin]

You have a Cat5 wire run from your patch panel to a Cat5 connector in the wall. You have a patch cable plugged into this outlet and going to an Ethernet card in your computer.
Now you run a patch cord from one of the standard phone connections on your patch panel to the port on the patch panel for this Cat5 run.

If I have understood you correctly you are shorting out your house phones by shorting them out with the Ethernet card. Unplug the computer and plug in a standard phone, it should work.

 

[jeffmoss26]

yes that is exactly what happened. like i said before, everything works now. i wanted to know how the problem happened, no i know that it was from the computer.
jeff jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[daronwilson]

Does the Ethernet card in the computer have some connectivity on pins 4 and 5? It shouldn't. It should only be terminating pins 1,2,3,6. The reason it was done that way early on was to prevent what you experienced. Now if you were sending two lines to that port, or if you were using a 2 pair electronic phone extension there, I could see how the ethernet NIC would terminate pins 3 and 6 and cause you a problem.

I'm on vacation and without tools, but I'd be curious to plug a banjo into the ethernet NIC and see what my meter shows on pins 4 and 5. It should show a complete open circuit, which would not load down or short your phone lines.

Curious, doesn't seem like you should have been able to kill your POTS service that way.

get out your meter and a banjo and let us know what you see on pins 4 and 5 huh?

Good Luck! It is only my opinion, based on my experience and education...I am always willing to learn, educate me!
Daron J. Wilson, RCDD
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com

 

[jeffmoss26]

That is what surprised me since there should be no connection to the NIC on those pins. I tried this again yesterday. I ran a new cable, put in a new jack and used a different patch cable. Same thing happened. jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[franklin97355]

Patient: Doctor, it hurts when I do this.
Doctor: Then don't do that!

 

[jeffmoss26]

problem is solved. jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[daronwilson]

I'm a bit more interested in why and how then just saying 'don't do it anymore'. I'll have to check my NIC's on some machines when I get home and see what the deal is. I personally do not believe it should do what you are describing when using a pots single line on the center two pins of the jack.

It is only my opinion, based on my experience and education...I am always willing to learn, educate me!
Daron J. Wilson, RCDD
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com

 

[franklin97355]

Daron, I agree with you.

It's a joke!

 

[daronwilson]

Oh I know it's a joke, I appreciate it, used to tell my kids that all the time when they were growing up. And certainly not every problem needs to be answered, this one troubles me because the reason ethernet uses the pins it does is to prevent this specific problem. So, I'm just curious where the breakdown is.

I'll keep looking It is only my opinion, based on my experience and education...I am always willing to learn, educate me!
Daron J. Wilson, RCDD
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com

 

[franklin97355]

Back in the OLD DAYS of 10baseT HP had a card that was designed to provide ethernet and phone on the same cable. The card had an input for the lan cable and an output for your phone.

 

[Bobg1]

Jeff
What was the problem?
I would suspect you had it wired as 568A and needed it wired as 568B.

 

[jeffmoss26]

no, the problem was when i accidentally patched a phone line to a data jack that was plugged into a computer. somehow this shorted out the phones in my house. all i did was unplugged the computer and the one patch cable and everything was fine. jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net