Cat 6 Mac Pro problem

[paintmania]

Not sure where to post this, so apologies if wrong place.
Here's the problem: Cable modem connected to airport extreme on main floor, I have cat 6 cable going from my new airport extreme, about 60 feet to my upstairs office. There at the wall I have another cat 6 cable going from the wall plate to my ethernet port, and I can't get the internet to work.
It only works if I connect cat 6 from wall plate to an airport express, then an ethernet cable from airport express to ethernet port one on the mac pro 5,1. It has to go through the airport express to work and I don't know why. It's not the cable from the wall, I've tried connecting directly to the cable going upstairs and still says "unplugged", ideas?

Thanks!

 

[velocityg4]

My guess would be that the wires going into the back of the rj45 jack aren't fully seated or correctly wired. I'm assuming that going from the computer to the wall you are using store bought cables.

 

[paintmania]

My guess would be that the wires going into the back of the rj45 jack aren't fully seated or correctly wired. I'm assuming that going from the computer to the wall you are using store bought cables.

But then why would it work going through airport express first? I have to go from back of computer to airport express, then to wall jack and it works, as long as I go through the router before the mac. I've even tried going right from wire in wall (there's lots of extra length in there) to the back of Mac Pro, and no luck. Can you not directly attach the cat 6 to the ethernet port on the Mac?

 

[Weaselboy]

Not sure where to post this, so apologies if wrong place.
Here's the problem: Cable modem connected to airport extreme on main floor, I have cat 6 cable going from my new airport extreme, about 60 feet to my upstairs office. There at the wall I have another cat 6 cable going from the wall plate to my ethernet port, and I can't get the internet to work.
It only works if I connect cat 6 from wall plate to an airport express, then an ethernet cable from airport express to ethernet port one on the mac pro 5,1. It has to go through the airport express to work and I don't know why. It's not the cable from the wall, I've tried connecting directly to the cable going upstairs and still says "unplugged", ideas?

Thanks!

Just so I am clear... this is a two port ethernet jack in the wall and you are running one cable IN from the modem then another cable OUT to the Mac? Unless you have a switch or hub that both of those jacks are going into (it sounds like you don't) this is not going to work because there is nothing connected the two ethernet cables. By connecting them both the to Express you are using the Express as a hub and routing the two ethernet cables together that way is why it works.

You need a cheap ethernet switch to connect the two ethernet cables.

 

[paintmania]

Just so I am clear... this is a two port ethernet jack in the wall and you are running one cable IN from the modem then another cable OUT to the Mac? Unless you have a switch or hub that both of those jacks are going into (it sounds like you don't) this is not going to work because there is nothing connected the two ethernet cables. By connecting them both the to Express you are using the Express as a hub and routing the two ethernet cables together that way is why it works.

You need a cheap ethernet switch to connect the two ethernet cables.

Sort of, of All Home Depot had was a one Jack ethernet, so cat 6 on one side of wall jack, then cat 6 on the other side of wall jack (in same hole as jack from inside the wall) to the airport express, then ethernet to back of Mac. I've tried connecting the cat 6 from inside the wall directly (lots of slack) bypassing the jack or router and it doesn't get the signal, only by going through router does it work. Sorry if I'm not being that clear, thanks for your patience

 

[takeshi74]

Yup -- you need a switch or router between devices. You can't just directly connect cable unless it's a crossover cable and even then you need to consider how IP addresses are handled on your network.

 

[Weaselboy]

Sort of, of All Home Depot had was a one Jack ethernet, so cat 6 on one side of wall jack, then cat 6 on the other side of wall jack (in same hole as jack from inside the wall) to the airport express, then ethernet to back of Mac. I've tried connecting the cat 6 from inside the wall directly (lots of slack) bypassing the jack or router and it doesn't get the signal, only by going through router does it work. Sorry if I'm not being that clear, thanks for your patience

Okay so this setup works:

Cable modem>Airport Extreme>60 foot CAT6>Airport Express>short CAT6>Mac Pro

... and this second setup does not?

Cable modem>Airport Extreme>60 foot CAT6>Mac Pro ?

How can there be a jack on the office end of the 60 foot cable if you have it connected to the outlet? Normally you would strip off insulation on the end of the 60 footer and punch down the wires on the back of the ethernet wall plate.

 

[glenthompson]

I wonder if the Express is working because it's repeating the wifi signal from the Extreme? Have you tried using the Express without a cable connected? If it still works then you have a wiring problem with the cable run from the Extreme to the wall jack. You either need a cable tester to determine if that's the problem. You can buy one for about $20-40.

 

[paintmania]

Okay so this setup works:

Cable modem>Airport Extreme>60 foot CAT6>Airport Express>short CAT6>Mac Pro

... and this second setup does not?

Cable modem>Airport Extreme>60 foot CAT6>Mac Pro ?

How can there be a jack on the office end of the 60 foot cable if you have it connected to the outlet? Normally you would strip off insulation on the end of the 60 footer and punch down the wires on the back of the ethernet wall plate.

Correct, 2nd doesn't work.
At the end of the 60 foot cable there is a connector to plug into one side of the wall jack, then a connection on the other side to run another cable to whatever device you want, so they both plug into same hole just either side of it.
I've turned off wifi on my machine and I still get a signal running it the first way.

 

[Weaselboy]

Correct, 2nd doesn't work.
At the end of the 60 foot cable there is a connector to plug into one side of the wall jack, then a connection on the other side to run another cable to whatever device you want, so they both plug into same hole just either side of it.
I've turned off wifi on my machine and I still get a signal running it the first way.

I think Glen hit on what might be happening. I bet the 60 foot cable or cable end is bad and not working at all and you are getting date over the Express via wifi. This would work with your Mac wifi off.

It would go Extreme to Express via wifi then wired ethernet from Express to Mac. I bet if you turn off the wifi in the Express you will find setup #1 no longer works.

If you have a good cable setup #2 should work.

 

[Alrescha]

Yup -- you need a switch or router between devices. You can't just directly connect cable unless it's a crossover cable and even then you need to consider how IP addresses are handled on your network.

You have not needed a crossover cable to connect two Apple devices for very long time now. Nor, in general, do you care about IP addresses unless you have changed the defaults; i.e.: you can buy two Macs, take them home, connect them with j-random Ethernet cable, and they will happily talk to each other.

A.

 

[paintmania]

I think Glen hit on what might be happening. I bet the 60 foot cable or cable end is bad and not working at all and you are getting date over the Express via wifi. This would work with your Mac wifi off.

It would go Extreme to Express via wifi then wired ethernet from Express to Mac. I bet if you turn off the wifi in the Express you will find setup #1 no longer works.

If you have a good cable setup #2 should work.

I'll try that, shutting off wifi, that would suck bigtime, no way to reroute cable through walls, did it during construction. Thanks for the help guys

 

[hfg]

I'll try that, shutting off wifi, that would suck bigtime, no way to reroute cable through walls, did it during construction. Thanks for the help guys

Your cable itself is probably fine ... it is most likely the connectors that are either not well connected, or connected wrong. That is easily fixed, no need to re-run the entire cable through the walls. The double-sided wall jack could also have wiring issues that can be either corrected or the jack replaced.

 

[Altemose]

I'll try that, shutting off wifi, that would suck bigtime, no way to reroute cable through walls, did it during construction. Thanks for the help guys

Does the connection from the Express to the Extreme show as a solid gray line or a dotted line in AirPort Utility?

 

[paintmania]

Does the connection from the Express to the Extreme show as a solid gray line or a dotted line in AirPort Utility?

Have to check, but regarding previous comments, I did remove the wall plate and pull out the cable right from the wall and plug it into the mac pro and no signal. So, I was hoping that for some reason you can't plug a cat 6 direct to mac pro, but if you can it looks like the 60 ft cable is the culprit.

 

[Altemose]

Have to check, but regarding previous comments, I did remove the wall plate and pull out the cable right from the wall and plug it into the mac pro and no signal. So, I was hoping that for some reason you can't plug a cat 6 direct to mac pro, but if you can it looks like the 60 ft cable is the culprit.

There is no reason the cable shouldn't work when directly connected.

 

[Weaselboy]

Have to check, but regarding previous comments, I did remove the wall plate and pull out the cable right from the wall and plug it into the mac pro and no signal. So, I was hoping that for some reason you can't plug a cat 6 direct to mac pro, but if you can it looks like the 60 ft cable is the culprit.

You can. Do you have a crimper and a couple new cable ends you can try to replace the existing ones?

What is going on at the Extreme end of things. Is this 60 foot cable plugged directly into the Extreme with nothing in between?

 

[paintmania]

You can. Do you have a crimper and a couple new cable ends you can try to replace the existing ones?

What is going on at the Extreme end of things. Is this 60 foot cable plugged directly into the Extreme with nothing in between?

Yes, 60 ft cable plugged into back of extreme with nothing between

 

[glenthompson]

It's very possible that your crimps are bad on one end or both. Hard to tell without a tester. From the description it sounds like you have a wall jack that really just an inline connector. Able to plug a RJ-45 into each end. If so then you can eliminate the wall jack for testing to see if the problem is the cable or crimp on connectors. I've crimped a lot of cable and usually mess up one or two. Cat-6 is a lot harder to crimp well.

 

[paintmania]

It's very possible that your crimps are bad on one end or both. Hard to tell without a tester. From the description it sounds like you have a wall jack that really just an inline connector. Able to plug a RJ-45 into each end. If so then you can eliminate the wall jack for testing to see if the problem is the cable or crimp on connectors. I've crimped a lot of cable and usually mess up one or two. Cat-6 is a lot harder to crimp well.

It's got to be it. i turned of wifi on my airport express as suggested by a previous response and no signal at all. The airport extreme is functioning fine, checked that also. Looks like I'll have to chop the ends and re-crimp.

 

[mmomega]

Have to check, but regarding previous comments, I did remove the wall plate and pull out the cable right from the wall and plug it into the mac pro and no signal. So, I was hoping that for some reason you can't plug a cat 6 direct to mac pro, but if you can it looks like the 60 ft cable is the culprit.

I have my entire house wired with CAT6 and my new clinics are CAT6.
Nothing but Macs at home and a mixed environment at the clinics.

The only problem I can think of with hard wiring is that there are 2 ways to wire.
T568A and T568B
The difference being the 2 green and 2 orange pairs are switched.

T568A goes
WhiteGreen
Green
WhiteOrange
Blue
WhiteBlue
Orange
WhiteBrown
Brown

T568B goes
WhiteOrange
Orange
WhiteGreen
Blue
WhiteBlue
Green
WhiteBrown
Brown

As long as the wiring inside your wall, from one wall jack to the other is terminated with the same color at each end then everything should communicate fine.

 

[MCAsan]

What is Airport Utility showing?

In airport utility you should see a solid line (cable) from Internet (your cable modem) to the first Extreme. Then there should be another solid line (cable) from the first Extreme to the second Extreme. If not, debug the cable and wiring between them.

If they both appear to have a solid line (cable) between them, then put in the next cable to a Mac and debug that connection.