Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Tim Watts Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Network Question Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 13:09:35 +0000 Lines: 59 Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net zCn0UMywYt72wf5M7Jr0hATQHicuUWYK6tdT7uJRK9Gz6S3Pjx X-Orig-Path: squidward.local.dionic.net!not-for-mail Cancel-Lock: sha1:bFOyf8xfvUE6zoomPIOZ9rS5Jfg= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/24.2.0 In-Reply-To: Xref: csiph.com comp.misc:1371 On 08/03/14 10:17, RJH wrote: > I've just installed some cat6 cable in my house - thought I might as > well while the plasterers were in. I used /some/ common sense, but some > cables were routed near mains cables and I wired the wall sockets > myself. So some margin for error ;-) > > All works, and I've checked continuity with a cheap cable tester. > > Transferring big files is OK - about 1GB/min. Internet works fine - > 50Mbps over ehternet, about the same with wireless enabled. > > However, playing video (say, 1GB avi rips) through the Mac Mini/VLC from > the NAS results in freezing every 10 minutes or so. Same file stored on > the Mac Mini plays fine. I'm not sure if this is a fault with the > network. It's wired like this: > > http://flic.kr/p/kPnozh > > Any clues appreciated. > Two checks you can do - applicable to linux and MacOSX but should be easily adaptable to other OSes. the "ifconfig" command (any *nix, linux and MacOSX) will give you error information. eg: wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:24:d7:53:d4:e4 inet addr:10.0.0.55 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:12657 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:10923 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:4818078 (4.8 MB) TX bytes:1856110 (1.8 MB) Look at the "errors" - should be 0 or near enough. The other test you can do is put a computer at each end of each network cable in turn (disconnecting all other equipment, switches etc) so the computers are directly linked by just that one installed Cat6 cable plus the patch leads: Then check with the computers that the link comes up at 1000 (or 1gig) and not "100" or "10". 2nd, give both computers IP addresses on the same (any) subnet so they can talk to each other and run "iperf" (installable on linux, equivalents probably exist on other OSes). You may not get 1000Mbit/sec due to limitations with one or both computers. But you should get 500Mbit upwards. Check with data flows both ways. That's how I test mine. Bear in mind that Cat6a (not Cat6) is good to 10gigbit/sec if installed properly. And IME it's quite hard to bugger up small scaled gigabit installations to the point where it works but poorly.