network

So… I’ve had intermittent connection problems starting a couple of hours ago, everything was stuttering, couldn’t connect to my file server upstairs, web pages opening slowly, couldn’t connect to the GameKeeper servers, etc.

But it was only on my PC and everybody else in the house was fine. By a process of elimination…

• Restarting the VM Super Hub
• Power cycling the switch that my PC was plugged into
• Plugging directly into the hub/modem instead of through a switch
• Plugging into my second network card and enabling it
• Power cycling my PC

…I eventually decided it MUST be the network cable. Unlikely as I only bought it last year (CAT 7 for future proofing). Oh well.

I went upstairs to my little box room office (I moved down to the utility room 2 or 3 weeks ago) to sort through the mess of cables that were on the floor, two of them were plugged into my unRAID box (I also have a backup ISP), then there was an old 100Mbps switch up there that my youngest son was plugged into, so I swapped cables and now he’s straight into the SuperHub, so no bottleneck and he’s better off. Then there was just a tangle of cables remaining and I’ve left them for another day. It took me about 45 minutes to work out what was plugged into what and get a couple of cables untangled to use with my PC downstairs…

Then back downstairs with an identical cable to the one that wasn’t working. I trailed it across the room, plugged one end directly into the SuperHub and the other into my PC.

YAYA! No connection problems, all working just as it should. So it WAS the cable after all, and yet I still thought it very unlikely…

And then… you know you get that thought that you’d better plug the old cable back into the switch and the PC, just in case? Just to test it one more time?

So I did, and guess what? The bloody thing works perfectly.

WTH happened? A break in the cable that eventually connected? Maybe? I don’t know. but I’ll keep the other cable close at hand in case it happens again.