Can an ethernet cable die?

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Can an Ethernet cable die ?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

No connection still, I've tried a different cable, checked my bios to make sure it's enabled, I am getting a green light on the mb NIC port, tried the secondary on-board NIC, my modem seems to know it's there, I've tried my backup HDD boot OS drive, checked my ipconfig settings, looked at device manager and still nothing; no connection.

EDIT: the other ports on my router work too

 

[degibson]

Cables can die, especially if you mistreat them. Seems like that's not your problem... but yea, they can die.

 

[Emulex]

that is why the department of defense prohibits man made ethernet now - to prevent human error from causing massive outages to (not really) save a buck.

lol

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

The cable is fine, I just crossed checked it on this computer.. i think the friggin 360$ MB's onboard NICs have both died.. ??? ....

 

[RadiclDreamer]

that is why the department of defense prohibits man made ethernet now - to prevent human error from causing massive outages to (not really) save a buck.

lol

All cables are man made.

 

[ScottMac]

Yup. Cables pretty much all just rot in place...even perfectly crafted ones.

The plastics typically used for the sheath and wire insulation out-gas and deteriorate, changing the propagation characteristics and bringing the cable slowly out-of-spec.

There are some changes to the physical contact connections as well, with the contacts oxidizing, or in some cases building corrosion like a battery terminal because of the various metal compositions (gold coated contacts resist this).

I honestly don't remember the specific details, and it's been a while since I read it; Anixter, Belden, Commscope and some others did studies ... I think they published 'em.

 

[Emulex]

yeah you need to seriously (for your health too) maintain a decent humidity. if you never had a rackbotz or netbotz to borrow - i suggest you ask a buddy (old ones go for $30-60 on ebay) they monitor the basic elements (airflow/humidity/dew point/temp/contact wetness/video) on various models and can be logged and proactively alert you. while you might say thats great for a datacenter - it is - it's also really darn good for your health.

when humidity falls between 40 and 50 you'll find a sweet spot - too moist and corrosion and spores and other nasties - too dry and somewhat the opposite effect - breathing problems definitely.

One would think geeks like us would have optimized air quality for optimal breathing/sleeping at all times with smarter air/heat control units at home - but we don't - yet we freak out when the liebert's move slightly out of their cooling/humidity settings lol.