Ummmm... puctured holes in network cables?

[GimpyFuzznut]

Well, I decided to clean up the mess of wire clutter and cables around my basement today
(3 computers, home theatre). I was using a stapler to attach some wires here and there to the walls and back of the tables or shelves etc. In the process of trying to stick my networking cables (CAT 5E) to the wall, I accidently stapled a couple small holes through a few of them. Is this something to worry about? The staples did puncture the cables slightly but the holes are that large - relatively small actually. The network seems to be working fine but I haven't really done anything but browsing since. Do I need to replace the cables?

 

[spidey07]

It will probably only cause a performance hit if you touched the individual copper pairs in the cable. otherwise you should be good.

 

[EyeMWing]

Not likely, though I'd do some packet loss tests over the affected stretches to verify.

 

[skyking]

did you pull those staples?

 

[GimpyFuzznut]

Yes, I pulled them out. Would it have been smarter to leave them in (too late now anyway)... either way, it was only a few (maybe 3 little punctures) holes on one of the cables in my network and one other puncture on another. Didn't notice any performance problems last night running torrents.... I guess I'm ok? Anyway to repair the cables to be sure?

 

[skyking]

wiremap it with a cheap tester. If all the wires are intact, I would not worry about it.
I would definitely remove the conductor stabbing through the wires, which you did

 

[TheSophist]

Since it is a home environment, I wouldn't worry too much. An easy fix would be to cut out the sections of the cable that were punctured and use grease-fittings to re-connect the wires.



TheSophist

 

[jbritt1234]

Originally posted by: TheSophist
An easy fix would be to cut out the sections of the cable that were punctured and use grease-fittings to re-connect the wires.

Um, what?

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: jbritt1234

Originally posted by: TheSophist
An easy fix would be to cut out the sections of the cable that were punctured and use grease-fittings to re-connect the wires.

Um, what?

yeah, kinda hard to keep the proper twist and orientation there, sparky

 

[jwhitt]

hey can you get those greese fittings at the same place that sells muffler bearings for a 98 chevy s-10 4cyl?