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Posted by Eric on June 23, 2006, 11:55 am
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>Okay, should have done one at a time but both items are next to each
>other.
>
>After being out all day, I came home and checked: modem not synched.
>(Event log shows lost synch at 10:23 this AM and never regained.)
>
>I opened the Cox box on the side of my house to look, one line from
>across the street into the splitter and four out, into the house. This
>means each outlet inside is fed directly from the outdoor splitter
>Jiggled, all were tight. Jiggled a heck of a lot more to cram the
>cables back in the box and get it closed.
>
>Read something else on Google regarding bad grounds in dry (And AZ has
>been parched this whole year) weather when the ground dries out. As
>suggested I dumped water on the ground where the cold water feed for the
>house enters as the house ground is strapped directly to the pipe.
>
>Went inside, modem was up and running.
>
>Was it the jiggling of the cable, was it the water or was it voodoo?
May have been voodoo, but more likely jiggling of the cables.
Sometimes (if there is not a good weather/water seal), the copper on
the center conductor will react with water and form an oxide material
that is non-conductive. If you pull the connectors off the splitter,
look for a black or darkly discolored center conductor. While this is
a little less of a problem in dry climates, it does happen everywhere.
Depending on what the splitter is made out of, the corrosion of the
metal may of caused a "diode effect" which will basically block RF
from getting across the connection. These sorts of things are usually
hard to detect because any movement of the connectors will usually
eliminate the diode, at least for a little while.
Of course, it could be something as simple as the coax pulling out of
the connector, or a pinched coax line. Open up the splitter and check
to see if the center conductor is shiny and sticking up a little bit
(<1/4") from the top of the ferrule. Look inside each connector and
make sure the dielectric (white foam stuff inside) is flush with the
bottom of the connector. Sometimes if the cable is pinched, over time
the dielectric can squeeze enough to change the impedence of the
cable, or even short out the center conductor to the shield. TVs are
much more tolerant than modems to this happening, so it may not show
up (although if you see ghosts on analog tv channels, it can be
because of pinched cables).
If you can see anything like what I described above, get a service
call.
Eric
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