Layer 1 – gets them all the time

I was doing some work on-site when the client asks me if I can help with his IP cameras.

The vendor helped over the phone and they determined that 2 cameras probably need to be replaced. The client explained that he is not that technical and wanted someone else to take a look before he goes through all the trouble of taking them down and sending them back.

I started with a quick look around and determined that the camera is POE and the cable runs to a patch panel, then to the DVR, which is also providing the POE.

The Video monitoring software did indeed show that the 2 cameras were down and not reachable and we could not ping them. The client went on about configuration, resetting to default, etc.… and then I simply suggested, “have you tried moving the camera to another port to ensure that the DVR ports are all ok”. He replies yes and said, “Great show me how you did it”. Yup, he was correct, so I noticed that obviously, the camera was not reachable regardless of which DVR port we used.

So then I reached into my bag to take out my netAlly Link Runner G2

(https://www.netally.com/products/linkrunnerg2/) and tested using the cable from the DVR to the camera. I have provided the link so you can check it out if you’re interested since I don’t sell them 😉. The tester immediately showed that pin 3 had a short. We already swapped out and tested the patch cable several times, so I took a better look at the patch panel and what do you know, pin 3 was either bent way back or broken.

We both looked at ourselves in complete surprise and a bit confused since we couldn’t figure out how that could have happened. So then we performed the same test on the other patch panel port and found the same thing. ???. Before he could ask, I told him that I’ve never seen that before.

Good thing we had enough slack on the back of the panel and spare ports. I simply re-punched the cables to 2 new/good ports and all is well.