Curiodity switching from USB to Etnernet

[JimL]

I've been running my cable internet modem through USB. Today I got a couple
Cat5e's in the mail and hooked one up (I don't recall specifying the "e").
I got nothing.

An hour or two later a gal at Comcast is telling me to swap ends on the
cable. I did. Now I'm on with ethernet.

Question:

Do all ethernet cables need a certain end at the computer? Is this
something specific to cat5e?

Thanks

 

[Bryce]

I've been running my cable internet modem through USB.
Today I got a couple Cat5e's in the mail and hooked one up
(I don't recall specifying the "e"). I got nothing.

An hour or two later a gal at Comcast is telling me to
swap ends on the
cable. I did. Now I'm on with ethernet.

Question:

Do all ethernet cables need a certain end at the computer?
Is this something specific to cat5e?

Thanks

Ethernet cables (5e included) don't care which way the data
floweth. Unplugging/replugging might have jiggled a loose
connection into service. Next time, try wearing a tinfoil
hat.

 

[Grinder]

I've been running my cable internet modem through USB. Today I got a couple
Cat5e's in the mail and hooked one up (I don't recall specifying the "e").
I got nothing.

An hour or two later a gal at Comcast is telling me to swap ends on the
cable. I did. Now I'm on with ethernet.

Question:

Do all ethernet cables need a certain end at the computer? Is this
something specific to cat5e?

You don't have to have a certain end plugged into a certain device.
Your Comcast tech does not know what she's talking about.

 

[JimL]

Ethernet cables (5e included) don't care which way the data
floweth. Unplugging/replugging might have jiggled a loose
connection into service. Next time, try wearing a tinfoil
hat.

Yeah ... Just what I wanted. An ethernet cable with loose parts.

Tin foil? Never touch the stuff. Always use lead foil don't ya know.

 

[Dan Lenski]

No the cable is identical at both ends. Seems more likely it was
something else the gal had you do, or the act of disconnecting and
reconnecting caused the modem to refresh it's NAT table (power cycling
the modem might've resolved the issue).

Agreed, a Cat3/5/5e/6 cable is perfectly symmetric with respect to the
direction of connection (even if it's a crossover cable).

I think it's quite likely that disconnecting and reconnecting the modem
caused it to try to figure out what it was connected to again... perhaps
it reinitialized its DHCP server, or routing table, or any number of
other things that could have caused the problem.

Cable modems are notorious "black boxes." Some of them provide minimal
configuration and status information at a URL like http://192.168.100.1
or http://192.168.1.1 (from behind the modem, of course). Often though,
power-cycling is the only and/or best way to fix situations where a cable
modem isn't working with your local network.

Dan