CPU monitor? Ethernet cable?

[Jeff]

I once saw something that seemed to be a real time CPU monitor as part of XP. If I wasn't hallucinating where is it? If not as XP then where is one?

How long can an Ethernet cable be before any signal degradation? Who makes the best ones? Flexible is better.

Something happened last Saturday, which is (loading the CPU?) freezing my wifi link to/from the Comcast cable Linksys router about 75% of the time. After screwing about for over an hour a senior Comcast tech determined a few things, but not the source of the problem although it seems to be my machine somehow. It cleared up with a hardwire instead of the wifi. All of my rootkit and malware diagnostics find nothing and a shop is going to also look. But I may be forced to cable to the cable.

- Jeff

[Dan in Saint Louis]

I once saw something that seemed to be a real time CPU monitor as part of XP. If I wasn't hallucinating where is it? If not as XP then where is one?
{Ctrl+Alt+Del} calls the Task Manager, look on the "Performance" tab.

How long can an Ethernet cable be before any signal degradation? Who makes the best ones? Flexible is better.The usually named figure is 100 meters. "Best" is probably CAT5E or 6 (http://www.lanshack.com/cat5e-tutorial.aspx) these days, the manufacturer hardly matters.

[sidney]

How long can an Ethernet cable be before any signal degradation? Who makes the best ones? Flexible is better

The nominal maximum distance for ethernet is 100 meters. According to Dan in this thread (http://tapcis.com/forums/showthread.php?p=50209#post50209) in the Taproom, that 100 meter maximum is quite conservative. I read that you can get away with longer if you use a 10 megabit switch instead a 100 megabit switch, which won't make a difference if your broadband connection is not faster than 10 megabits anyway.

As for who makes the best ones, I would say get anything that is rated as cat5 and you'll be fine. I read about a company (http://digg.com/hardware/500_for_5_feet_of_Ethernet_cable) that sells some fancy named fancy priced cable that is aimed at the same people who buy Monster Cable for their audio systems so that for some hundreds of dollars you can make your digital audio sound more pure and golden, but I don't see how any bits that have passed through Comast can stay pure anyway :)

http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08jun/uf011618.gif (http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080618)
http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08jun/uf011619.gif (http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080619)
]http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08jun/uf011620.gif (http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080620)
http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08jun/uf011621.gif (http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080621)

[Mike]

ROFL!

I think that happened at a former employer!

[Jeff]

{Ctrl+Alt+Del} calls the Task Manager, look on the "Performance" tab.

The usually named figure is 100 meters. "Best" is probably CAT5E or 6 (http://www.lanshack.com/cat5e-tutorial.aspx) these days, the manufacturer hardly matters.

Ah there's the CPU, thank you. So far during three 5 sec delays or total site timeouts, including three here, I see no undo CPU load during the problems. Damn, there goes that idea and up rises the ugly head of intermittent hardware failure in HAl's wifi system. I guess I'll have to call IBM, as I did buy NBD on site warranty.

And I'm good at 100' of ethernet, so I guess it's search amazon for some next day cat cable, figuring that IBM will screwup.

- Jeff

[Jeff]

ROFL! Especially about the bits of Comcast. But to give the tech his due, right after HAL played Lazarus with Ethernet he got his Dell from the truck, just to check the wifi of the router. Pretty thorough diagnostics, leading to no firm conclusion. So, here we go...

- Jeff

[Jeff]

Dan, is there any kind of reasonably close outside radio interference that could have suddenly started and continued to intermittently block wifi?

- Jeff

[Mike]

...is there any kind of reasonably close outside radio interference that could have suddenly started and continued to intermittently block wifi?
Cordless phones, cordless mice/keyboards, Clapper IIs (the new one with remote control), bluetooth headsets, etc. all use the same frequencies as WiFi.

Do you have any near-by neighbors who might have started using such a device?

My WiFi router allows me to choose the channel to be used (in the wireless set-up area). You might try changing the channel (several times, if needed) to see if the problem clears up.

[Dan in Saint Louis]

Dan, is there any kind of reasonably close outside radio interference that could have suddenly started and continued to intermittently block wifi?

- Jeff
What Mike said, plus microwave ovens with leaky door seals.

WiFi is touchy technology. I have seen as much as 10dB signal strength change just by moving the router a foot. Radio wave reflections and all that.

[Jeff]

My Wifi router allows me to choose the channel to be used (in the wireless set-up area). You might try changing the channel (several times, if needed) to see if the problem clears up.

Thanks guys. I had no idea that wifi was so touchy, and that so many things can touch it. Now that I look I do have transmit channel choice, 11 of them and I'm on the apparent default of number 6. Something must have changed outside of this house last Saturday, but I have no idea and this machine is 20 feet and almost line of sight to the router. I have 100' of patch cable on its way, but in the meantime I'll try channel changing.

- Jeff

[Dan in Saint Louis]

this machine is 20 feet and almost line of sight to the router
Ouch. Have there been any electrical storms in your neighborhood recently?

Twenty feet is PLENTY close enough.

[Mike]

I have seen as much as 10dB signal strength change just by moving the router a foot.
Good point that I overlooked! My brother was having problems with his setup, and turning the router by 90 degrees solved the problem.

[Jeff]

Ouch. Have there been any electrical storms in your neighborhood recently?

Twenty feet is PLENTY close enough.

Yeah, this here is the mountains and them happen somewhere within 50 miles of my house fairly often. Often enough for the power company to be able to conveniently blame them for their dropping power at least once a month, but none to explain the sudden failure of last Saturday, though.

And I have everything plugged into three different 2800 Joules surge suppressors, even the POT landline.

I have decided to go with a temporary cable around the side of the room, and to talk to Comcast about a second more convenient cable inlet to the house to bypass that. The wifi route was preventing both, but...

- Jeff

[fhaber]

Join the crew. The 2.4GHz band is so crowded here in Manhattan that no techie takes it seriously; they're just surprised when it works, briefly. In older buildings (mine) it goes through ONE 12" wall, in dry weather only, when the moon is gibbous.

5GHz is less crowded for the mo, but goes through nothing.

Try Ch11, then 1. Then play with the allegedly "overlapping" channels in between. Try elevating the router a bit. Try not to get agitated when none of this works.

I've never seen a limp CAT5/6 cable. In fact, generally the better ones are stiffer. Audio, yes. If you're adventurous, you could probably get away with 5' of twisted quad mike cable, if you know how to cram 8 wires into 4. This is most assuredly non-Kosher, but I've gotten away with 20' of dime-store speaker cable (four pieces twisted in a drill chuck) - now that was fun to cram into the connector's IDC forks.

-Emma Goldman, for the Tragedy of the Commons, coming soon to an antenna near you

[Jeff]

I have two Belkin cables; 100' + 50' just in case, and a connector for the two on the way. I've been channel surfing with no apparent difference. Something outside of this house is suddenly after three years pumping a lot of (dirty?) rf, and it's rapidly intermittent. Can't find it, can't fix it, but I can get out of the game. Hell I've just been blocked from reaching the router. Hardwire here I come.

[Peter Creasey]

T I do have transmit channel choice, 11 of them and I'm on the apparent default of number 6. ... I'll try channel changing.

Jeff, I have always used Channel 10 or 11 so as to avoid interference with other wireless devices and have not had any problems (that I know of).

[Jeff]

Join the crew. The 2.4GHz band is so crowded here in Manhattan that no techie takes it seriously; they're just surprised when it works, briefly. In older buildings (mine) it goes through ONE 12" wall, in dry weather only, when the moon is gibbous.

I've never seen a limp CAT5/6 cable. In fact, generally the better ones are stiffer.

Tried wifi channel surfing, no result. Just this afternoon received this: Belkin A3L791-S 50-Foot RJ45 CAT 5e Snagless Molded Patch Cable (Gray), and it's running across the floor from the Comcast Linksys router to HAL. Discovered how to (via XP) add ethernet and disable wifi between them. Speed has tripled, no dropouts, and the cable is as flexible as a POT cord. Yeah, the RJ11 and RJ45 ports are immediately adjacent on this machine, and both cables bend like a drunken snake.

Just gotta make it permanent now.

[Judy G. Russell]

Speed has tripled, no dropoutsSounds like you've found the answer!

[Jeff]

Sounds like you've found the answer!

Not yet. Next step is to call IBM and declare wifi hardware failure, as that's the only possibility left. I bought an on site nbd warranty knowing full well that the closest warranty shop is either 60 or 200 miles from here. Bite that Beijing! My 4 year old real US IBM does wifi to the same router just fine...

- Jeff

[Judy G. Russell]

Not yet. Next step is to call IBM and declare wifi hardware failure, as that's the only possibility left. I bought an on site nbd warranty knowing full well that the closest warranty shop is either 60 or 200 miles from here. Bite that Beijing! My 4 year old real US IBM does wifi to the same router just fine...Sure does sound like wifi failure. Let's hope they make good on the warranty!

[Mike]

My 4 year old real US IBM does wifi to the same router just fine...
I was just about to ask if you could try with a different machine.

Sorry to hear that, Jeff. Here's hoping the service guy will be efficient.

[Jeff]

I was just about to ask if you could try with a different machine.

Sorry to hear that, Jeff. Here's hoping the service guy will be efficient.

After the Comcast tech's Dell did wifi to the router just fine I pulled out my old backup R51, just to rub IBM's face in their new chinese junk. I really hate paying top money for inferior stuff.

[Mike]

I really hate paying top money for inferior stuff.
<sigh> Indeed. And the trend seems to keep going that way.