Computer techs: what could make a cable fail in the middle of a job?

[jmowreader]

This morning I was printing a panel on my wide-format printer, which is connected to my 100base-TX network. About a foot into it, the printer stopped printing. And the program that drives the printer (Onyx ProductionHouse 7.1) stopped being able to recognize the printer's IP address. Changing to a different Ethernet cable fixed the problem.

But I have NEVER seen a cable go out during a job. Any idea why one would do so?

[ghostsofgiants]

1. I've seen it happen but I'm not sure what causes it.

I'd be interested to find out myself.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. Did you re-try the old cable?

It could have been just a little corrosion on the contacts. Pulling and re-seating could fix it.

I've only seen cables go out twice. Once was due to a back-hoe (no Imus jokes, please), and the other was due to a cutting torch.

[jmowreader]

4. We did.

Maybe someone stepped on it? That cable WAS pretty long, and you have to go behind the printer to load it with media. (The printer in question is ten feet long, four feet high and 18 inches deep, and it comes on its own stand.)

[DS1]

3. carrot top photos

[mikeytherat]

10. I've seen Carrot Top photos destroy fiber links.

Carrot Top photos can burn up 6 gauge copper wire. I've seen Ethernet spontaneously convert to 4 megabit token ring when Carrot Top photos come down the line. When I had a router burst into flames, I knew the culprit: Mr. Top.

mikey_the_rat

[Fredda Weinberg]

5. Connectors are the weak links and I've redone a few in my career

Thankfully, that's not my job anymore.

[Orsino]

6. Yep. No one ever wants to believe that a cable can fail.

Any idea how many previous jobs that particular cable worked well for? could just be that something was gradually working loose, and your plugging it it was just the last straw.

When Murphy calls, your number is up.

[jmowreader]

8. That cable never gets unplugged!

A Mutoh Toucan LT printer weighs about 400 lbs. (The last revision of the manual before the one I use now told how to unpack the printer. The word "forklift" is used frequently.)

So we just plug 'em in and leave 'em until they die. Which, in this cable's case, was this morning.

[Jamastiene]

7. Jiggle the handle.

The weakest link is always at connectors to the computer itself. Vibrations can jar those loose. In other words, jiggle the handle. That certainly fits most circumstances in everyday life and with computers as well. :D

[spinbaby]

9. Do you have a cat?

That could explain a lot.

[jmowreader]

11. Not here!

I could not get one of these printers into my home. It is fucking huge in a way that most fucking huge things could never be.

Now...we're going to buy a couple Gandinnovations printers, which at 21 feet from end to end totally redefine the concept of fucking hugeness. Only $150,000 each.

[CatholicEdHead]

12. How long is the cable?

Is it on the edge of the maximum length (100m/330ft)?

Otherwise the other posts are good possibilities, corrosion, being stepped on (breaking copper wires).

[jmowreader]

14. Maybe ten feet...

We've got a run of cable--oh, about 90 feet total--from the switch to a junction box on the wall behind the printer, and then a patch cable from the box to the port on the printer. It's the patch cable that went bad.

[Taverner]

13. Ethernet cable? Could have been a sketchy link to begin with that finally severed