Netgate 4200 - physical RJ45 port sensitivity

crgbt

Hi all,

I've had my 4200 for a while now, but I've been re-arranging my wiring cupboard and have noticed that the physical RJ45 ports are incredibly sensitive - if you knock the cable even slightly, the interface goes down/up. This seems to be the case across all of the ports, although the ports furthest away from the power (port 4/igc0) seem to be the most sensitive.

I appreciate you typically don't move your firewall around often, but has anyone else noticed this with their 4200?

Cheers,
crgbt

Uglybrian

I have not noticed that behavior with my 4200,that I purchased it last December. I am able to move the cables around while they are plugged into the ports without any connectivity interruption. For cables I am using solid core cat 6 from mono price.

stephenw10

Mmm, I've not seen that on a 4200 here. You shouldn't be seeing that.

fireodo

@crgbt said in Netgate 4200 - physical RJ45 port sensitivity:

if you knock the cable even slightly, the interface goes down/up

IMHO, there is somewhere a soldered point loose ...

crgbt

Thanks for the feedback folks. I've had the device since May 2024 so it's out of warranty, I'll just need to be extra careful with the cabling and ports.

luckman212

@crgbt Just adding a small note: I've experienced this myself, not just with Netgate hardware (also with Unifi switches, etc)

Sometimes, certain cables can cause this due to the way the RJ45 heads are manufactured. Recently I had this happen with the popular "Slimrun" type cables. Might be worth trying a different brand.

crgbt

@luckman212 thanks for the suggestion - all of the cables I have tried are the same brand, although they are different specifications. I need some Cat6 cables for another project anyway, so I'll order from another store and add some short ones on for the Netgate 4200. Fingers crossed it's just the cables.

crgbt

@luckman212 just an update on this, you hit the nail on the head - it was the cables.

I tested three different brands/types of cables - all three worked fine in my Ubiquiti equipment (USW-Lite-8-POE, USW-Lite-16-PoE, U7-Pro-Wall), but two of the three brands caused interface drops on my Netgate 4200 when I disturbed the cable, even slightly.

The cables that work perfectly are the fs.com "Cat6 28AWG Snagless Unshielded (U/UTP) PVC CM Small Diametre High-Flex Ethernet Network Patch Cable" cables.

Thanks for everyone's assistance on this, I appreciate it.

Cheers,
crgbt

tinfoilmatt

@crgbt said in Netgate 4200 - physical RJ45 port sensitivity:

all three worked fine in my Ubiquiti equipment

Gee, I wonder why...