ethernet issues back - recommendation test tools

[high_revs]

the wall to wall plates are cat53. no bends in any patch cables and when i watched the installer eons ago, i saw he did a "loop" maybe 1ft wide? but no bends. for critters, i'd have to go crawl in the crawl space and check but there's one area towards the furthest wall plate i won't pass.. at least not w/o shoveling just a little bit of dirt so i can come thru.

closest electrical outlet to port is the farthest wall plate. maybe 1ft. the other side - 3ft i figure minimum. but has never been an issue. the setup has been like this since dec 2011 and switch was paid in feb 2012. so all happily going along. also the speed tests increases after a router restart. sometimes a router + cable modem restart. but it degrades after a few hours to sub 100mpbs. it has been steady when i have the pc1 directly to the router since orbi has 3 ethernet ports (not including one going to cable modem). it's never been slow when directly connected to router.

the switch is unmanaged so can't tell if running full or half duplex. no firmware available when i researched again. i figure if it was hacked, they got better things to hack around home like my pc1 via the router.

originally ready to give up because heck, it's working with the router direct connect. just live with that. ocd in me wants to solve something hence the new switch(es) purchase and still holding on to unopened new orbi router with mesh wifi, even if all is dandy with the 5port switch now localizing all hardwired devices to that 5 port in the same room and one port going to wall plate and another to router. again, this 5 port will be the choke point for all other hardwire devices though vs. previously the 16 port procurve.

got my ethernet tester today. i tested 3 patch cables i'll use first since i'll need 2. it'll be tester -> patch cable -> walll plate -> the other wall plate -> patch cable -> remote tester. unfortunately testing 1 patch cable i bought in '21 from monoprice was bad. the lights weren't blinking in same sequence. this also made me realize that i need another body to test and just tell me when it hits 0 or 9. i tried to get all fancy by using zoom meeting and put the video on the other end. LOL (i know, absurd). was taking too long so i decided i'll get my other 50ft patch cable that works and tested fine, and bring it the room to the first wall plate next to router. then i can see both remote and master lights. vid below of the bad cable telling me i need a 2nd pair of eyes, or a better tester

https://photos.app.goo.gl/T13EDAuuaP4xAYv3A (don't mine the planet jam music in the back )

this method showed all cables behind the wall plates work. i'm not sure how i can use this ethernet tester though for the switch to figure out which port is bad. i guess i can unplug all ports and keep 2? master -> patch cable -> one port on old hp procurve switch -> put anotehr patch cable in another port -> remote? honestly not sure that'll tell me anything. didn't see much packet loss using ugimports' test suggestions on ping. i can't use traceroute since the switch doesn't have a fqdn i can use, or an ip#. i guess i can do port by port tests also that would probably take 1 hr of plugging / unplugging.

my suspicion now is the switch having issues with routing with the router suddenly. hence my other test to move the 5 port temporarily to other side and see how that works out. or it's just gone bad and not giving me full gigabit speed hitting 13.5 yrs.

or just open up the dang new 16 port switch ugimports recommended and see if that made a difference. or just leave things now with 5 port configuration because after >24 hrs, all speed tests are back where they are when no one else is using the network from family.

[Buymoreguns]

Have you also looked at the devices over heating and therefore slowed down? All devices. Since they are old, they may have accumulated dust? Are there fans on those devices, fan grills clogged, heatsinks clogged? Are they in a non temp controlled room? Enclosed space with no airflow? Older devices may have less cooling ability if a fan is clogged from dust or maybe a dead fan.
It's also entirely possible it's a software issue. Maybe theres some kind of bug that makes it eat up resources and some hacker figured out how to cause it remotely and is hitting your router. See if there is any info about your routers firmware being vulnerable for ddos.
Also, before you start a test, check if the switch ports lights are blinding crazy. I've had hacked PCs before being part of a botnet. They would max out my upload with bad traffic causing my network to be slow. That could happen even when everyone's asleep but the PC is on. Think about the nas being a target too.
When it's slow, perform a speed test on two computers at once. One directly connected to the router and one through the switch. See if the direct connect one gets way more speed.
See if the speed on the slow one increases to expected speed when you stop the direct connected one.

[high_revs]

i removed all devices (router too when it died and i revived it). and use my compressor to blow dust off. the switch.. not sure it would need a fan? there's not much vent i can see but i did it anyway. i think ther'es something of a problem with the routing communication getween the old switch and new. else why would a new 5 port work well and none of the speeds have been what it was going thru the old switch. will still play with it this weekend. all lights on old switch are fine. normal blinking.

after this exercise, i think it'ss till the old switch but will do more tests with less ethernet devices. i did unplug the nas in there one time i htink so not quite sure that is. meh.. at this point.. all is working with a $15 switch. part of me is just move on. the ocd in me just wants to know the solution and confirm the h

many thanks to all. learned a few things here.

[homer2]

This is a bit pricey, but works really well.
Triplett Byte Brothers Real World Certifier 2 Ethernet Cable Category Verifier and COAX Tester.
It's on Amazon for about $440. I ran 2 CAT5E cables from different manufacturers side by side about 100'. One cable tested out just barely passing the CAT5E standard and the other passed the CAT6 standard. I ran a second set of runs using the same cable and had similar results, so the cable does matter. (both were brand name) I also have a Fluke DTX network tester but this is my go-to around the house since it is so fast and easy to use. Just be sure to use the right port when you test a live drop or you can burn it out.