Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!phri!roy
From: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: Problems with StarController's built-in diagnostics
Message-ID: <3839@phri.UUCP>
Date: 6 Jul 89 23:32:59 GMT
Organization: Public Health Research Institute, NYC, NY
Lines: 28


	We recently installed a Farallon StarController to turn our passive
star PhoneNet network into an active star.  Before I hooked any wire up to
the SC, I ran the built-in line quality tests.  About half of the branches
showed Poor or Marginal with no wire connected.  Farallon tech support said
not to worry about it, the diagnostics are more sensitive than they should
be with no wire connected.

	After I hooked up 4 branches, I still got most of the branches
testing Marginal or Poor.  This was surprising, because the net worked even
with all 4 branches just tied together on a 66 block.  The only branch that
showed Good was one with only about 40' of 22 gauge wire.  This didn't
really surprise me since most of those branches have wiring rules
violations up the wazoo (yes, I've got my project for the summer).  What
did surprise me is when I put in a new branch with about 400' of 24 gauge
wire (going through, if I've kept count properly, 6 punchdown blocks) and a
single PhoneNet connector on it, and it too tested out Marginal.  Surely
that is well within the specs.  Everything works fine, but I'm worried
about the diagnostics.

	Does anybody have any experience with these things?  When the SC
says a line is Marginal or Poor, should I really worry about it as long as
the net seems to be working?
-- 
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{allegra,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu
"The connector is the network"