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Tone generator damage switch port??????

t49

Quick question: Can a tone generator damage a switch port???

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Comments

networker050184

I do not believe so. WHat type of device are you using here? Is it a soft client the plays audio tones or some kind of hardware tone generator. I have never seen a tone generator that plugs directly into ethernet though....

t49

networker050184 wrote:

I do not believe so. WHat type of device are you using here? Is it a soft client the plays audio tones or some kind of hardware tone generator. I have never seen a tone generator that plugs directly into ethernet though....

Sorry i should have went into more detail.

Lets say you have a horizontail link from point a to point b. Point a is an office and point b is the idf room where the cable is terminated on a patch panel.

You are trying to locate the cable using a hardware tone generator that plugs into the wall outlelt at point a.

What if that cable is cross connected at point b from the patch panel to a switch. will the signal from the tone generator travel through the horizontal link into the switch and damage that port because of excessive voltage or something????????

I know there are other ways to locate the cable but i am trying to find an answer for this scenario, so i dont make a mistake at the office.

macdude

Most hardware tone generators just push out an audio tone, you want to be careful when you at the patch panel and make sure you don't accidentally unplug something. Unless you hit something yourself, I don't think it can cause any damage, the ones that I have used have not caused any damage.

Mrock4

Same here...I literally tone cables many times during the day and have never encountered this.

t49

Thanks for the reply guys.

cisco_trooper

I've never seen any damage result from tracking down cables using tone generators. Good question though, better safe than sorry. I always say measure twice and cut once - this falls in line with that.