In article ,
wrote:
When we had our extension built recently, I took the opportunity to
install a Cat5 LAN. Well, to be more accurate, the electrician ran
the cabling in but said he didn't do network wiring so the tails sat
there for a while until eldest son got his new laptop. I got a friend
who is an experienced network engineer with his crimping tool to
install the face plates for the network points.

A diagram of the network is he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30588773@N04/2864919945/

The engineer had a wee gizmo that he plugged into the individual
points and then another into the 4-gang which lit up to show that the
wires were correctly connected. Everything seemed fine and dandy and,
as I say, he's an experienced engineer.

Get him back in...

(But by posting here, I'm guessing that might not be an option!)

Unfortunately the network doesn't work. A laptop plugged into any of
the individual 1-gang outlets can't see the network. However, if it's
plugged directly into the back of the router, all is fine.

Anyone any thoughts? I bought the cable from work (we do network
installations, though I'm a software engineer myself) - it's
unshielded twisted pair, and it's what we have in our work LAN.

As others have said it might be that you're used cross-over cables,
however every router I've seen recently has auto cross-over ports now,
so it's unlikely that would cause a problem.

There are 2 "standards" for wiring cat-5 cable though - maybe he's using
one and your patch leads use the other?

Gordon