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broken coax pin inside cable modem/router
In my recent move, a piece of the coax center wire seems to have broken off inside my cable modem/router. The coax cable will insert, but not far enough for the screws to thread and I can't get an internet connection. Does anyone know of a way to remove the broken piece of wire? Since the modem will be a loss otherwise, I'm willing to take it apart if that would work. Any other tricks?
Make sure its powered off.
potentially you could get a small steel needle (very small) and put a slight bend to it. you might have to try different amounts of bend. the copper from the coax is pretty soft so if its truly a piece broken off, you can potentially slip the needle by and get it to sink in enough to pull it out.
I'd look at it closely to make sure it truly is something broken off in there. I've never had a piece break off but I have seen the jack contacts bent internally by someone inserting wrong.
7 Replies
Make sure its powered off.
potentially you could get a small steel needle (very small) and put a slight bend to it. you might have to try different amounts of bend. the copper from the coax is pretty soft so if its truly a piece broken off, you can potentially slip the needle by and get it to sink in enough to pull it out.
I'd look at it closely to make sure it truly is something broken off in there. I've never had a piece break off but I have seen the jack contacts bent internally by someone inserting wrong.
Again, take a close look at it yourself before sticking things in there or messing with it. It might be fine or have a different issue and shoving a pin in there could make it worse.
also, look at the end of the coax your inserting. I've seen them crimped off poorly and the copper be to wide to be inserted.
Success! Thanks, everyone, for your input. To clarify, the tech was here in person and the problem started before he arrived. I couldn't see anything inside the coax jack, but I could feel the obstruction with the needle. The needle would not go in as deeply as the coax wire needs. I could also slip the needle down the side of the obstruction and could move it side to side. I tried a fine needle with a hook for a long while, but couldn't get any outward movement. I did start to be able to slide the pin alongside it even deeper. I don't really know what the obstruction was, maybe something broken inside the jack as plemans suggested, but in the end I was able to use a slightly less fine needle without a hook to push the obstruction to the side and get more depth. Then the cord was able to screw on tightly and the modem is now connected and working.
Glad to hear things are good again. Guess as you and tech said there was something in the jack. Too bad you were not able to get the broken piece out.
