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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?
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.
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.
@plemansThanks so much for your reply. It was the cable technician who said it was probably a piece broken off. I'll try to see in there, and then try a small needle. Will report back when I have a chance to try it.
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.
I will bet on the cable tech not being careful and bending the coax jack. The sides of the jack are very easy to bend if you are not careful with insertion. As stated above, I have seen a poor cut on the wire sticking out of the coax making it hard or no go. maybe this is what got this started, I doubt that the wire broke off in the jack unless the person cutting the cable and putting the end of nicked the wire causing to break off. If you have the coax that was plugged into the router you could do a visual inspection to see if the wire is broken off.
> [...] a piece of the coax center wire seems to have broken off inside > my cable modem/router. [...]
"seems"?
> [...] It was the cable technician who said it was probably a piece > broken off.
I wouldn't put much confidence in the opinion of anyone who hasn't actually seen the stuff. I might try to insert a small piece of wire, without involving a whole co-ax connector, to see if the problem is with the center conductor or something else.
> [...] I'm willing to take it apart if that would work. [...]
I wouldn't expect any better access to the connector insides from the back, but what do I know?
> [...] the copper from the coax is pretty soft [...]
In my experience, "the copper from the coax" is copper-plated steel, and pretty hard to break off. A small magnet can be used to test that claim. (Hint: Copper is not ferromagnetic.)
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.
