Upstairs phone jack is not working - one other jack upstairs and 2 downstairs are working. The jack that is not working has one cable with 6 wires (red, green, black, yellow, blue, white), with the red and green attached to the jack. Replaced the jack, rewiring again only to red and green and still no dial tone. This jack hasn't been used since I've lived here in 7 years so it isn't a new issue - just one I'm dealing with now!

I think everything is in a daisy chain. Downstairs kitchen is wired with three of everything (3 red, 3 green - coming from 3 different cables), upstairs bedroom (jack is working), right above kitchen, has one cable with one of each color - red and green attached. Downstairs office is wired strangely - see attached picture.

I think the jack that isn't working is coming directly from the downstairs office, (because of the proximity) but my neighbor has some type of signal tester that I'll be using later today.

Any thoughts on the configuration of the home office - the picture that I've attached? Not like anything I've read on the phone repair pages online. As I said, the phone on this jack does work, but I think something is going on between this jack and the unworking one.

Thanks for all the help!

iammew

Attached Images

 

I think most of the jacks and junction boxes are labeled R, G, Y, and B. Make sure the red and green wires are connected to the R and G terminals at both ends of each cable. If the upstairs jack still doesn't work, try a different pair on the R&G terminals. If it still doesn't work, disconnect the red and green wires. Twist one end together and use an ohm meter to check conductivity at the other end. If not, they may not be connected in another box some where.

Watch for things like polarity reversal. Some phones are sensitive to it and other's are not. An inexpensive telephone tester from Radio Shack can be used. You can also check for the presence of a DC voltage and the polarity at the jacks. On hook it's about 48 V. Off hook it's about 5 V DC.

My house is quad wire (the red, black, blue, yellow) wire spider like connections everywhere. It took a while to get the telephone system sorted out and get the static fixed. They were caused by loose or corroded connections and spiders at the pole.

Aside:
The new recommendations for telephone wiring is two cat 5 cables at each location. Each being a "home run" to a central distribution point.

I could use an RJ31x jack where the Personal Emergeny Response system is wired. The wireless phone base station is on a UPS.

In your diagram, one green is not connected to that jack, it is connected to a blue?
If you only are using 1 line, you only need to use red and green to red and green on jack.
Do you have more than 1 line, also do you have alarm or innercom system that uses phone line. Plus your bottom wire has 2 whites and no black?
Providing no breaks in red and greens no other colors need to be dealt with.
If 2 lines, use the yellow and black, and connect to yellow and black on jack.

Thanks everyone for your comments! After a lot of tracing from NIB outside, it turns out that the office wiring has nothing to do with my problem! My neighbor has a tester that you plug in to the questionable jack, and you can test the wires to see if you're getting any continuance at the other end - it makes a warbling sound. So the wiring runs from outside to the kitchen, and has two outputs there running upstairs to the bedrooms. There is warbling for the working jack upstairs but none for the non-working, which means that the wire has been cut somewhere. We tested all the colors - not just the red and green, meaning we can't switch wires out to make it work. It looks like I'll have to rip some walls out if I want an outlet there - I think I'll figure out something else. I had planned to move my office there and needed DSL and I think that won't be possible unless I run a physical cord. If anyone has more thoughts let me know - It's good to at least know what the problem is and that is isn't really fixable!
Iammes

To answer Stratmando's question, yes, that green is connected to the blue (all those small black boxes represent connections), and there is no black wire in that particular cable. Strange colors for a phone connection - and that particular jack is working, so I guess it doesn't matter. I don't have any idea where that phone wire is coming from (the one with the odd colors), so I'm not going to worry about it. I initially thought it might be supplying the phone service to that jack, and the other cable with correct colors going out - possibly to the unworking jack, but it doesn't seem to be. I posted in my answer above that the wire must be cut somewhere so I'm giving up because I don't want to tear walls out. But if anyone knows about the strange colored wires, I would be interested in what they have to say!
Thanks again everyone,
iammew

Fishing wires through interior walls isn't too bad if you have an unfinished area above or below them. I have added a number of outlets, phone jacks, ethernet cable, etc. The insulation in exterior walls makes it messier. I can post details if you want.

Another option is a wireless router where you do have a working phone line. The DSL box wouldn't have to be in the same room as the computer.

I would poke around more before giving up. I once found the phone line not working in our bedroom because it was disconnected in the other box in the room.

Just for fun, measure the voltage between any two pairs of wires just to see if anything might be live.

BTW: Electrons don't care what color the insulation is <G>.

There are wireless phone jacks available, but some models aren't compatible with powerline modems.

Did you remove the jack upstairs and see if same "strange" colored wire were there also?
Match the colors from upstairs, if a conductor is bad you could use an unused conductor.
Tone generator and inductive amp would make short work of this. Without one, you, if confident you could write down wire colors and conections, so you can put back when done.
Remove wires from all jacks, go to each and see where you have dial tone, draw on paper"first conection block diagram, you can wrap tape around to indicate "IN"
Connect remaining wires, and look for dial tone at other jacks, all of them, may go 2 places. You may end up with one that can't be accounted for, probably goes upstairs.
If same odd wires are there, may be quick indication.
If you go to measure wires for voltage, do all combinations. Red and green on jack is where they need to connect to. Good Luck

Phone can be done with a wireless phone jack or a wireless phone. Faxing can be done with a wireless phone jack.

As labman mentioned wireless ethernet is a viable option. A splitter in the NID is the best way to go with the modem as close to the NID as practical especially since you have crummy wiring in the house. The wireless router is best placed in the center of the house for best coverage. There are wireless bridges and repeaters available which can fix dead spots. This is the way I'm running with extremely good performance.

Your friend that had the tone generator(warbler), did he also have the inductive amp?
It picks up the sound without physical connection. I would put on different pair of wires upstairs. And remove all jacks and listen for tone.
Progressive Electronics has a wire locator, that can trace wiring through walls and concrete. Had mine a few years. Should be less than $300. May be expensive, but could be cheaper than $400 worth of running new, patching and repairing.
When trying to get wires from one place to the next, always think"From Above? From below, and from any sides? Up through a closet. Removing recessed cans can provide excellent way to get wiring to new location.
Another thought, Does working jack upstairs only have 1 set of wires? Then it is the end of a line. If cutting the connections at non functional jack disrupts another jack, then if you have dial tone there, you will need to determine correct pair. Try every combination, as this is non standard wiring.

One other method, with no tools, would be, have cordless phone in working jack, take handset to bad jack, short all wires together. If it shorts dial tone.
You have working pair there. Tone generator(warbler) will not send tone on a shorted pair. Did friend verify he was on a non shorted pair. If not, need to find non shorted pair, and try again. Good Luck. Don't tear up any walls yet.