sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Can a 66 block go bad?

I'm hoping someone here can help guide me in the right direction. My phone jacks went dead in my house over the weekend (which also leaves my DSL internet dead). Phone company said service is good to the house, so I'm left to chase down the problem. I'm wondering if my old Siemens S66M1-50 could have "gone bad." It doesn't seem like there is anything in a device like that to go bad, but I have no experience.

More background if you want it:
House is 4 years old. I wired it for electricity, phone, and ethernet myself (but I'm no expert). I used CAT 5 for phone, knowing it's overkill but better than CAT 3 and I had it on hand. I had an old 66 block someone gave to me. Never used one before, but concept seemed simple enough for one-time use for phone wiring my house.

So... trying to get to the point, the service IS good into the house. If I hook up a phone to the line from the phone company, it works. But after 4 years of working perfectly, now no phone jack will work in the house if wired from the 66 block. I have phone company line wired to rows 1 & 2, column 4. Other phone jacks wired down column 4. I use one pair pulled from a spare CAT 5 piece to loop from rows 1 & 2, column 3 to column 3 of the other connected rows. I've changed wires, etc. Narrowed it down (seemingly) to the point where the 66 block would appear to be bad. Again... is that possible? We do get lots of lightning around here, but I don't know if that's relevant or not.

I guess a new 66 block wouldn't be very expensive, but it just seems weird that something so simple (no moving parts or computer chips) would suddenly stop working.

Puzzled,
Shawn

Troubleshooting 101, isolate the feed in, is there dial tone? Reconnect each jack one at a time. Check each outlet one at a time.

Ive seen 66 block problems when double punched wires spread the pins so they no longer properly grip the wire

With DC voltage and dampness I've seen connections turn green with corrosion due to electrolysis. I have also seen severe corrosion when pool chemicals were stored in the same room.

I'd start by checking the jacks 1st, myself. Most likely point of problem. Problems with the block are really rare.

If all the jacks went bad at once and there is DT at the NID then the 66 block as the point of distribution would be the place to start .

If it was an old block to start with, it's possible that the spring tension in the clips has loosened. Give the clips a little squeeze with a pair of long nose pliers.

If that doesn't work then start troubleshooting.

Sam

I think your service provider probably said "to the house" instead of "into the house".

There must be some type of cable between the service provider delivery point (usually on side of house) and where you have your 66 block located.

If you use a cell phone and dial your own number you should get rings but not a busy signal. If yes then ground together those two pins you consider to be the incoming CO line and dial again. You should get busy signal.

This test should tell you if your line is good INTO the house!

Not necessarily. All is takes is one bad jack to short the pair, thus putting the others Out of Service as well. Happens here all the time with corrosion on the needle pins of the jack being corroded.

To answer your question directly, no, there is nothing in a block to go bad. I would start with a visual inspection looking for broken wires at the clips. Wiggle all of them around and look for any movement at the clips. As mentioned, any corrosion or that sort of thing indicates that the block needs to be replaced. But again, my experience has been that problems like this are caused by wires broken off at the clips. Done it myself many times.

What did you use to punch the wires onto the clips?

-Hal