line toning

hi guys,

I hope I am in the right forum. I am currently interning at this one company and the IT person and I ran into a problem that we're not sure of the answer.

When we were toning the line, the toner (I don't know if there is a different name to call it) could pick up the tone when it's at the interface without the cable plugs into it, but when the cable is plugged in, there's no tone at all on the patch panel. So, my question is, is that normal? if so, is there someway to tone the line without unplug all the cables from the patch panel?

By the way, the IT person cannot access the the switch console to see the switch configuration, from this location, only the IT department at corporate headquarter could do that. Sorry for the long explanation, but I hope I explained it clear enough so you guys would understand, thank you.

If you are using a normal old fashion Toner and Wand. The tone generator is sending a FM signal down the copper and when that cable is plugged into either a network device or phone equipment it terminates it and takes the signal off of the copper. I have a Fluke cable tester that will blink the hub/switch port that it is connected to. I've seen some tone generators being able to do the same thing now as well. Worse case you have to trace each cable out by hand. It's not fun but if you need to map out whats connected and lable it some how so you don't have to go thru it again.

ok, sounds like we might have to do it the hard way. Thanks for your help.