"Dead shifting" - Think my cables are smoked

SO I was riding last weekend and my rear derailleuer shifter (rapidfire Deore) went dead for a couple pushes in and then worked fine. I'm guessing that the cables are smoked, but is there anything else that would do that? Thx

 

This should be in the workshop section, but while im here. I had similar problems with my old deore lx setup and found that the linkages inside the shifter housing(on the handle bars) were sticking. I just seperated them apart, cleaned and lubed. Hasent happened since

 

Are the cables pulling with your shift? If not, it's the shifter. Can you reproduce the issue?

 

That happens to alot of older shifters, you can just spray some lube inside the casing and it should start going again. If not the shifter is toast and you will need to replace it. Make sure the bolt on the bottom is tight, it will not shift correctly if it is loose.

 

It only happened a couple of times Sunday. I'm riding tomorrow at mission trails, so I plan on lubing it and seeing how that goes. It may be time to take it apart and give it a clean. Just did a full clean but didn't do the rapidfire guts. If it's still buggered, I'll take it apart.