Send Light Constantly Flashing

[Phil]

My daughter had VM broadband installed during the week. As soon as the service was working I could see that the send light on the modem was constantly flashing even though the broadband was not being used (we had not hooked up anything to it at that stage). There is now a wireless Netgear router linked to the modem that has been secured so no external unauthorised hacking/usage should be possible.

She can connect to the Internet via either the wireless router or by cat5 cable into one of the router ports so the modem/broadband appear to be working.

Has anyone any idea what maybe causing the send light to continually flash as it just does not seem right to me. My VM cable modem behaves as expected ie send/receive only flashes when in use etc. All suggestions greatfully received. Would this fool the VM system into thinking she is exceeding her reasonable bandwidth usage etc

Phil

[sstainer]

something is communicating obviously but what it is ? does she have a good firewall suggest comodo as this tells you what or whom is using the network it might be just the svhosts [ services] using it?

[dragon]

Does the recieve light flash as well?

Could just be being hit with rubbish from either the previous person whod had that ip using p2p.

If there was something connected it would have been easier to explain as I would have probably put it down to background traffic (Instant messengers, AV updates.etc)

[r00t]

What model is it Phil?
And I doubt the flashing light would affect STM.

[dragon]

Originally Posted by r00t

What model is it Phil?
And I doubt the flashing light would affect STM.

Bearing in mind of course the light would probably flash for pretty much any outgoing data transfer even if its just the modem reporting it's there.

[Phil]

Thanks for all of the replies!
Hi SStainer - the light started flashing as soon as the connect/ready light locked. The Netgear router has its Firewall enabled as does her XP laptop.
Hi dragon - there may be something in what you say as the previous flat occupant had VM broadband on an ancient cable modem - and yes, the receive light flashes as well which started getting me worried
Hi r00t - I've just spoken to her and all she can find is an Ambit 256 - she gave me some numbers that looked like its MAC code which i will not be posting here. To me, it looks identical to my NTL issued modem NTL250

Hope this helps
Phil

Originally Posted by Phil

My daughter had VM broadband installed during the week. As soon as the service was working I could see that the send light on the modem was constantly flashing even though the broadband was not being used (we had not hooked up anything to it at that stage). There is now a wireless Netgear router linked to the modem that has been secured so no external unauthorised hacking/usage should be possible.

She can connect to the Internet via either the wireless router or by cat5 cable into one of the router ports so the modem/broadband appear to be working.

Has anyone any idea what maybe causing the send light to continually flash as it just does not seem right to me. My VM cable modem behaves as expected ie send/receive only flashes when in use etc. All suggestions greatfully received. Would this fool the VM system into thinking she is exceeding her reasonable bandwidth usage etc

Phil

You probably have a small black Virgin branded Ambit 256 modem, as with all modems it has the capability to talk back and forward to the Network, all it is doing is letting the Network know its still there by sending small amounts of data back to the router and to the Virgin servers.
It will not have any effect on bandwidth usage.

[r00t]

Same modem as mine and mine flash all the time, though as dragon pointed out, I always have something running. Pidgin, IRC etc...

[Phil]

Hi whydoIneedatech

Do all Virgin modems do this - my NTL250 cable modem doesn't . Is there a way to dissable this "feature" as its rather unnerving watching the lights flash all of the time when she knows that her laptop is powered off!

What purpose do you think this would serve for the VM servers/router - why would they need this constant chatter to confirm its there and up?

Thanks for the quick replies I feel slightly re-assured now but also slightly puzzled

Phil

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Phil

.
Hi dragon - there may be something in what you say as the previous flat occupant had VM broadband on an ancient cable modem - and yes, the receive light flashes as well which started getting me worried

Virgins IP's are dymanically assigned what happens is When someone discconnects from the network and once their Lease on the IP expires it gets added back to the pool to be reused.

When you power up the modem you will ask for an IP which will be assigned now of course there isn't an infinate number of IP's so you will get one someone else had previously, Now if they were on p2p for instance before they disconnected some of the other members of the p2p network might not have yet relisised there is no longer a p2p client at the IP yet so they will be trying to connect.

There is also systems probing entire Ip ranges looking for vunreable machines, unfortante but theres lots of junk floating around out there.

[Phil]

Hi r00t - thanks again - as I have just said above I'm reassured now especially as you see the same thing from the same modem.......

Phil

---------- Post added at 23:11 ---------- Previous post was at 23:09 ----------

Hi Dragon

Thanks again - its sad that talented people get a buzz out of trying to trash other peoples computers - I fell foul to the about:Blank "virus" 2 weeks ago !!

I hope this p2p network traffic stops soon

Phil

Originally Posted by Phil

Hi whydoIneedatech

Do all Virgin modems do this - my NTL250 cable modem doesn't . Is there a way to dissable this "feature" as its rather unnerving watching the lights flash all of the time when she knows that her laptop is powered off!

What purpose do you think this would serve for the VM servers/router - why would they need this constant chatter to confirm its there and up?

Thanks for the quick replies I feel slightly re-assured now but also slightly puzzled

Phil

Have you tried just connecting it to the Laptop just to check if it does continue to flash, remember to reboot the modem by switching off the power if you do this.

Also considering what r00t said about programs running in the background you could go to the DOS screen and try the following command> netstat -an <to check for any connections and possible spyware on the machine.

[Phil]

Hi whydoIneedatech

The moden started this behaviour ie the send flashing before the router/laptop were even connected to it. I'm surprised that its working at the VM setup from CD failed on the surname/postcode entry point. At this point I just terminated the setup and typed a URL that I knew would work ie bbc.co.uk as the VM URL for setup that the engineer mentioned did not connect either.

Phil

Originally Posted by Phil

Hi whydoIneedatech

The moden started this behaviour ie the send flashing before the router/laptop were even connected to it. I'm surprised that its working at the VM setup from CD failed on the surname/postcode entry point. At this point I just terminated the setup and typed a URL that I knew would work ie bbc.co.uk as the VM URL for setup that the engineer mentioned did not connect either.

Phil

The installation CD should no longer be issued as it always fails at this point virtually every time, and all it actually does is nanny you along when the is no need for it, as with you being in I presume an EX-Telewest region the connection should already be on.

If you require the email address and password for the account call Tech Support on 151.

Also if you are still feeling unsure about the send light ring up and check it out as well again on 151 option 3 its a free call and it will give you peace of mind.