BIG Problems since new installation with Ambit 200.

[simontaylor]

Hi there all, perhaps some of you kind techies can help with these BB issues that I have in Farnham, Surrey, GU9, 300 k service.

I used to live in Aldershot GU12 and everything was fine. connected to ntl with a BB CM (Silver Ambit 120 s/w rev 2.40.3212), then an Origo Router (BRP-1400 4 port with USB printer port and f/w level 1.00.00.08), then 3 PCs. (1st-NEC powerate P4 1.8GHZ 256 RAM XP pro, 2nd-ZDS Versa Note laptop P-II 300 192 RAM win 98SE, and 3rd-Packard Bell PB9367 celeron 533mghz 320 RAM XP pro). All have plenty of RAM and unused disk space. Also HP 930C printer connected to router, all worked great!!!.

Then we moved house to Farnham in the GU9 area.
New CM installation made on 21 Dec, and now we have a silver Ambit 200 s/w rev 2.67.1011.

CM boots ok and with any of the PCs connected to the CM, service is fine.
I use the speed test from www.broadbandspeedtest.net (http://www.broadbandspeedtest.net/) and get consistant resulte of 280-282 kbps, absolutely fine and dandy.:angel:

SO I know the CM is good, the connection is good and I can surf and get my emails as well.

Now for the problems.:Yikes: :Yikes: :Yikes:
Firstly I introduced the router and I am trying to get 1 PC networked.
CM boots ok, router boots ok, both communicate (Enet and Wan ligts flashing togeter), then when I plug in any 1 of the PCs the CM-Router communication stops and I can not get any service.:td:

Support from Origo suggested that the modem-router speed negotiation was now different and I should set the router WAN port to 10Mbps full duplex to stop the negotiation and force an agreed connection. To do this I had to upgrade the Origo f/w to 2.00.00.03. This got my first PC on-line and service was available.:tu:

BUT, slow, my BBST (BB speed test) is now reporting between 80 and 130 kbps, which is not good.:o :o :o I seem to remember that at the old house, another BB speed test would give me about 279 kbps for router connecd PCs, again ok.

Second problem is when I begin to connect 2nd and 3rd PC to the router, 1 at a time. The laptop has a 3Con 589E PCMCIA card and the network cable has a wee green light on it, which is normally ON ALL of the time. When this laptop is connected to the router, the green light pulses, on/off about every 1-2 seconds and performance is dire. even the 1st PC performance drops,even more. The service seems to hang for 10 seconds or so, then a bit of traffic, then hang again.:Yikes: :Yikes:

Whith 2 PCs on the router I tried the BBST, the pings seems ok but the file download fails every time.

HELP, any suggestions???:erm:

I have since been back to the old property and retrieved the old 120 modem, so I am considering cal tech support on Monday and asking if I can install it here in the new house. I would also put back the old f/w in the router, then I would be "as was", hopefully. Is this a good plan?

What is the difference between the 120 and 200 modems? Am I better of sticking with the 120 and getting another router?

Many thanks in advance. I know there is more information for this fault, just ask more any questions. All is ethernet connections and cables are tested and less than 5 M long. The PCs use static IP addresses 192.168.1.2/3&5 when router connected and DHCP for direct to the CM. Router is 192.168.1.1

Simon.

[JohnHorb]

Someone might correct me here, but I think the recommended connection is 10 Mbps HALF-duplex. Worth a try? Also, are you sure your router settings are the same after upgrading the firmware? I think most routers default to DHCP, whereas you are using static IP addresses (do you need to?)

[Bill C]

BIG SNIP

Many thanks in advance. I know there is more information for this fault, just ask more any questions. All is ethernet connections and cables are tested and less than 5 M long. The PCs use static IP addresses 192.168.1.2/3&5 when router connected and DHCP for direct to the CM. Router is 192.168.1.1

Simon.

This might sound silly. :) but i had this fault with a customer in warrington before christmas. It turned out to be the power supply for the modem. Dont ask me why but that is what it was. if you can get hold of the old modem and power supply then try swapping out the power supply they are the same.

At the end of the day there is no harm in trying.

btw
this customer had just moved from a 120 to 200 and had used the new power supply.

[ian@huth]

Hi Simon and :welcome:

Origo are probably right with their suggestion but you have to make sure that both the router and the cable modem have the same duplex settings.

[simontaylor]

WOW WEE, just back from a cup of tea and 3 great ideas already.
I am pursuing the level-of-service problem and download speed.
1st, Power supply, changed it to the old one but seems to make no difference, still about 125kbps. I will continue with the old one as it was the one that used to be fine.
2nd, I have reset the router WAN port to 10mbps HALF and again no real change. still only getting 110-140 kbps over 4 test cycles.
3rd, Yes, I did "disable" DHCP in the router after the upgrade. I choose to use static IPs as I have greater control and I would hope that the router has less work to do so would also give better performance.

How do I set the WAN port on the Ambit 200 to complimant the router?

When the PC is router connected, in the BBst, it often fails the download test due to server timeouts, but never when direct to the CM.
Also, when PC is router connected, there is often a "Packet loss en route to UK server" of between 8 and 14 %. When direct connect to CM there is always 0%.

Thanks again, off for another cuppa.......

Simon

[Bill C]

WOW WEE, just back from a cup of tea and 3 great ideas already.

1st, Power supply, changed it to the old one but seems to make no difference, still about 125kbps. I will continue with the old one as it was the one that used to be fine.

Simon

Well it was worth a try :)

[ian@huth]

Go to the cable modem configuration page which AFAIK http://192.168.100.1 user name and password are both root

A discussion on duplex settings was at http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=18366

[Bill C]

WOW WEE, just back from a cup of tea and 3 great ideas already.


Simon

Ok can you PM me your mac address and i will check out the modem from here. Ask one of the mods to confirm i work for NTL

[Mick]

Ok can you PM me your mac address and i will check out the modem from here. Ask one of the mods to confirm i work for NTL

I can confirm that Bill C works for ntl. :)

[Bill C]

You have another pm

[Bill C]

Thanks again, off for another cuppa.......

Simon

You should now be on the 120 modem :)

[prvjoker]

Ok can you PM me your mac address and i will check out the modem from here. Ask one of the mods to confirm i work for NTL

[Bill C]

????
And Your point. Or has the cat got your tongue

[prvjoker]

Sorry m8,last night was the first time iv'e loged on to this site.

As an X ntl bod myself, down south. I was looking through some of the problems that users have.

In Southhampton there are many SO's that have a verry poor degraded service, even total loss /intermittent service.

And i happen to live in SO16 and is the worst effected.

im lucky to stay online fore more than a few hours week days,and weekends are a nightmare"FORGET IT".

the point is that ntl are still selling to unaware customers knowing full well that there are major fults with there network, and that degraded services must be a high % of customer problems .

and if you contact the b/band help line you are told that the problems are ongoing! and are being worked on, and i know full well that at the moment,and for some time there is not one single service tech' working on the fults/upgrade to that part of ntl's network.

Is this a one off problem with this city,ore is this happening in other places, ntl started of with a great servise but as bandwidth has been over sold and upgrades! few if any?is this normal for ntl ? let me know.:confused:

[simontaylor]

I thought I posted a final reply to this thread that I started, but maybe not.

Well, thanks Bill C for your help setting me up on the old modem.

It turned out that it was the Router at fault. I sent it off for repair and 2 days later a brand new one had arrived back, which works fine.
I have since been sufing at full speed again and share 4 PCs on the router, with a printer too.

Lots of people seem to knock NTL, but I must be a lucky sod, nothing real big to caomplain about, till the next fault!!!