Random Disconnects (patience wearing out)

[tyraelx1]

I am currently living in Northern Ireland, beside Belfast.

Now, this problem started around 9 months ago. I may got a disconnect once every 1 or 2 days. Then, in the past 2 months, the problem has got much much worse. On a good day I will disconnect maybe 10 times. On a bad day I could disconnect 10 times in 1 hour.

I am very aware of this as I am an online gamer.

After 10 phone calls to NTL and being told the same thing over and over again, I finally get an engineer to come out. He comes and says "yeah, I tightened up a few things. Should be ok now."

Of course nothing was fixed. Off he went.

After maybe 50 million more calls, I then get yet another engineer to come out. This guy was a bit more professional and asked me lots of questions in detail.. he ran some sort of tests.. and in the end he just gave me a new modem with new wires etc.

Before I had one of the silver modems and now I have the small translucent blue one.

It was actually ok for about 45 mins, then it went back to as worse as ever.

I then bought an Ethernet cable. No difference. Same thing with USB and ethernet.

I have no firewalls up. No anti-virus software running. I'm on XP Home.


Usually to get the connection working again when it goes down, I have to power on and off the modem. Sometimes it comes back on itself.


I have the 3mbit connection. They say its working fine, and it is working to its full potential when it does work.

I have no routers or anything like that. I have one pc.


One of the times when I rang up, the guy suggested I should go and get my pc checked at a shop for 'winsock files'. Anyway to download these or something?


I'm absolutely sick and tired of this. If any of you uber-leet dudes here could give me some advice, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I'm one step away from cutting my contract with NTL.



/Tyrael

[Stuart]

:welcome: to CableForum.

Are any lights showing on the Modem when the connection dies?

[tyraelx1]

Hello Stuart,

Most of the time when the connection drops, the Sync and Ready lights are solid. The usb or enet light is also solid depending on which im using of course.

[Ignition]

Umm...

I have no firewalls up. No anti-virus software running. I'm on XP Home.

Erk comes to mind.

One of the times when I rang up, the guy suggested I should go and get my pc checked at a shop for 'winsock files'. Anyway to download these or something?

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winsockxpfix.html

An online virus scan might be in order as well:

http://uk.trendmicro-europe.com/consumer/products/housecall_launch.php

[Raistlin]

Forgive me if I'm barking up the wrong tree.....I can see (I think) where Ignition is coming from on this one (maybe ;) ).

It could be something on your local machine that is affecting your connection.

If you have no firewall, no router, no protection, it is possible that your machine has been compromised in some way and your connection is being adversly affected as a result.

I would suggest that you really need to be running some anti-virus software through it, along with some spyware scanning software, to make sure that there's nothing in there that shouldn't be. As a next step you need some sort of firewall.

Once you're positive that your machine hasn't been compromised we will be able to say with more certainty that it is a problem with the connection.

To my recollection there has been more than one thread here recently with similar symptoms to yours, so it could be a dodgy connection - it pays to rule out the other possibilities first though.
__________________

Apologies, where are my manners?

:welcome: to Cable Forum :)
__________________

The other thing that might be causing a problem is that (and I could be wrong on this, one of the Techs will have to confirm) if you are uploading a constant stream of data which swamps your upstream connection you will sometimes get the symptoms that you describe.

You say that you are a gamer, do you get the same symptoms if you aren't playing any games? Are you running any P2P software which might be uploading?

[50420]

not much to go by... but on first glance and from whats been stated, i'd go with the tech guy being on the right lines...very possibly a winsock issue.

btw tyrael...welcome to the forum....
might be worth you checking your IP address when you lose your connection
and post the results back here.. just the first two or three sets of digits

if you have a valid NTL IP address we can go from there... or if its an address starting with 192 or 169... we can look down other avenues.

[KevAmiga]

When you loose your connection, can you release / renew the IP and get back online or do you need to reboot the modem?

[andyl]

I've had minor problems with connection loss too. Went down late yesterday afternoon and the day before too. Those late afternoon timings make me wonder as when the network was more fragile than it is now I used to be able to set my clock by the degradation in service come 5 pm.

[tyraelx1]

Well, the thing is, I format my PC rather frequently. Maybe once every 2 months. I'm not sure, but I think this rules out my machine being compromised in any way as the disconnects still happen immediately after the format. (a total format by the way)

I don't run a firewall or anti-virus software because I've had bad experiences with it in the past. It's basically a pain in the ass and doesn't mix well with online gaming.

Anyway, I've installed those winsock files you gave me ignition, so lets see what happens now.

Just done that online virus scan too... it came up clean.



Well I'll let you guys know if I get disconnected in the next few hours. I'm gripping the edge of my seat at the minute.. hoping.. just hoping.

I don't want to have to sign over to BT -.-



@50420

The NTL tech support checked that and they said it was OK.


/tyrael

[KevAmiga]

If you loose the connection, try simply release / renewing the IP address,,, tell me if that works. :tu:

[tyraelx1]

Hey KevAmiga,

I just disconnected there now.. was actually going good there for a while for some reason.

I released - that worked. Then I tried renewing but the connection didn't come back on.

Had to refresh the modem.

[50420]

what was the error message recieved when it failed to renew the IP address ?
if it was something like "An error occurred while renewing interface 'Internet': An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket" then it could still be a winsock issue.

there's more info here http://onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#winsock2

when you lose the connection.... are you able to ping any urls or IP address's... or even a loopback address

[tyraelx1]

Ahh I didn't note that down.

Have to wait till it goes down again. For some reason it's not disconnecting as often now.

[50420]

perhaps the winsock link posted by Ignition has made the difference ?
have used that myself on a few occaisions...
generally use this fix though... http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm only cos i've got the address stuck in me ead.

[tyraelx1]

Hasn't disconnected for about 3 hours now. Going good!

Making alot of effort not to move my desk in any way incase i muck it up :D


Yeah I think the winsock fix has helped, altho I did get disconnected once after it. Well, we'll see what happens over the next 24 hours or so.


Thanks alot for the help so far guys.

[Stuart]

Well, the thing is, I format my PC rather frequently. Maybe once every 2 months. I'm not sure, but I think this rules out my machine being compromised in any way as the disconnects still happen immediately after the format. (a total format by the way)

I don't run a firewall or anti-virus software because I've had bad experiences with it in the past. It's basically a pain in the ass and doesn't mix well with online gaming.


Just so you know that in testing, an XP install without firewall was compromised in about 4 minutes... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/01/honeypot_test/

Might be worth considering Antivirus and Firewall..

[tyraelx1]

There we go.. disconnected.

Here's what it said:


C:\Documents and Settings\*******>ping www.bbc.co.uk
Ping request could not find host www.bbc.co.uk. Please check the name and try ag
ain.

C:\Documents and Settings\*******>ipconfig /release

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\Documents and Settings\*******>ipconfig /renew

Windows IP Configuration

An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection 3 : unable to c
ontact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.



Hmmm..

[50420]

hi tyrael..

when it looses the connection next time... before releasing and renewing the IP.. can u see if you can ping the bbc IP address 212.58.224.86 and post the result again..

if that fails try ping the loopback address
either ping localhost
or ping 127.0.0.1

may be worth trying that lspfix i posted earlier
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm

------------------------------
I'll second whats been posted earlier too... not having an AV or firewall is askin for problems. even after a format the pc can become infected within minutes

[tyraelx1]

Yeah, I tried that. I read the readme file which I did not really understand. So I just opened the program and hit finish... but it didnt do anything. 0 provider entries removed etc etc. Didn't want to place any files in the remove section because I didn't know what I was doing. There was 4 files in my keep section.

Whats the difference between the one ignition posted and that one you're using? On the one ignition posted all I had to do was click 'fix' and it seemed to scan through some files.

[Chris W]

mmmm ok... i don't think this is a winsock issue- if the winsock registry entries are corrupted, then this tends to kill a connection completely. I have never seen winsock problems cause intermittent connections.

While the connection is working try logging onto http://root:root@192.168.100.1/

Post back the power levels and SNR readings- it may be that something is dropping out of range, thus you are losing connection.

Also, when the connection drops, leave the modem powered on, and remove the coaxial cable from it. Then do ipconfig /renew again and see if you have an ip address- post back what it is.

And finally... if you have XP service pack 2, the winsock fix can be done by typing the following at a command line and then rebooting:

netsh winsock reset catalog

:)

[50420]

fair point Chris... it may equally well be an snr / power level issue
ive seen this many times though.... frequent disconnections... being caused by corrupt winsock files... thought it would be easier to make a start eliminating possible causes that tyrael could fix from his end, before going down the road of contacting tech support again

[sollp]

tyrealx1

Like has already been mentioned, you have to get yourself a firewall and antivirus, also you need to run some of the freeware ad-aware removers. To use your PC without these is like crossing a motorway with your eyes shut, your going to get hit. I'm no expert on PC's but what i can say is during my working day i often get people grabbing me in the street saying,"NTL broadband is cr##P". Now when i offer to go round and sort out the problem i'm confronted with a PC in most case's with no Anti virus or firewall, or they are out of date. Now after closing all the programs that run in the back ground and on start up using MSCONFIG, and then downloading Ad-Aware etc you wouldn't believe the amount of Spy-ware, Ad-Aware ect. Then the person who grabbed me often looks very sheepish and realise's that it was there PC causing the problem. This stuff cause's load of problems, so to be honest reformatting your hard drive is not the answer as you can also get Viruses that will stay even after this, you will also find that if you have a restore point on XP you need to turn this off to get rid of some viruse's, as i have found out myself.

[hoggyspuds]

just reading through this thread. I often get the "page cannot be displayed" in IE, with no access to OE either. Removing and reinserting the power lead to the modem fixes this problem. being unfamiliar with the technology, any help / advice would be appreciated

[tyraelx1]

Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 31
Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM64
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5056.941 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : -8.6 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 36.3 dB



Connection hasn't dropped yet.

[50420]

i may be wrong but from what i can recall the 3 values that i'm aware of look to be ok
aginh ...this is from what i cam remember from my time at ntl that ideal values for
snr ratio . obove 25db is cool...more than 30 is ideal
downstream power level should be between +5 and -15
after looking at the robin walker site... the frequency seems ok too... although i've no idea what it means :)

is late though and am tired...so stand t be corrected...

hope the connection stays online for ya dude....

[sollp]

Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 31
Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM64
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5056.941 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : -8.6 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 36.3 dB



Connection hasn't dropped yet.

The downstream recieve power level should be around Odb. So the levels are low but should be workable, but does need to be sorted out. Check the connections within the house, IE make sure the connection aren't loose ect.

[__spc__]

Either get a router, or install a firewall - ZoneAlarm is free and EXCELLENT. Get an antivirus too, such as free AVG 7 from Grisoft.

You must be mad to run 'naked' as you are...