Time To Get An Engineer Out?

[KennyBhoy]

This afternoon for the first time in an extremely long time my internet connection dropped completely. My trusty old Surfboard SB4100 only had the power light on and receive light flashing. A couple of hours passed and it still remained the same. After a few reboots and no joy i decided to investigate further. I went onto the modem's admin page and checked the logs. The modem was locating the Downstream information fine but could not do the same for the Upstream. It just seemed to be in a continuous loop trying different frequency ranges.

I finally gave in and called Tech Support and low n behold. Midway through the conversation the modem kicked into life. Surfed various sites with the guy still on the phone. All seemed well, so i get off the phone and checked the modem, only to be faced with flashing lights again.

I decided to leave it up until an hour ago thinking it was maybe a local are issue that would be resolved and decided to do my nosey again. My modem is connected to a 2 way splitter which was fitted 7 months ago, it's also connected with my old Pace STB. I unhooked the STB from the splitter and the modem kicked into life. If i reconnect the STB, the modem dies.

Is the splitter at fault here or am i maybe receiving a weak signal (after all this time) ? Is a weak signal something that could be sorted without an engineer coming to the house?

Just wondering, as trying to arrange these things round work can be a hassle :o:

Modem Signal

Downstream Value
Frequency 402750000 Hz Locked
Signal to Noise Ratio 38 dB
Power Level 1 dBmV

Upstream Value
Channel ID 2
Frequency 29200000 Hz Ranged
Power Level 52 dBmV

I've seen people mention upstream power levels being high. Could this be an issue?

Thanks

[Stabhappy]

Are those the stats for the modem with the stb connected or disconnected. readings are needed for those stats with the stb in use and disconnected to assertain wether it's a fault related to signal levels.

[KennyBhoy]

Those readings are without the STB plugged in. With the STB plugged in too, the downstream remains the same but the upstream slightly increases to 58 dBmV.

The Log is just a constant repeat of 8-Debug T509.0 Aquired DS with status NO FEC lock, DS Freq 554750000, US Id 0 and 3-Critical T2.0 SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing.

:(

[comex]

how did you get on btw

[KennyBhoy]

how did you get on btw

Poorly. Well, in a self help way. I've had to unhook my STB to get online at the moment. So it's either telly or net. One or the other but not both.

Rang up Tech Support half an hour ago, guy was very helpful. Although he was puzzled at first, as the first test he done showed my modem as being online, which i assured him it wasn't. Second test failed and the third test he just said there's a definite problem of some sort with my line. As it showed as working one minute and then not at all the next. So i have an engineer coming on Thursday evening. He offered tomorrow (which is extremely quick) but work commitment's for myself mean otherwise. :(

I can only assume after all these years, the signal my house has been getting the last 8 years has took a drop of some sort. :D

Hopefully it's something a booster can sort!

[on in an hour!]

Poorly. Well, in a self help way. I've had to unhook my STB to get online at the moment. So it's either telly or net. One or the other but not both.

Rang up Tech Support half an hour ago, guy was very helpful. Although he was puzzled at first, as the first test he done showed my modem as being online, which i assured him it wasn't. Second test failed and the third test he just said there's a definite problem of some sort with my line. As it showed as working one minute and then not at all the next. So i have an engineer coming on Thursday evening. He offered tomorrow (which is extremely quick) but work commitment's for myself mean otherwise. :(

I can only assume after all these years, the signal my house has been getting the last 8 years has took a drop of some sort. :D

Hopefully it's something a booster can sort!
you have probably hit the nail on the head with the signal.check if your set top locks on without the splitter (this is what the tech will do) then he will try another splitter,but in my experience the loss through the splitter is dropping upstream levels too low,he could compensate at the street cab (as long as your not on the 'top tap',that being the strongest signal) if not he will have to check the upstream power level lock at the cab,if its locking too high there he can pass the job to the network guys ;)

[Stabhappy]

at 58db upstream, that is your problem, the engineer should see it immediately. Keep your STB plugged in, some engineers are a bit silly and will asume its working if the internet is functioning and may not take into consideration that the STB could effect it.

[KennyBhoy]

Well I woke this morning with my Internet connection fully working. This includes the STB plugged in to the splitter. I checked the modem admin page and it's showing it connected in the middle of the night. So it's been up for a number of hours. The upstream is still showing 55db however.

Should I still allow the enginner to visit tomorrow and is any charge made if he visits and finds nothing wrong now?

[Chris]

Have him come out anyway. You logged it as an intermittent fault and the CSR who took your call witnessed this.

[KennyBhoy]

Just a quick update. Engineer has been and gone. He said my line signal was a bit weak. He couldn't boost it from the street box, so he has fitted a signal booster in place of the old splitter.

He's also passing the street box on to the Network guys, as he said the figures he seen for all the "switches" were unusual and all too similar to one another and something he's not seen for a long time.

Not much i could say to that as i have no idea what he meant :D

Cheers for the replies :)

[Guy T]

I had a similar occurence yesterday - No internet at all for the first time in many many years - ntl256 modem had sync light flashing and ready light flashing now and then - faults tried a reset with no success then he had a less than convincing check to see if there was any area faults (none apparently) before booking an engineer for today, he then said try rebooting the modem every couple of hours and if it works call back and cancel the engineer :confused:
This morning and all day the connection has worked faultlessly (without resetting) however by some strange coincidence all 6 of our mailbox addresses had their passwords reset overnight ! - when I called faults again this afternoon they said they have to do this from time to time due to SMTP corruption!
All sounds a bit bizarre really !