Woke up this morning....

[Badders]

...only to find no internet through my (not VM) router and the Ready light flashing on the ambit 256 modem.

<sorry, no blues from the Manchester Delta here> :)

Anyway, when I went into the router config and clicked the Renew WAN button the internet came back. Apart from the internet connection being down the router was running fine.

I checked the modem status and found there were issues around 1:00am:

Tue Oct 12 01:02:32 2010 Information (7) DCC arrive new
Tue Oct 12 01:02:32 2010 Information (7) Received a UCD message!
Tue Oct 12 01:02:32 2010 Information (7) Locked on the downstream. Waiting for UCDs...
Tue Oct 12 01:02:32 2010 Information (7) Downstream lock ok
Tue Oct 12 01:02:32 2010 Information (7) Received a UCD message!
Tue Oct 12 01:02:31 2010 Information (7) DCC depart old
Tue Oct 12 01:02:31 2010 Information (7) Received DCC-REQ message...
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) The s/w filename specified in the config file is the same as ...
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) A software upgrade filename was specified in the config file.
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) Authorized
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) Registration complete!
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) We registered with a DOCSIS 1.1 config file!
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) Received a REG-RSP message from the CMTS...
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) Sending a REG-REQ to the CMTS...
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) CableModem SNMP configure complete
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) IP init completed ok
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) CableModem TFTP init ok
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Information (7) CableModem DHCP client init ok
Tue Oct 12 01:02:26 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Tue Oct 12 01:00:30 2010 Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received
Tue Oct 12 01:00:20 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Tue Oct 12 01:00:20 2010 Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received
Tue Oct 12 01:00:13 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Tue Oct 12 01:00:13 2010 Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received
Tue Oct 12 01:00:04 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Tue Oct 12 01:00:04 2010 Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received
Tue Oct 12 00:59:59 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Tue Oct 12 00:59:59 2010 Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received
Tue Oct 12 00:59:53 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Tue Oct 12 00:59:53 2010 Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received
Tue Oct 12 00:59:43 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Tue Oct 12 00:59:43 2010 Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region receivedMy question isn't so much with the internet being down but whether I should have expected the router to renew the connection automatically or, as the modem is obviously in a dodgy state, should I expect to reboot the modem to get a "steady Ready" before getting a renew.

(I'm running a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 with Tomato RAF 1.28.8515 ND firmware)

Thanks, Badders

[MovedGoalPosts]

I find that if the router and / or modem have stopped speaking to something, then both have to be rebooted.

[Badders]

Thanks Rob. What's the consensus of the flashing Ready light on the modem? Does it mean that the modem should be rebooted? The internet is working normally despite the flashing.

[Mick Fisher]

Thanks Rob. What's the consensus of the flashing Ready light on the modem? Does it mean that the modem should be rebooted? The internet is working normally despite the flashing.
No, it's just an annoying bug.

I find that when the ready light changes from solid to flashing it knocks out the router.

Sometimes it happens a couple of times a day and makes overnight downloading a lottery. :(

[Badders]

Well Mick, it's good to know it's not just me with this problem. What router do you have?

I can't believe that everyone's internet goes down when VM decide to send an instruction to the modems.

[Mick Fisher]

Well Mick, it's good to know it's not just me with this problem.

It seems a common problem judging by reports on this forum.


What router do you have?

Linksys WRT54G2 v1


I can't believe that everyone's internet goes down

Not everyone uses a router perhaps? Not everyone has been migrated to Docsys 3 network perhaps?


when VM decide to send an instruction to the modems.

I'm sorry I don't know why this occurs, although I'd like to, but I doubt it's VM sending an instruction to the modem.

I read somewhere that their is a problem with code sent to generate the modem config file. I have no idea if this is correct.

I have just been onto the offshored support regarding agonisingly slow browsing and my connection running at half speed. I mentioned this flashing ready light thing and the agent went straight into denial mode and used the mythical "I will call you back" ploy to get me off the line. :)

[Mick Fisher]

OK, fair do's to offshore support. Surprisingly I did receive a call back.

The agent said he had been on to second line support but they were also at a loss to explain my slow speeds.

So they are sending me a new modem. :shrug:

We will see, I'm not gonna hold my breath. :)

[Badders]

Jeez, you're having it tough; I hope you get it sorted soon. I've had no issues for some time now and getting the full 20M/768K but I found the VM newsgroups very helpful in sorting out my problems. They were more, how can I say, on-shore ;)

I thought I'd power reboot the modem to get rid of the flashing Ready but my router still refused to reconnect. It looks like it's an issue with the firmware :(

It looks like I'll have to do some more investigation...

[Mick Fisher]

Check your router for a method of flushing/renewing DCHP.

Otherwise, try powering down your modem, router and computer(s).

Power up the modem and wait for it to settle, as the ready light will be flashing :( we will have to depend on the synch light to tell if it has stopped ranging and locked onto a channel. Now we start to see why this ready light issue is so annoying.

When you have estimated that your modem has locked on:

Power up your Router and again wait for it settle.

Now boot your computer and hopefully all will be normal.

[Badders]

Hi Mick, I can renew the public IP from the router manually and the internet comes up straight away. That's not the problem. The issue is that it won't do it automatically.

If I'm at work and want to connect to one of my home PC's I need both the modem and router communicating. If the modem hiccups, I don't want want the router to decide not to reconnect to the modem.

Maybe I need a script to ping the WAN address, say every 5 minutes, and try a renew if it can't get a public IP. I'm sure there's one around - it's just finding it.

[Mick Fisher]

Hi Mick, I can renew the public IP from the router manually and the internet comes up straight away. That's not the problem. The issue is that it won't do it automatically.

If I'm at work and want to connect to one of my home PC's I need both the modem and router communicating. If the modem hiccups, I don't want want the router to decide not to reconnect to the modem.

Maybe I need a script to ping the WAN address, say every 5 minutes, and try a renew if it can't get a public IP. I'm sure there's one around - it's just finding it.
That's the very same niggle I had with the flashing ready light issue. :(

Thing is, it is not a router problem, it is a connection problem.

I never found a workaround.

I have temporarily dumped VM and am using Be Unlimited until this new modem arrives. Although I can only get 10meg out of it, compared to VM, browsing seems like lightning. I'm in two minds whether to dump VM permanently as it has got so unreliable of late.

[Badders]

Thing is, it is not a router problem, it is a connection problem.


The router knows that the connection to the WAN is down as the arp entry is showing as <incomplete>, same as for any disconnected entry, but I can't find a way to get it to automatically renew. I'll give something like this (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Useful_Scripts#Automatic_Connection_Repair_.28alwa ys_on.sh.29) a go over the weekend. (This is for dd-wrt and not Tomato so I'll probably need to make some changes.)

[Mick Fisher]

I'm still on the original firmware. It seems to do the job. This router only has 2MB of RAM so I can only use the mini dd-wrt firmware. Adhering to the "If it ain't broke........" philosophy I didn't bother.

Anyway for the moment I'm connecting direct to the modem.

I just got the new modem activated and ............things are even worse. Although browsing seems a tad faster, maximum throughput from a newsgroup or gamefiles.virginmedia.com is now down to 3Mbps.

LOL! And now I have a flashing ready light too. :(

I'm getting really peed off with it now. My levels seem OK. It must be some sort of network problem.


Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 4
Downstream Frequency : 459000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM64
Downstream Symbol Rate : 6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level : -1.7 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 36.1 dB



Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 2
Upstream Frequency : 35800000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 5120 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 45.4 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2


Thu Oct 14 17:46:08 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:46:08 2010 Warning (5) DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response
Thu Oct 14 17:16:15 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:15 2010 Information (7) DCC arrive new
Thu Oct 14 17:16:15 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:15 2010 Information (7) Received a UCD message!
Thu Oct 14 17:16:15 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:15 2010 Information (7) Locked on the downstream. Waiting for UCDs...
Thu Oct 14 17:16:15 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:15 2010 Information (7) Downstream lock ok
Thu Oct 14 17:16:14 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:14 2010 Information (7) DCC depart old
Thu Oct 14 17:16:14 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:14 2010 Information (7) Received DCC-REQ message...
Thu Oct 14 17:16:12 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:12 2010 Information (7) CableModem software upgrade failed
Thu Oct 14 17:16:12 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:12 2010 Error (4) SW upgrade Failed after download - Incompatible SW file
Thu Oct 14 17:16:12 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:12 2010 Information (7) SW dload: Invalid image signature!
Thu Oct 14 17:16:10 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:10 2010 Notice (6) SW Download INIT - Via Config file U104660290ca0d868.cm
Thu Oct 14 17:16:10 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:10 2010 Information (7) CableModem software download started
Thu Oct 14 17:16:10 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:10 2010 Information (7) Software upgrade has started.
Thu Oct 14 17:16:10 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:10 2010 Information (7) A software upgrade filename was specified in the config file.
Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Information (7) Authorized
Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Information (7) Registration complete!
Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Information (7) We registered with a DOCSIS 1.1 config file!
Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Information (7) Received a REG-RSP message from the CMTS...
Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Information (7) Sending a REG-REQ to the CMTS...
Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Information (7) CableModem SNMP configure complete
Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Information (7) IP init completed ok
Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:09 2010 Information (7) CableModem TFTP init ok
Thu Oct 14 17:16:08 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:08 2010 Information (7) CableModem DHCP client init ok
Thu Oct 14 17:16:08 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:08 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Thu Oct 14 17:16:02 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:16:02 2010 Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received
Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received
Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Information (7) Downstream sync ok
Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Information (7) Beginning initial ranging...
Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Information (7) downstream time sync acquired...
Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:15:59 2010 Information (7) Downstream sync ok
Thu Oct 14 17:15:58 2010 Thu Oct 14 17:15:58 2010 Information (7) starting ds time sync acquisition...

[colin25]

Woke up this morning feeling fine
I've got something special on my mind
Last night I had a flashing redlight in the neighborhood
Something tells me I'm into something good

this is the singing thread? :D, thread title reminded me of it

[Badders]

@Mick

Sorry you're still having troubles. Have you used TCPOptimiser (http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php) if you're on XP? I needed this to get the full 20M.

My levels are similar to yours:

Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 39
Downstream Frequency : 314750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level : 2.0 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 41.2 dB

Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 1
Upstream Frequency : 45800000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 5120 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 47.2 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2@colin25

:) I was thinking a little more downbeat:

I woke up this morning, my baby was gone
Woke up this morning, my baby was gone
I've been so bad, I'm all alone

I ain't got nobody stayin' home with me
I ain't got nobody stayin' home with me
My baby she's gone, I'm in misery

etc.

B.B. King

[colin25]

@Mick

:) I was thinking a little more downbeat:

I woke up this morning, my baby was gone
Woke up this morning, my baby was gone
I've been so bad, I'm all alone

I ain't got nobody stayin' home with me
I ain't got nobody stayin' home with me
My baby she's gone, I'm in misery

etc.

B.B. King

lol..ok.. melancholy sounds better

[Mick Fisher]

@Mick

Sorry you're still having troubles. Have you used TCPOptimiser (http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php) if you're on XP? I needed this to get the full 20M.


Yep.. I too used to get the full 20meg. A new ethernet cable arrived this morning, so got that to try.

@Mick

My levels are similar to yours:

Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 39
Downstream Frequency : 314750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level : 2.0 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 41.2 dB

Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 1
Upstream Frequency : 45800000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 5120 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 47.2 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2


Yes they are.

[KenK]

Thanks Rob. What's the consensus of the flashing Ready light on the modem? Does it mean that the modem should be rebooted? The internet is working normally despite the flashing.The Ready light on my modem had been flashing for months - I tried rebooting it but it did nothing. It got annoying enough that I moved it to somewhere out of sight a couple of weeks ago. I've just noticed Ready is on solid now. I've done nothing to make this happen, I didn't even power it off when I moved it. Spooky...