View Full Version : Virgin media multiple issues!! Bit of a rant...
I'm starting to lose a bit of fondness for VM support and services now as it seems to be getting harder to get decent support...
I've had a few issues now:
Tivo
1) No reminders - different things said by different people at VM
2) cutting off start or end of programmes/films
3) Often can't select to record on SD, tends to offer only the HD channel
4) Can't play all shows on the suggestions anymore
5) I tried to record a film on Sunday through the TV Guide but got a 'technical glitch'. Turned out I had to select the region at the top but found that out after I missed the film.
Broadband
1) Seems to keep losing the connection during the night, have to reboot modem in the morning since going to an Ambit256
2) Tried several routers now (Linksys/D-Link/TP-Link) and have issues with them picking up DHCP WAN settings from modem after many reboots of modem and router. Sometimes they'll get them but then lose them again, the D-Link couldn't even pick them up.
Online service
1) I created a new account to access storage/print photos but it doesn't work and I can't delete it or do anything with it.
The forum is nowhere near as responsive for support as the newsgroups used to be. On the chance someone does respond it tends to suggest calling 150. The options to e-mail Virginmedia are no longer there on the site, all support links now direct you to calling 150. So online support has mostly gone now yet prices have gone up several times?!
Not only that, I tried calling 150, went through that annoying 'enter the 3rd character of your password' etc thing and each time I just heard nothing when selecting any support option, no hold music or recorded message, just silence?
So I tried 151 and got the same...
Then called 150 and went through to the 'leaving Virginmedia' team as it seemed to be about the only option that worked. Having got quite frustrated at that point I had a lengthy moan at the poor guy that answered. He spoke to tech support who apparently told him my issues were because I wasn't using a VM wireless router. So he said he'd get one sent out for me but I'd commence a new 12 month contract as a result.
He then put me through to tech support as there was no queue (maybe no-one could get through as the phones weren't working!?)
The girl in tech support checked the modem, said it was fine then all the usual stuff - plug your computer directly in and it works fine - issue is with the router (of course!). So I need to now buy cables to run all around the house to connect all the computers to the one port on my modem - easy!
She also said that many people use their own routers and that VM only supply superhubs now, no routers anymore and the superhubs are about £60. She said the router I'd get was a Netgear, then told me it was a D-Link DRS615 which was the same as the one I already have that didn't work with the modem (couple of quid off ebay)!
Then it got interesting - she checked with colleagues and confirmed what my problem was...
My devices in my house have static IP addresses so DHCP for the LAN on my router is disabled so in effect that means issues with the DHCP that is enabled for the WAN port on the router to pick up an IP address from the modem...?!
So if I change all the devices in my house to dynamic addresses my modem will work fine...
Then she told me what might also be causing the problem, I should go into 'All Programs' then remove any other routers showing in there...
How come I never get through to the techy VM guys that post on these forums? Do you guys work in the really techy areas like 2nd/3rd line or something?
Rant over... :)
General Maximus
19-07-2011, 18:25
it doesnt work like that dude. Your router will always look for an ip address no matter whether dhcp is enabled or not. It is called "dynamic HOST configuration protocol" for a reason (as in to do with hosts). All you are doing with dhcp if it was enabled is specificing a pool of class C ip addresses and doing PAT translation from your 1 outside ip address to however many inside ip addresses you are using. The fact that you have tried multiple routers and have the same problem make me think it is the modem that is at fault. Your router will drop it's settings if it senses the WAN connection has gone (to the modem) and will look for new settings. I can only assume this is happening if your modem keeps dropping it's connection. Have you had a look at your error logs?
it doesnt work like that dude. Your router will always look for an ip address no matter whether dhcp is enabled or not. It is called "dynamic HOST configuration protocol" for a reason (as in to do with hosts). All you are doing with dhcp if it was enabled is specificing a pool of class C ip addresses and doing PAT translation from your 1 outside ip address to however many inside ip addresses you are using. The fact that you have tried multiple routers and have the same problem make me think it is the modem that is at fault. Your router will drop it's settings if it senses the WAN connection has gone (to the modem) and will look for new settings. I can only assume this is happening if your modem keeps dropping it's connection. Have you had a look at your error logs?
Thanks for the info General Maximus, the DLink router wouldn't pick up the WAN config from the modem at all, I rebooted the modem then the router a number of times. The TP-Link would either show 0.0.0.0 and when I clicked on the button to Renew the IP address from the modem through the web interface it would just hang and never pick up the IP address from it. Sometimes it might pick up the IP config from the modem but then you couldn't get on the internet and when checking it had gone back to 0.0.0.0 again and I had to reboot the modem again, then the router...
I recall you used to have to enter the Mac address of the router on VM selfcare years back, I'm assuming now there shouldn't be any problems swapping routers connected to the modem, any router should be able to pick up the WAN config from the modem shouldn't it?
I've posted the modem error log below, doesn't really mean much to me:
First Time Last Time Priority Description
Tue Jul 19 17:47:41 2011 Tue Jul 19 17:47:41 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 17:47:41 2011 Tue Jul 19 17:47:41 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 17:26:57 2011 Tue Jul 19 17:26:57 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 17:26:57 2011 Tue Jul 19 17:26:57 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 17:18:29 2011 Tue Jul 19 17:18:29 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 17:18:29 2011 Tue Jul 19 17:18:29 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:51:01 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:51:01 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:51:01 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:51:01 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:50:00 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:50:00 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:50:00 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:50:00 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:49:51 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:49:51 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:49:51 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:49:51 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:49:22 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:49:22 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:49:22 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:49:22 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:49:20 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:49:20 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:49:20 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:49:20 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:43:11 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:43:11 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:43:11 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:43:11 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:34:48 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:34:48 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:34:48 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:34:48 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:16:06 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:16:06 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:16:06 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:16:06 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:16:04 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:16:04 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:16:04 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:16:04 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:15:59 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:15:59 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ...
Tue Jul 19 16:15:59 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:15:59 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started
Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Information (7) The s/w filename specified in the config file is the same as ...
Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Information (7) A software upgrade filename was specified in the config file.
Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Information (7) Authorized
Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Information (7) Registration complete!
Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Information (7) We registered with a DOCSIS 1.1 config file!
Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Tue Jul 19 16:13:28 2011 Information (7) Received a REG-RSP message from the CMTS...
wow .. that's pretty crap .. I even lol'd at her advice ..
I'd be 4th line I guess .. if you count the steps between me and customers ?
I'm no network bod, but the modem takes the MAC of the device its connected to and use that to assign the IP, if you connect another device without re-booting the modem, it would allocate an IP. The Addresses are added to the host table, which has a limit of 3 or 4 over a certain time .. this could be the issue ?
Personally, I would replace the modem as the first point of call, based off the back of this happening for multiple devices ..
General Maximus
19-07-2011, 20:02
i have had a read around your error logs and you defo need a new modem dude
Cheers both, how can I get them to replace the modem if they believe it's ok though? I work in IT support myself and confess there are always moments when a reboot is all that the person needs if you don't feel like sorting the issue but surely deleting routers out of all programs is a bit odd. At that point I kind of lost faith in her technical knowledge and said thanks and bye. I'm hoping they might do a postal swap as I don't really fancy losing more annual leave to see an engineer.
Cheers both, how can I get them to replace the modem if they believe it's ok though? I work in IT support myself and confess there are always moments when a reboot is all that the person needs if you don't feel like sorting the issue but surely deleting routers out of all programs is a bit odd. At that point I kind of lost faith in her technical knowledge and said thanks and bye. I'm hoping they might do a postal swap as I don't really fancy losing more annual leave to see an engineer.
Routers don't show in all programs .. they might show in the network pages..
Unless you actually installed some kinda router software?
Just as funny as when I went into a VM store to check out Tivo and there was one on display with a big red sticker next to it saying 'try me'. No remote so used the buttons, went into a menu and the lady there said I'm not supposed to touch it and I had messed it up so she had to reboot it! She didn't answer when I asked her why it said try me! Am I misunderstanding something?! :)
Just as funny as when I went into a VM store to check out Tivo and there was one on display with a big red sticker next to it saying 'try me'. No remote so used the buttons, went into a menu and the lady there said I'm not supposed to touch it and I had messed it up so she had to reboot it! She didn't answer when I asked her why it said try me! Am I misunderstanding something?! :)
lol .. if you can mess it up by touching it, its not much good :D
Indeed :) I sensed confusion when i mentioned remembered wireless networks.Routers don't show in all programs .. they might show in the network pages..
Unless you actually installed some kinda router software?
General Maximus
19-07-2011, 21:37
if you are using 3rd party software for your wireless NIC I could see why you might want to delete/refresh you saved settings so it looks for new SSIDs scans the channels and pulls a new ip but if your router is half decent it shouldn't have anything showing in your add/remove progs hopefully
if you are using 3rd party software for your wireless NIC I could see why you might want to delete/refresh you saved settings so it looks for new SSIDs scans the channels and pulls a new ip but if your router is half decent it shouldn't have anything showing in your add/remove progs hopefully
Thanks General Maximus, thankfully it's one where you could install the drivers without having to install a utility, it just uses xp wireless config. I always tend to configure things like routers using a LAN cable and their web gui to save unneeded apps on my laptop. I find the to-link web interface a bit flakey though. Tends to often say the connection was reset.
Here's the latest event log from my modem after it was rebooted again this afternoon from the internet running really slow. By the way, the pages on this forum have been really slow to load today and yesterday, I have to keep refreshing to see the whole page, it loads half of it and sticks - my VM connection?
First Time Last Time Priority Description Wed Jul 20 15:32:31 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:32:31 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ... Wed Jul 20 15:32:31 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:32:31 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started Wed Jul 20 15:32:27 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:32:27 2011 Information (7) Map Reject - Downstream Traffic Flow Not Mapped to BPI+ SAID ... Wed Jul 20 15:32:27 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:32:27 2011 Information (7) SA Map State Machine Started Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Information (7) The s/w filename specified in the config file is the same as ... Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Information (7) A software upgrade filename was specified in the config file. Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Information (7) Authorized Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Information (7) Registration complete! Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Information (7) We registered with a DOCSIS 1.1 config file! Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Information (7) Received a REG-RSP message from the CMTS... Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Information (7) Sending a REG-REQ to the CMTS... Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:10 2011 Information (7) CableModem SNMP configure complete Wed Jul 20 15:20:09 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:09 2011 Information (7) IP init completed ok Wed Jul 20 15:20:09 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:09 2011 Information (7) CableModem TFTP init ok Wed Jul 20 15:20:09 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:09 2011 Information (7) CableModem DHCP client init ok Wed Jul 20 15:20:09 2011 Wed Jul 20 15:20:09 2011 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response. Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received Time Not Established Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received Time Not Established Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received Time Not Established Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received Time Not Established Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received Time Not Established Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Downstream sync ok Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Beginning initial ranging... Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) downstream time sync acquired... Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Downstream sync ok Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) starting ds time sync acquisition...
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