WLUG
By thread
wlug@lists.wlug.org
By month
Messages by month
- ----- 2026 -----
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2025 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2024 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2023 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2022 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2021 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2020 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2019 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2018 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2017 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2016 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2015 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2014 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2013 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2012 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2011 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2010 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2009 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2008 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2007 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2006 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2005 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2004 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2003 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2002 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2001 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- ----- 2000 -----
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- 2 participants
- 11230 messages
I presume we're meeting the 10th of Oct?
by Tim Keller
Hey Gang!
I presume we're having a meeting on the 10th? Does anybody have a
topic/idea?
Thanks,
Tim.
--
I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their
constituents as "consumers".
Oct. 4, 2012
Re: [Wlug] Wlug Digest, Vol 107, Issue 13
by Karl Lind
Hi Brett,
First off, CMOS checksum errors during boot refer to MEMORY not the BIOS.
Also almost all your symptoms point to a possible memory issue. Do Chuck's
stuff to verify that you don't have a power drain that's causing a memory
issue. Get a Memory Test utility and find out which DIMM is causing the
problem. Carefully remove the DIMM and using a #2 pencil eraser, clean the
contacts and replace the DIMM (The rubber removes oxidation that prevents
contact) and don't forget to keep grounded! (You, not the DIMM).
Cheers
Karl
On Sun, Sep 30, 2012 at 12:00 PM, <wlug-request(a)mail.wlug.org> wrote:
> Send Wlug mailing list submissions to
> wlug(a)mail.wlug.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> wlug-request(a)mail.wlug.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> wlug-owner(a)mail.wlug.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Wlug digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. help diagnosing PC issue: suspect power supply (Brett Russ)
> 2. Re: help diagnosing PC issue: suspect power supply
> (Chuck Anderson)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2012 14:32:05 -0400
> From: Brett Russ <bruss(a)alum.wpi.edu>
> Subject: [Wlug] help diagnosing PC issue: suspect power supply
> To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org>
> Message-ID:
> <CAGcHgFNRd2jLrywD977a0jZChqEREnNBt529abY0=
> fh2OU5FAA(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to diagnose a home built PC running fine since 2007 but lately
> starting to act odd. Here are the system specs:
> Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz cpu
> Asus P5B Deluxe mobo
> Nvidia 7900GS graphics card
> Kingston KHX6400 2x1GB DDR2 memory
> Sparkle ATX 400W power supply
> 3x 1TB SATA HDDs
> 1x SATA DVD-RW
>
> $ uname -a
> Linux spider 3.0.0-25-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Mon Aug 13 17:58:59 UTC 2012
> x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>
> $ cat /etc/*release
> DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
> DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
> DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
> DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"
>
> $ uname -a
> Linux spider 3.0.0-25-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Mon Aug 13 17:58:59 UTC 2012
> x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>
>
> What recently changed:
>
> i) replaced monitor, last one died
>
> ii) (carefully) vacuumed the dust from inside. Kept hand on case chassis,
> didn't touch any PCB/chips, etc.
>
>
> Here are the symptoms:
>
> 1) first started seeing BIOS claims of bad CMOS checksum at boot time.
> Immediately suspected the CMOS battery, replaced it and reset CMOS settings
> but I continue to see this. This is the one symptom that I can't yet
> place, unless it's simply a bad replacement battery.
>
> 2) next started seeing the monitor fail to wake up after entering power
> save
>
> 3) powering on the PC shows issues:
>
> 3a) often the monitor won't wake at boot
>
> 3b) the bios often doesn't finish POST, gets stuck at splash screen
>
> 3c) bios settings often don't survive across power cycles (possibly related
> to #1--battery issue?)
>
> 3d) bios doesn't always give the affirmative beep (likely same symptom as
> 3a, 3b)
>
> 3e) a cold power on or reset can take several "tries" before the system
> stays on. I.e. fans will spin up, then spin down, one to three times
> before staying on. When this happens it's pretty much guaranteed that it
> won't boot successfully.
>
> 4) system will freeze to user input while up. I.e. once I get Linux
> booted, as long as I disable monitor power save it will stay running for a
> while, but I observed it stopped responding to KB and mouse input earlier
> this morning.
>
>
> Here's what I've tried:
>
> a) reseated both DIMMs, reproduced issues; tried with just one DIMM,
> repro'd; tried other DIMM, repro'd
>
> b) reseated graphics card, repro'd; removed graphics card (now headless),
> repro'd problem 3e
>
> c) reseated CMOS battery (CR2032), repro'd
>
> d) pulled all non-essential cables and internal connections, including
> power and SATA cables from all drives, repro'd
>
> e) updated BIOS to latest version, repro'd
>
>
> Unfortunately I don't have another ATX power supply to try, but was
> thinking of buying one. I might also try an old PCI video card, but I
> suspect due to repro (b) above that it's not the cause.
>
> Anyone have any other insights or agree it sounds like a bad PS? I still
> can't explain symptom (1), will probably buy another battery to be sure.
> Five years seems like an old PC, but I'm not a gamer so this suits me fine.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Brett
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL:
> http://mail.wlug.org/pipermail/wlug/attachments/20120929/8959d06a/attachmen…
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:19:47 -0400
> From: Chuck Anderson <cra(a)WPI.EDU>
> Subject: Re: [Wlug] help diagnosing PC issue: suspect power supply
> To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org>
> Message-ID: <20120929221947.GH12327(a)angus.ind.WPI.EDU>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> On Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 02:32:05PM -0400, Brett Russ wrote:
> > Sparkle ATX 400W power supply
> > Anyone have any other insights or agree it sounds like a bad PS? I still
> > can't explain symptom (1), will probably buy another battery to be sure.
> > Five years seems like an old PC, but I'm not a gamer so this suits me
> fine.
>
> I agree that the power supply is suspect. You can measure the voltage
> on a spare power supply hard drive connector, there should be 12v from
> black to yellow, and 5v from black to red. If that checks out, you
> should measure from the motherboard ATX connector as some of the other
> voltages may be out of spec. You can find the standard ATX pinouts
> and voltages online. Finally, you can test with the power supply
> completely disconnected from the PC. Again, you can find instructions
> online for how to do that, as it requires a jumper wire for the power
> supply to power on.
>
> Alternatively, it may be easier to just try a replacement.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wlug mailing list
> Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org
> http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
>
>
> End of Wlug Digest, Vol 107, Issue 13
> *************************************
>
Oct. 1, 2012
Re: [Wlug] help diagnosing PC issue: suspect power supply
by Brett Russ
Thanks Chuck,
On Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Chuck Anderson <cra(a)wpi.edu> wrote:
> I agree that the power supply is suspect. You can measure the voltage
> on a spare power supply hard drive connector, there should be 12v from
> black to yellow, and 5v from black to red. If that checks out, you
> should measure from the motherboard ATX connector as some of the other
> voltages may be out of spec. You can find the standard ATX pinouts
> and voltages online. Finally, you can test with the power supply
> completely disconnected from the PC. Again, you can find instructions
> online for how to do that, as it requires a jumper wire for the power
> supply to power on.
I suppose it's time to buy a multimeter...or borrow one from work.
> Alternatively, it may be easier to just try a replacement.
I have a new one on the way. I'll reply here with the results.
-BR
Oct. 1, 2012
Re: [Wlug] help diagnosing PC issue: suspect power supply
by Chuck Anderson
On Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 02:32:05PM -0400, Brett Russ wrote:
> Sparkle ATX 400W power supply
> Anyone have any other insights or agree it sounds like a bad PS? I still
> can't explain symptom (1), will probably buy another battery to be sure.
> Five years seems like an old PC, but I'm not a gamer so this suits me fine.
I agree that the power supply is suspect. You can measure the voltage
on a spare power supply hard drive connector, there should be 12v from
black to yellow, and 5v from black to red. If that checks out, you
should measure from the motherboard ATX connector as some of the other
voltages may be out of spec. You can find the standard ATX pinouts
and voltages online. Finally, you can test with the power supply
completely disconnected from the PC. Again, you can find instructions
online for how to do that, as it requires a jumper wire for the power
supply to power on.
Alternatively, it may be easier to just try a replacement.
Sept. 29, 2012
help diagnosing PC issue: suspect power supply
by Brett Russ
Hi,
I'm trying to diagnose a home built PC running fine since 2007 but lately
starting to act odd. Here are the system specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz cpu
Asus P5B Deluxe mobo
Nvidia 7900GS graphics card
Kingston KHX6400 2x1GB DDR2 memory
Sparkle ATX 400W power supply
3x 1TB SATA HDDs
1x SATA DVD-RW
$ uname -a
Linux spider 3.0.0-25-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Mon Aug 13 17:58:59 UTC 2012
x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ cat /etc/*release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"
$ uname -a
Linux spider 3.0.0-25-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Mon Aug 13 17:58:59 UTC 2012
x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
What recently changed:
i) replaced monitor, last one died
ii) (carefully) vacuumed the dust from inside. Kept hand on case chassis,
didn't touch any PCB/chips, etc.
Here are the symptoms:
1) first started seeing BIOS claims of bad CMOS checksum at boot time.
Immediately suspected the CMOS battery, replaced it and reset CMOS settings
but I continue to see this. This is the one symptom that I can't yet
place, unless it's simply a bad replacement battery.
2) next started seeing the monitor fail to wake up after entering power save
3) powering on the PC shows issues:
3a) often the monitor won't wake at boot
3b) the bios often doesn't finish POST, gets stuck at splash screen
3c) bios settings often don't survive across power cycles (possibly related
to #1--battery issue?)
3d) bios doesn't always give the affirmative beep (likely same symptom as
3a, 3b)
3e) a cold power on or reset can take several "tries" before the system
stays on. I.e. fans will spin up, then spin down, one to three times
before staying on. When this happens it's pretty much guaranteed that it
won't boot successfully.
4) system will freeze to user input while up. I.e. once I get Linux
booted, as long as I disable monitor power save it will stay running for a
while, but I observed it stopped responding to KB and mouse input earlier
this morning.
Here's what I've tried:
a) reseated both DIMMs, reproduced issues; tried with just one DIMM,
repro'd; tried other DIMM, repro'd
b) reseated graphics card, repro'd; removed graphics card (now headless),
repro'd problem 3e
c) reseated CMOS battery (CR2032), repro'd
d) pulled all non-essential cables and internal connections, including
power and SATA cables from all drives, repro'd
e) updated BIOS to latest version, repro'd
Unfortunately I don't have another ATX power supply to try, but was
thinking of buying one. I might also try an old PCI video card, but I
suspect due to repro (b) above that it's not the cause.
Anyone have any other insights or agree it sounds like a bad PS? I still
can't explain symptom (1), will probably buy another battery to be sure.
Five years seems like an old PC, but I'm not a gamer so this suits me fine.
Thanks,
Brett
Sept. 29, 2012
Re: [Wlug] Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab?
by John Stoffel
E> John, sorry to hear of the demise of your router. I have one of the
E> newer Netgear routers here, running TomatoUSB. Very nice. It took 4
E> hands to do the magical reset after installing the software. but
E> it's been solid after that.
Well I did manage to get it rebooted and upgraded to the latest
version of DD-WRT, but it's just sitting there waiting for me to get
it setup again. I'm probably going to move to Tomato instead of
DD-WRT, since I really want the ability to add internal hosts to my
internal DNS without having to screw around with DNSmasq
configurations all the time. I mostly do static IPs at home, except
for the phones and other mobile devices...
I just found that DD-WRT was sucky from a management perspective. But
I liked having dual radio router doing all the work, instead of two
seperate devices.
John
Sept. 28, 2012
Re: [Wlug] Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab?
by E Johnson
Oops, correction. I wrote:
> FYI on the SB6120: the price has dropped. There is free shipping on this
at the moment at newegg. Mine is on order. The SB6120 (previous model)
actually costs more now, where it's still available.
Make that > FYI on the SB6121... etc. & pardon the error.
The SB6120s still available "new" for purchase are leftover vendor stocks
of a no-longer manufactured model.
Lizs
On 27 September 2012 18:51, E Johnson <iris.gates(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Jeff, thanks for the input on the SB6121.
>
> John, sorry to hear of the demise of your router. I have one of the newer
> Netgear routers here, running TomatoUSB. Very nice. It took 4 hands to do
> the magical reset after installing the software. but it's been solid after
> that.
>
> Generally, service & line issues (Charter in town here):
> I immediately notice line issues (when they happen) because I use an
> internet telephone quite often. That's one reason I like to see the modem
> logs. T3 and T4 timeouts might not be noticed if one is surfing the web.
> People streaming video might see a momentary glitch, maybe. Gamers
> definitely notice issues in their lines. It's not the available
> upload/download speeds that make the difference, it's the ping times &
> momentary glitches that cause packts to arrive or leave out of order, or
> requests & replies having to be resubmitted. Those were problems I had to
> address with the Charter techs at two different addresses. Line issues at
> the last place took me 4 years to resolve. Charter was good to me (rebates
> when I could prove their end caused the problems), and the techs that came
> out were generally okay, but didn't always know what they were doing. A lot
> of them pretty much just know how to measure an incoming signal, and if
> necessary, put a ladder up the pole & measure there...
> and how to plug in a modem & call the office for registration &
> provisioning. Other, more experienced techs would sometimes look at
> printouts of traceroutes, and recognize where the glitch in the system is.
> I think these guys are being phased out. But the internet service is
> generally very good.
>
> I checked again with Charter. The 3 techs who told me I'm not "allowed" to
> own my own modem were wrong, or misinformed, or whatever. Totally Wrong.
> Charter's NEW customers are required to use only Charter equipment, but
> customers with established accounts (before July 2012) are allowed to own
> their own equipment. They of course warn us that we're expected to do our
> own maintanence. There is a risk in this -- if the firmware (worked out
> between Charter and Motorola) is buggy, we'd have to prove (again) that
> it's Them Not Us.
>
> I have struggled with the burden-of-proof issue off & on for 12 years now.
>
> So don't go on vacation, then open a new account at the new place where
> you recently moved. Just migrate your account to the new location. What a
> Catch-22, but until we have an alternative provider in town, it is what it
> is.
>
> FYI on the SB6120: the price has dropped. There is free shipping on this
> at the moment at newegg. Mine is on order. The SB6120 (previous model)
> actually costs more now, where it's still available.
>
> Thanks again, guys. Hope some of this helps someone else.
> Liz
>
Sept. 28, 2012
Re: [Wlug] Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab?
by E Johnson
Jeff, thanks for the input on the SB6121.
John, sorry to hear of the demise of your router. I have one of the newer
Netgear routers here, running TomatoUSB. Very nice. It took 4 hands to do
the magical reset after installing the software. but it's been solid after
that.
Generally, service & line issues (Charter in town here):
I immediately notice line issues (when they happen) because I use an
internet telephone quite often. That's one reason I like to see the modem
logs. T3 and T4 timeouts might not be noticed if one is surfing the web.
People streaming video might see a momentary glitch, maybe. Gamers
definitely notice issues in their lines. It's not the available
upload/download speeds that make the difference, it's the ping times &
momentary glitches that cause packts to arrive or leave out of order, or
requests & replies having to be resubmitted. Those were problems I had to
address with the Charter techs at two different addresses. Line issues at
the last place took me 4 years to resolve. Charter was good to me (rebates
when I could prove their end caused the problems), and the techs that came
out were generally okay, but didn't always know what they were doing. A lot
of them pretty much just know how to measure an incoming signal, and if
necessary, put a ladder up the pole & measure there...
and how to plug in a modem & call the office for registration &
provisioning. Other, more experienced techs would sometimes look at
printouts of traceroutes, and recognize where the glitch in the system is.
I think these guys are being phased out. But the internet service is
generally very good.
I checked again with Charter. The 3 techs who told me I'm not "allowed" to
own my own modem were wrong, or misinformed, or whatever. Totally Wrong.
Charter's NEW customers are required to use only Charter equipment, but
customers with established accounts (before July 2012) are allowed to own
their own equipment. They of course warn us that we're expected to do our
own maintanence. There is a risk in this -- if the firmware (worked out
between Charter and Motorola) is buggy, we'd have to prove (again) that
it's Them Not Us.
I have struggled with the burden-of-proof issue off & on for 12 years now.
So don't go on vacation, then open a new account at the new place where you
recently moved. Just migrate your account to the new location. What a
Catch-22, but until we have an alternative provider in town, it is what it
is.
FYI on the SB6120: the price has dropped. There is free shipping on this at
the moment at newegg. Mine is on order. The SB6120 (previous model)
actually costs more now, where it's still available.
Thanks again, guys. Hope some of this helps someone else.
Liz
Sept. 27, 2012
Re: [Wlug] Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab?
by John Stoffel
E> I don't know how much of the recent comments are directed to me, or
E> which were responding to Richard.
I was just chiming in with a general comment on Charter's tech
support, and how I was pleasently surprised how easy it was to get my
NAT router changed without having to talk to a tech at all.
E> This here:
>> Make sure that you update the MAC address with charter, and that
>> they actually update it. I've had a few problems where they
>> haven't even though they said they did.
E> Yes! That happened to me, and the modem had to be re-registered two or
E> three times. It depends on the tech you talk to. My modem was incorrectly
E> or incompletely registered here by the install tach on the day the service
E> was hooked up. The internet generally worked as it should anyway, but
E> during times when there were connectivity problems here (see below), in
E> phone calls to tech support, every once in a while the tech would tell me
E> "I" had the wrong MAC address, that I was running an unauthorized modem,
E> etc.. Then I would have to explain why that seemed to be, and they would
E> try again to get that corrected.
E> My history here:
E> Charter here needs a DOCSYS3-compliant modem. I was running a Motorola
E> SB6120, which worked fine for 27 months. This has several nice diagnostic
E> pages, accessed at 192.168.100.1, including logs which give details of any
E> exceptions and error messages.
E> Connectivity problems in summer of 2010 were caused by new lines (coax)
E> from the pole to the box. I was able to prove to the provider that the
E> intermittant problems were not in my setup, but outside. There were several
E> issues, which they gradually seemed to fix. One had to do with connectivity
E> interruptions on the days following a big rainstorm. The connectors in the
E> new lines (at the pole) had not been weatherproofed, which they did. Line
E> techs eventually checked and improved the weatherproofing throughout the
E> whole neighborhood.
E> Note that I have no other services (such as TV) which run on the incoming
E> line. Also note: I have no extra connectors in the coax running between the
E> box and my modem.
E> The sick modem I experienced here a few weeks ago may have simply been due
E> to a failing power supply (wall wart) running the modem. Somehow that had
E> never occurred to me. I could have tested that by replacing it with an
E> equivalent new power supply.
E> Meanwhile 2 Charter techs had diagnosed my modem as 'dying', shook their
E> heads when they learned it was 2+ years old, replaced it with one of
E> theirs, and left. This is a Cisco, which sounded reasonable to me. But
E> there is only one page available to customers, at 192.168.100.1 and this
E> only shows that the modem is connected, a few power levels, SNR, how many
E> channels are running. Further diagnostic pages can be accessed through a
E> password, but the usual logins and passwords don't work.
E> My ultimate solution is to get another modem which I will own and have
E> provisioned when I set it up. The one I'm planning to get is the Motorola
E> SB 6121, their replacement for the 6120, which they no longer manufacture.
E> A further note on the SB6120, in case anyone gets one on ebay or whatever:
E> These are very sensitive to incoming power levels. If the signal is too
E> "hot", such as 15 dBmV, they start throwing errors. These power levels seem
E> to vary according to temperature and humidity. Once I installed a 3db
E> attenuator pad between the incoming coax and my modem, the power levels
E> the modem experienced came down to 10 or 12 dBmV, which allowed the modem
E> to operate without interruption for many months at a time.
E> I haven't heard if the SB6121 has the same sensitivity to hot power levels
E> or not. I'm still reading reviews and forum posts about this unit. I can
E> report on it once I get one in here and running. It will be nice to be able
E> to see the diagnostics pages and service logs again.
E> Liz
E> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
E> _______________________________________________
E> Wlug mailing list
E> Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org
E> http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
Sept. 27, 2012
Re: [Wlug] Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab?
by jeffhemstreetï¼ yahoo.com
Just thought I'd chime in...
I have had Charter for 12+ years and only had a total of 3 outages that were more than a few hours. Dealing with customer support is usually a pain, but I try to get to a technical person by telling them I've already tried the steps as they go down their list.
I bought my AMBIT 60678EU modem in 2002 from Charter, and has been good (if not solid) for most of the last 10 years. Lately I could not get a single stream downloads of > 300KB/s (SCP, peer-to-peer, etc) but speedtest would show I had 10+Mbps available. I figured the DOCSIS 2.0 and the age of that modem could be a problem so I decided to upgraded last month to a SB6121 and get the 30Mbps service. I bought the SB6121 myself and called charter to activate it. Once we go the MAC correct, and reset the modem it was up and working. Only took about 15 minutes to get up and running... including the time to "reboot my PC" which was included in their instructions.
The new SB6121 has been rock solid for me and I get 4+MB/s downloads and reports of 30-45 Mbps from speedtest.
Charter does let you buy your own modem and activate it but you have to call in to tech support... I found Charter's instructions for "activating" a new modem bu the web page does not work around here.
Jeff
________________________________
From: E Johnson <iris.gates(a)gmail.com>
To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 10:36 AM
Subject: Re: [Wlug] Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab?
I don't know how much of the recent comments are directed to me, or which were responding to Richard.
This here:
> Make sure that you update the MAC address with charter, and that
> they actually update it. I've had a few problems where they
> haven't even though they said they did.
Yes! That happened to me, and the modem had to be re-registered two or three times. It depends on the tech you talk to. My modem was incorrectly or incompletely registered here by the install tach on the day the service was hooked up. The internet generally worked as it should anyway, but during times when there were connectivity problems here (see below), in phone calls to tech support, every once in a while the tech would tell me "I" had the wrong MAC address, that I was running an unauthorized modem, etc.. Then I would have to explain why that seemed to be, and they would try again to get that corrected.
My history here:
Charter here needs a DOCSYS3-compliant modem. I was running a Motorola SB6120, which worked fine for 27 months. This has several nice diagnostic pages, accessed at 192.168.100.1, including logs which give details of any exceptions and error messages.
Connectivity problems in summer of 2010 were caused by new lines (coax) from the pole to the box. I was able to prove to the provider that the intermittant problems were not in my setup, but outside. There were several issues, which they gradually seemed to fix. One had to do with connectivity interruptions on the days following a big rainstorm. The connectors in the new lines (at the pole) had not been weatherproofed, which they did. Line techs eventually checked and improved the weatherproofing throughout the whole neighborhood.
Note that I have no other services (such as TV) which run on the incoming line. Also note: I have no extra connectors in the coax running between the box and my modem.
The sick modem I experienced here a few weeks ago may have simply been due to a failing power supply (wall wart) running the modem. Somehow that had never occurred to me. I could have tested that by replacing it with an equivalent new power supply.
Meanwhile 2 Charter techs had diagnosed my modem as 'dying', shook their heads when they learned it was 2+ years old, replaced it with one of theirs, and left. This is a Cisco, which sounded reasonable to me. But there is only one page available to customers, at 192.168.100.1 and this only shows that the modem is connected, a few power levels, SNR, how many channels are running. Further diagnostic pages can be accessed through a password, but the usual logins and passwords don't work.
My ultimate solution is to get another modem which I will own and have provisioned when I set it up. The one I'm planning to get is the Motorola SB 6121, their replacement for the 6120, which they no longer manufacture.
A further note on the SB6120, in case anyone gets one on ebay or whatever:
These are very sensitive to incoming power levels. If the signal is too "hot", such as 15 dBmV, they start throwing errors. These power levels seem to vary according to temperature and humidity. Once I installed a 3db attenuator pad between the incoming coax and my modem, the power levels the modem experienced came down to 10 or 12 dBmV, which allowed the modem to operate without interruption for many months at a time.
I haven't heard if the SB6121 has the same sensitivity to hot power levels or not. I'm still reading reviews and forum posts about this unit. I can report on it once I get one in here and running. It will be nice to be able to see the diagnostics pages and service logs again.
Liz
_______________________________________________
Wlug mailing list
Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org
http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
Sept. 27, 2012