Thanks, Karl. This makes sense. Why didn't I think of that! We have inadequate elex here which dips & dims lights frequently. Had sudden power outages a few times, including one very recently. I am not piping the modem logs anywhere; only check this if I notice an obvious problem. Results: Non available. Case (Motorola SB 6120) has only 2 screws, hex, 2 different sizes. No problem. Backplate then comes off & that's it. Nothing else to undo except whet seem to be clips, but we have no prybar tiny & thin enough to pry up these clip things. Case appears uncrackable, execpt maybe by dropping it from an airplane onto solid concrete. However. If it's only the power supply, I could test this by simply replacing the wall wart with an equivalent one from anywhere. Then I'd have to get the ISP to reprovision it, then watch to see if it worked any better after that. I do have an update from Ch4rter business office, which is relevant to my original beef with this ISP. Yesterday afternoon, I followed up by calling the business office, to ask why they changed their policy on what networking components their customers can or cannot own and administer themselves. The last person I spoke with said I am "grandfathered-in" to be allowed to own & run my own modem, since my account was opened before July, 2012 when the new poilcy was instituted (I'm a customer since there was something other than dial-up). Biz office says these techs who came to see me Thursday simply had "inadequate training" or "incorrect information" from their own supervisors. Both techs did look not older than about 3 days over 19. For the trouble call, I was promised a sup-tech & maybe one of these was, but only sup-ing the second guy how to open cardboard boxes of modems, smile at geekly grannies, & maybe how to drive the van. This modem is not in warranty & no longer manufactured (mine 2+ years old). But Motorola tech support confirmed that any old power supply 12V, 0.76A would run it. I'll borrow a power supply from somewhere, then try this thing one more time here before Responsibly Disposing of it by donating to a worthy friend's parts bin. Thanks very much, Liz J On 21 September 2012 21:52, Karl Lind <electrolind@gmail.com> wrote:

Sounds more like the power supply is taking it's time to die. As the power level dips thats where your errors/reboots are popping up. Easiest thing to verify is 1.) Turn off the modem and unplug. 2.) Remove case and inspect the board. 3.) If the board's solder connections look like there are not good connections ANYWHERE on the board then you probably have a bad solder issue, if the solder looks good, it's probably a power supply on the board problem which is a chip. 4.) Post results

Karl Lind

On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 12:00 PM, <wlug-request@mail.wlug.org> wrote:

...

Send Wlug mailing list submissions to wlug@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@mail.wlug.org

You can reach the person managing the list at wlug-owner@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. Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab? (E Johnson) 2. Re: Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab? (E Johnson)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1 Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:11:17 -0400 From: E Johnson <iris.gates@gmail.com> Subject: [Wlug] Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab? To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug@mail.wlug.org> Message-ID: < CABmZTj0aYBHVUR83fPcMBxxpu6-YhfoPDo5G9wB1pdBAAQWwHA@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Umm. Non-happy camper. ISP things have changed here, without me being informed. Recently (2 days ago) my modem started rebooting every little while. Zillions of T3 & T4 timouts in the modem log, Signal lavels were perfect when it was online. I own this thing, a Motorola SB6120 purchased late June 2010. It has not been abused.

I am in Woosta & we all know the ISP available here. 2 techs showed up mid-morning, to diagnose and fix this issue. One guy stood there watching; the other guy "did stuff." They checked the signal levels on incoming line from the box connected to the pole our back, and declared my moden Dying. They talked to each other (not me) & seemed to think I was Granny-in-a-Box, until they let me say more than one sentence.

These guys also confessed that since July 202, Ch4rter does not "allow" customers to own/run their own modems. Their consolation prize is that they don't charge modem rental fees any more. (it's not on the bill, anyway, FWIW). They mumbled some other mumbo jumbo and fled 5 seconds after they learned I have my own router too, & didn't care if the modem and router were yet in communication. They just said "better reboot" and they "no longer" service "wireless" --which I am not running except when certain visitors appear. I think they meant they don't diagnose routers, which has always been the policy, and which is fine. Internal LAN issues aren't their problem.

So now I have a modem which may or may not be sick, but no way to test it to make sure. Is there anyone here who can take a look at this thing & test to see if it's Really Dying, or if Ch4rter deaded it with their latest firmware revision of their firmware & policy change in July 2012?

An interesting meeting theme sometime might be how to get the Verizon FIOS in Worcester. Several years ago I watched Verizon trucks & Verizon moles installing their fiber optics in manholes all over town. Ch4rter is running on Verizon's infrastructure. Ch4rter internet has been working better since then, but we're still locked out of the option to use verizon. Is this a topic of interest to anyone? If so, I'll lead the discussion and even buy the Pizz4. To me, this is a Large Pizza problem.

Another interesting but probably futile discussion might center around why we have suddenly been deprived of the ability to watch the behavior and effectiveness of our modems, which serve internet coming from our ISP.. I was not informed of this -- was anyone who is just a 'regular' customer?

Meanwhile, if anyone has a test lab or whatever, where they can test my declared-dead modem, please let me know. Otherwise it's probably a giveaway, or another piece of Landfill Fodder. I can bring to a meeting & can wait for results.

Thanks & happy pizzaz, Liz J -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.wlug.org/pipermail/wlug/attachments/20120920/8789bb41/attachment...

------------------------------

Message: 2 Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:31:59 -0400 From: E Johnson <iris.gates@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Wlug] Test needed on declared-ill Modem. Who has a lab? To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug@mail.wlug.org> Message-ID: < CABmZTj3Ghp2GHUiWHtGtbBN5NVo0HQKzkrWcvxNngP5_q2hcGQ@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

PS: This evening, Ch4rter Billing has deleted the upcoming service charge for this morning's tech call. Amazing how it took 2 guys to check line levels, then hang one moden where my other modem was, + plug in one coax & one wall wart , then make 30-sec call to the office to get their repacement modem provisioned & watch for blinking green lights. 2 guys. If this happens to you (they discontinued your router & required you to use theirs), don't eat the bill. it does work fine, FWIW, but not impressed. --EJ

On 20 September 2012 19:11, E Johnson <iris.gates@gmail.com> wrote:

...

Umm. Non-happy camper. ISP things have changed here, without me being informed. Recently (2 days ago) my modem started rebooting every little while. Zillions of T3 & T4 timouts in the modem log, Signal lavels were perfect when it was online. I own this thing, a Motorola SB6120 purchased late June 2010. It has not been abused.

I am in Woosta & we all know the ISP available here. 2 techs showed up mid-morning, to diagnose and fix this issue. One guy stood there watching; the other guy "did stuff." They checked the signal levels on incoming line from the box connected to the pole our back, and declared my moden Dying. They talked to each other (not me) & seemed to think I was Granny-in-a-Box, until they let me say more than one sentence.

These guys also confessed that since July 202, Ch4rter does not "allow" customers to own/run their own modems. Their consolation prize is that they don't charge modem rental fees any more. (it's not on the bill, anyway, FWIW). They mumbled some other mumbo jumbo and fled 5 seconds after they learned I have my own router too, & didn't care if the modem and router were yet in communication. They just said "better reboot" and they "no longer" service "wireless" --which I am not running except when certain visitors appear. I think they meant they don't diagnose routers, which has always been the policy, and which is fine. Internal LAN issues aren't their problem.

So now I have a modem which may or may not be sick, but no way to test it to make sure. Is there anyone here who can take a look at this thing & test to see if it's Really Dying, or if Ch4rter deaded it with their latest firmware revision of their firmware & policy change in July 2012?

An interesting meeting theme sometime might be how to get the Verizon FIOS in Worcester. Several years ago I watched Verizon trucks & Verizon moles installing their fiber optics in manholes all over town. Ch4rter is running on Verizon's infrastructure. Ch4rter internet has been working better since then, but we're still locked out of the option to use verizon. Is this a topic of interest to anyone? If so, I'll lead the discussion and even buy the Pizz4. To me, this is a Large Pizza problem.

Another interesting but probably futile discussion might center around why we have suddenly been deprived of the ability to watch the behavior and effectiveness of our modems, which serve internet coming from our ISP.. I was not informed of this -- was anyone who is just a 'regular' customer?

Meanwhile, if anyone has a test lab or whatever, where they can test my declared-dead modem, please let me know. Otherwise it's probably a giveaway, or another piece of Landfill Fodder. I can bring to a meeting & can wait for results.

Thanks & happy pizzaz, Liz J

-------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.wlug.org/pipermail/wlug/attachments/20120920/8a927db4/attachment...

------------------------------

_______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

End of Wlug Digest, Vol 107, Issue 5 ************************************

_______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug