Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

Hi, I've been playing WoW tonight and my modem's stopped working 4 times. I've cycled the power to bring it back every time. When it happens I can't access 192.168.100.1. I live in the Staffordshire area (ST17), using an NTL: 250 modem. Here's my log just in case.

First Time Last Time Priority Description
Sat Aug 21 03:11:42 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:42 2010 Information (7) The s/w filename specified in the config file is the same as ...
Sat Aug 21 03:11:42 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:42 2010 Information (7) A software upgrade filename was specified in the config file.
Sat Aug 21 03:11:42 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:42 2010 Information (7) Authorized
Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Information (7) Registration complete!
Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Information (7) We registered with a DOCSIS 1.1 config file!
Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Information (7) Received a REG-RSP message from the CMTS...
Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Information (7) Sending a REG-REQ to the CMTS...
Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Information (7) CableModem SNMP configure complete
Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Information (7) IP init completed ok
Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:11:41 2010 Information (7) CableModem TFTP init ok
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) CableModem DHCP client init ok
Time Not Established Time Not Established 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 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...
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Locked on the downstream. Waiting for UCDs...
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Downstream lock ok
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Sync Start
Sat Aug 21 03:09:03 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:09:03 2010 Critical (3) Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
Sat Aug 21 03:09:03 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:09:03 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Aug 21 03:08:53 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:08:53 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Aug 21 03:08:52 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:08:52 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Aug 21 03:08:49 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:08:49 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Aug 21 03:08:44 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:08:44 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Aug 21 03:08:37 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:08:37 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Aug 21 03:08:28 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:08:28 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Aug 21 03:08:16 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:08:16 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Aug 21 03:08:10 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:08:10 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Aug 21 03:08:01 2010 Sat Aug 21 03:08:01 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

I phoned up technical support and they're going to send a new modem. I've managed to get back on after the guy on the phone told me the modem is "corrupted", somehow Windows assigned an IP address other than 192.168.100.10 which was originally what DHCP was setting, this seems to allow me to connect to the internet at least temporarily.

---------- Post added at 10:15 ---------- Previous post was at 09:19 ----------

Out of curiosity, and I meant to ask the technical support guy this, does anyone know what a standard IP address issued by NTL is supposed to look like?

Also, any idea whether I'll get a newer model of modem? I asked him that and he wasn't privy to such information apparently. The 250's must be quite old by now, I remember the big grey boxes from seeing my friends, so obviously they do do revisions but I wonder at what frequency.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

A Virginmedia IP would be in the 62,77,81,82,86,92,195 and 213 ranges the IP you have quoted is likey from your router and is not a public IP so it sounds like you have been given duff information.

You will receive either an Ambit 256 or a Cisco EPC2100 modem and you will need to ring up to get it added to your account and activated.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

The 192.168.100.10 address is what Windows was using, I'm not sure how to word it correctly but it was what the modem was telling the Windows machine to use via DHCP I guess. I was looking at it from the network adapter status.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

The modem would take your MAC address and send it to Virginmedia's servers where it would be given a IP address in the range I posted above so the modem cannot give you that IP address as it is not a Virginmedia IP address it one that would be given via a router on the LAN side.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

The modem was plugged directly into the machine.

As far as technical support were concerned the fact it was being assigned this incorrect IP address was reason enough to regard the modem as defective and issue a new one.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

I would say that he was talking through his behind as I have never come across a modem dong such a thing as the modem receives the IP from Virginmedia which would never be in the 192 range.

You can believe what that agent told you but he was quite wrong.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

It was me who was telling him what the IP was not vice versa, I was only looking at the network adapter status while it was set to DHCP with the modem being plugged directly into the machine.

Basically at regular intervals the modem will stop working, the ready light will start flashing and if I check either my network adapter status or my router (when it's connected) I can see the modem's for some reason started using 192.168.100.10.

When it works it's using a conventional address beginning with 82 like you said.

// For the sake of science I'm going to post the event log of the modem, I obviously have no idea what significance any of it has.

First Time Last Time Priority Description
Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Information (7) The s/w filename specified in the config file is the same as ...
Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Information (7) A software upgrade filename was specified in the config file.
Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Information (7) Authorized
Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Information (7) Registration complete!
Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Information (7) We registered with a DOCSIS 1.1 config file!
Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Information (7) Received a REG-RSP message from the CMTS...
Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Information (7) Sending a REG-REQ to the CMTS...
Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:40 2010 Information (7) CableModem SNMP configure complete
Sun Aug 22 14:33:39 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:39 2010 Information (7) IP init completed ok
Sun Aug 22 14:33:39 2010 Sun Aug 22 14:33:39 2010 Information (7) CableModem TFTP init ok
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) CableModem DHCP client init ok
Time Not Established Time Not Established 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 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...
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Locked on the downstream. Waiting for UCDs...
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Downstream lock ok
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Sync Start
Sun Aug 22 12:35:45 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:35:45 2010 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Sun Aug 22 12:34:29 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:34:29 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Sun Aug 22 12:34:26 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:34:26 2010 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Sun Aug 22 12:34:12 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:34:12 2010 Critical (3) SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC f...
Sun Aug 22 12:33:57 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:33:57 2010 Critical (3) SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/Q...
Sun Aug 22 12:32:35 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:32:35 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sun Aug 22 12:32:29 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:32:29 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sun Aug 22 12:32:27 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:32:27 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sun Aug 22 12:32:22 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:32:22 2010 Critical (3) Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
Sun Aug 22 12:32:22 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:32:22 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sun Aug 22 12:32:21 2010 Sun Aug 22 12:32:21 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

The modem always responds to 192.168.100.1 (for diagnostics etc.) so it's not impossible that it uses 192.168.100.10 if it can't get an IP from the local DHCP server. Bit surprised though.

Best to get a virgin engineer to look at it.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

It is more likely to be a static IP for a router as the modem has no inbuilt DHCP server unlike a router.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

Yes it does - disconnect modem from coax and release/renew your IP to confirm.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

You been on holiday Igni?????

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

Nope.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

Ain't seen you post for a while (at least in this section)

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

If I receive the new modem and problem occurs again, indicating a line fault, what should I do then? If I were to phone up again and get someone abroad, what should I say to them?

The modem seems to be working fine now by the way.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

As stated by a VM staff member elsewhere. If you still have problems when you ring in select the "thinking of leaving us " option and complain.

Apparently you will be put through to Liverpool 1st line support with 2nd line available if neccessary.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

But not as advised by the agent with a 192.168.100.10 more likely to be the pc and poor advice from the agent as that sounds more like a static IP.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

192.168.100.10 is an IP address assigned by the router.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

Would it help if I took a physical picture of only the modem being plugged in and my network adapter status on-screen :D.

I can take you through the steps I took, as instructed by the agent.

1) Turn off machine, disconnect and power off modem, disconnect router
2) Turn on machine, wait 30 seconds
3) Connect and power on modem, plug in ethernet cable (note: coaxial cable is unplugged), power on modem
4) Check network adapter status (shame I have to reiterate this but Windows was set to DHCP), tell agent IP address (192.168.100.10), agent issues replacement modem

Now, even when the coaxial cable was connected, the ready light would start flashing and sure enough it'd started using 192.168.100.10 again. Cycling the power would not immediately rectify this, indeed I waited over an hour and it hadn't fixed itself, only after I had been out for the entire day and come back was it working again. And it's been fine ever since I got back.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

If you are getting a new modem then the fault should go away, if not then it is not the modem.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

You may wish to read this for future reference

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d....mspx?mfr=true

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

Are you suggesting I should've done a /renew or /release? Are you saying after the machine had been switched off and back on it was retaining IP information that it was previously automatically assigned?

// When using my router, there's an option to renew or release the DHCP lease within the DD-WRT control panel, which I was using frequently, if that means anything to you. I'm familiar with ipconfig, however I rarely if ever use those parameters.

// When using my router I use a static IP of 192.168.1.100, when I plugged in the modem directly I set Windows to use auto configuration, which I may've been incorrectly referring to as DHCP in the Windows sense.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

When did the agent order the modem as it should be with you in a couple of days on average.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

Saturday morning, 08:00, guy said it'd be 3-5 working days which I thought was a bit rough but whatever the internet's working at the moment. Incidentally I was on the phone for 50 minutes, but it was an unconventional time to be calling.

Is a newer modem likely to be slower or faster? I was getting paranoid over whether they employ new methods of throttling on the modems themselves or something wacky like that.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

If it has been ordered it should arrive shortly and you will need to call in and give them the HFC MAC address for it to be added to your account.

You should receive either an Ambit 256v2 or a Cisco EPC2100 modem which are both 20Mb capable, any throttling is only as per the normal times and nothing to do with the modem firmware.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

Do you think my modem may have started succumbing to heat? I can't help but notice it gets incredibly hot and it is over 2 years old. Thanks for your help regarding my paranoid speculations.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

As you are getting a replacement you should have nothing to worry about.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

/renew [Adapter] : Renews DHCP configuration for all adapters (if an adapter is not specified) or for a specific adapter if the Adapter parameter is included. This parameter is available only on computers with adapters that are configured to obtain an IP address automatically. To specify an adapter name, type the adapter name that appears when you use ipconfig without parameters.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

The replacement modem arrived, it's a 256, almost identical to the one I'm using currently. There are no instructions pertaining to having to activate it or call them up so one would assume you don't have to.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

As I said above you need to call up and give them the HFC MAC address of the bottom in order to add the modem to your account and activate it.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

I've called them and they've added the MAC address to the account, thanks for letting me know about that Masque, one does wonder why VM don't tell you in a conventional manner down the phone etc.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

I always tell customers exactly what they need to do when they receive a new modem.
;)
I told you twice in this thread and on the same page.:confused:

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

Conventional manner, how is a person that hasn't visited these boards supposed to know.

Re: Modem stopped responding 4 times tonight playing WoW
 

They are supposed to be told by the agent but failing that the should be a sheet of paper telling you to ring in for the modem to be activated.

If the is nothing then you would then ring in saying the modem is faulty at which point it details would be added to your account and activated.