Modem stick in pre-activation state

nuy · 09-09-2008, 16:49

Hi guys, hoping someone might be able to assist with this one, it's extremely weird.

Whenever I try to navigate to any webpage using my VM cable connection, I get redirected to the VM broadband activation page. I've been on to VM several times and had to do all the usual checks (unplugging modem, router etc.). Also, mail, MSN, Usenet are no longer working. Bizarrely though, my XBox 360 can still connect fine to Live.

List of events:

Around 4am (!) I lost connectivity and the Sync light on the modem started flashing, as did the online box on the V+ box, but I was still receiving TV signal.

10 minutes later the modem picked up sync again and I started getting the broadband activation page. Usenet was still working.

Thinking there might be a glitch, I completed the broadband registration wizard (with hindsight I probably shouldn't have...) and it all seemed normal up to the point at which it says it's going to reboot the modem. It didn't, and then asked me to. Did so, and got the same activation wizard again on trying to go to Google.

I then called VM tech support to be told (eventually) that I should leave it 4+ hours and then reboot the modem.

Around 1pm (after I got up

) I rebooted the modem, and again still got the activation site after doing so. Another call to VM had me doing the same tests I had earlier, and was told the problem was going to be escalated but it might take up to 5 days to fix. I found this unacceptable and phoned through to customer services to try and get it expedited, but no go.

As things stand at the minute, DNS isn't working as everything resolves to 194.168.4.37 as detailed below:

Code:

C:\Documents and Settings\Shaun>nslookup google.com
Server:
Address:  10.0.0.1

Name:    google.com
Address:  194.168.4.37


C:\Documents and Settings\Shaun>nslookup microsoft.com
Server:
Address:  10.0.0.1

Name:    microsoft.com
Address:  194.168.4.37


C:\Documents and Settings\Shaun>nslookup cableforum.org
Server:
Address:  10.0.0.1

Name:    cableforum.org
Address:  194.168.4.37

The modem also appears to have had the line speed regraded; downstream is showing at 10mb and upstream is showing at 64k (I'm on the XL package which should be 20mb down and 768k up). Also, in the event log, the modem states that it downloaded a config file and failed to perform the upgrade - the filename changes randomly each time I reboot the modem.

Nothing on the PC is working at all now (I'm connecting through T-Mobile at the mo...) yet XBox Live is working okay, which I find most odd. I've factory reset my router several times, and rebooted the modem more times

I'm at a loss. Anyone able to assist?

I wasn't sure which info would be required from the modem (which is one of the black VM ones, similar in style to the old NTL blue one) so I've documented everything below:

Modem info:

Code:

Status

Item  	 			Status  	Comments
Acquire a Downstream Channel 	586750000 Hz 	Locked
Connectivity State 		OK 		Operational
Boot State 			OK 		Operational


Downstream

Downstream Lock : 		Locked
Downstream Channel Id :	 	3
Downstream Frequency : 		586750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : 	QAM64
Downstream Symbol Rate : 	6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : 	taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level :0.6 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 		41.5 dB


Upstream

Downstream Lock : 		Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 	3
Downstream Frequency : 		586750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : 	QAM64
Downstream Symbol Rate : 	6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : 	taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level :0.6 dBmV
Downstream SNR :	 	41.5 dB


Upstream Burst

					Req	Init Maint	Per Maint	Short Data	Long Data
					(1)	(3)		(4)		(5)		(6)
Modulation Type 			QPSK 	QPSK 		QPSK 		16QAM 		16QAM
Differential Encoding 			Off 	Off 		Off 		Off 		Off
Preamble Length 			64 	128 		128 		200 		216
Preamble Value Offset 			244 	6 		6 		504 		504
FEC Error Correction (T) 		0 	5 		5 		5 		9
FEC Codeword Information Bytes (k) 	16 	34 		34 		78 		232
Scrambler Seed 	338 			338 	338 		338 		338
Maximum Burst Size 			0 	0 		0 		19 		139
Guard Time Size 			8 	48 		48 		17 		77
Last Codeword Length 			Fixed 	Fixed 		Fixed 		Short 		Short
Scrambler on/off 			On 	On 		On 		On 		On 


Operation Config

Network Access : 		Allowed
Maximum Downstream Data Rate : 	10240000
Maximum Upstream Data Rate : 	64000
Maximum Upstream Channel Burst :1600
Maximum Number of CPEs : 	1
Modem Capability : 		Concatenation Enabled, Fragametation Enabled, PHS Disabled


Event Log

Tue Sep 09 14:16:00 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:16:00 2008 	Information (7) 	CableModem software upgrade failed
Tue Sep 09 14:16:00 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:16:00 2008 	Error (4) 		SW upgrade Failed after download - Incompatible SW file
Tue Sep 09 14:16:00 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:16:00 2008 	Information (7) 	SW dload: Invalid image signature!
Tue Sep 09 14:15:59 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:59 2008 	Notice (6) 		SW Download INIT - Via Config file dsfd;kfo
Tue Sep 09 14:15:59 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:59 2008 	Information (7) 	CableModem software download started
Tue Sep 09 14:15:59 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:59 2008 	Information (7) 	Software upgrade has started.
Tue Sep 09 14:15:58 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:58 2008 	Information (7) 	A software upgrade filename was specified in the config file.
Tue Sep 09 14:15:58 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:58 2008 	Information (7) 	Authorized
Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Information (7) 	Registration complete!
Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Information (7) 	We registered with a DOCSIS 1.0 config file!
Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Information (7) 	Received a REG-RSP message from the CMTS...
Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Information (7) 	Sending a REG-REQ to the CMTS...
Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:57 2008 	Information (7) 	CableModem SNMP configure complete
Tue Sep 09 14:15:55 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:55 2008 	Information (7) 	IP init completed ok
Tue Sep 09 14:15:55 2008 	Tue Sep 09 14:15:55 2008 	Information (7) 	CableModem TFTP init ok
Time Not Established 		Time Not Established 		Error (4) 		ToD request sent- No Response received
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 		Critical (3) 		DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
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
Time Not Established 		Time Not Established 		Critical (3) 		DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Time Not Established 		Time Not Established 		Critical (3) 		DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Time Not Established 		Time Not Established 		Critical (3) 		No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Time Not Established 		Time Not Established 		Critical (3) 		SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC f...

Router info:

Code:

WAN IP		213.107.124.xxx
Subnet Mask	255.255.255.0
Gateway		213.107.124.1
Primary DNS	62.253.162.232
Secondary DNS	194.168.4.37

Any assistance would be gratefully received! Cheers.

Milambar · 09-09-2008, 17:01

This is what happened to me last night, and at about the same time too. However, in my case there was a satisfactory resolution. My modem rebooted itself at about 9am, and started working normally again... So far.

I replied just to let you (and the technical bodies that frequent this forum), that yours wasn't an isolated incident.

I hope you get it sorted.

09-09-2008, 20:29

Ring up again and ask about getting the modem swapped by a Tech as that may resolve this issue quicker.

nuy · 10-09-2008, 14:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by whydoIneedatech

Ring up again and ask about getting the modem swapped by a Tech as that may resolve this issue quicker.

It does seem as if it's a modem issue with it failing to apply the upgrade file, but unfortunately when I called up, I was met with insistence that the modem isn't at fault, and that a new one will have the same problem as it is a server issue. The CSA didn't go into specifics unfortunately, and refused to put me through to the 2nd line team (assuming there is one).

Thanks for your assistance

At the moment I'm kind of getting around it by using OpenDNS servers; for some reason it seems to work, but I'm still stuck on a pre-activation IP giving me 10mb/64k line, so no downloading for me at the minute

nuy · 13-09-2008, 15:01

This problem still persists unfortunately, with the fault still being under investigation by the tech support team apparently.

I asked an agent on the customer service line if it was possible to get a new modem as suggested above, and was advised that one is being sent out rather than a tech coming to install it. Interesting times ahead...

Ignitionnet · 13-09-2008, 15:15

Switch the modem off for a minute or two if you haven't already, couldn't hurt.

nuy · 13-09-2008, 15:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

Switch the modem off for a minute or two if you haven't already, couldn't hurt.

Been doing that every day since the original fault at roughly 3 hour intervals, and several times on the phone today with the tech on the phone. No joy

nuy · 22-09-2008, 06:58

...and almost 2 weeks on, this problem still persists. A tech has been out to visit, he verified that ther return path was fine, and swapped the modem out, and still no luck. Exactly the same problem with the new modem.

Apparently this is some kind of "server problem" - anyone have any clues?

Nedkelly · 22-09-2008, 07:40

Hi i take the modem has gone into pre reg state again 10 meg down and 512 up .Keep on at them you will not need a tech for this as all the levels are fine as you said it is a problem at the other end causing this to do this

nuy · 22-09-2008, 07:57

It's not been in anything else since the 9th, and i wish it was 512 up, i have 64k up! Online gaming is not a happy experience with that upstream...

cimt · 22-09-2008, 08:42

Have you tried connecting your computer directly to the modem and then trying to register it again?

nuy · 22-09-2008, 09:23

Yep, tried that on the day it went down. No effect

Ignitionnet · 22-09-2008, 09:29

I know VM are deploying some extremely needed and belayed DHCP upgrades which I can imagine might be causing some issues.

You'd have thought someone would have made people aware of this though, sadly VM is even more political than ntl or Telewest were in that no-one knows what anyone else is doing to try and guard their little piece of the pie and justify their job.

Result being stuff gets changed and messed around and you get the run around

2 weeks on a pre-registration address, I trust you aren't paying for this?

nuy · 22-09-2008, 09:34

Nobody in India seems to have a clue what's going on though, that's the annoying thing. It's "under investigation every time I call". It all worked fine for 4 months, so I have no idea what's going on.

No idea if I'm paying for it or not - CS reckon that once it's resolved I'll receive some credit, but who knows how much that will be.

Pity there's no route through to tech support in UK...unless someone knows a secret

nuy · 02-10-2008, 14:30

Well after 3.5 weeks of limited service, endless callbacks from VM promised, and none received, countless phone calls to customer services and tech support, 3 modems, 765478345 modem reboots, I'm finally back online with the service I subscribe to (20mb).

A service credit for 1 month has been applied to the account (hopefully - we'll see on the next bill) - not really what I hoped for, but still.

Thanks to all here who offered assistance with the problem.