A friend is having problems with his net

[KillswitchEdge]

Hey guys,

I've got a friend who lives a few miles from here who's in a bit of a predicament.

Basically, he's got VM Cable (he told me he was supposed to be being upgraded to 10mb sometime soon) and for the last two days he's had no Internet connection in the slightest.

His modem Sync light comes on and goes off regularly, and his ready light flickers like it's a strobe light.

The thing is, he's had a habit of being a bit late with his payments in the past, though he's got a direct debit sorted apparently, and his next bill isn't due until around the 8th of June, so that's what's making me think this isn't simply a case of him being cut off.

I've copied his modem's logs and settings, and his power levels and frequencies seem to be fluctuating rapidly. I talked to a nice young man called "Damian" in India who was about as helpful as a packet of crisps, who insisted that he was running tests and that the modem was working fine. When I mentioned that my friend had a network set up (basically 1 computer connected to the modem directly and then a second computer connected to the first via ethernet using Internet Connection Sharing in Windows - a solution they've been using for over a year with zero issues), he pretty much locked down and immediately blamed the network, despite there being no changes to the way it's set up.

The network also wouldn't explain why the modem is incapable of connecting to the network, however I did notice when I looked at his modem page at 192.168.100.1 that his "Network Access" is being defined as "Denied".

The thing is, he's in a bit of a financial crunch right now, and with him having no landline and only a pay as you go mobile, he can't afford to call VM tech support, and should an engineer be needed he's very unlikely to be able to afford an engineer call-out either.

I called VM's tech support on my mobile, was on for 10 minutes and got nowhere because of VM tech support in India's amazing ability to deny everything and blame everyone but themselves without giving a definite answer. Is there any chance maybe one of you fine VM employees over here could help my friend out please? I can provide a contact number, his account number and whatever other details you'd like via PM, but as I said, he's unable to call himself due to his situation.

I'll try and post what various logs and such that I managed to copy last night in code boxes here, hopefully it'll give you guys more of an insight as to what's going on.

Cable Modem Information
  Cable Modem :              Euro-DOCSIS 1.0/1.1/2.0 Compliant 
MOD: REMOVED MAC/SERIAL
  Boot Code Version :     3.1.6d 
  Software Version :        2.94.1015 
  Hardware Version :       1.19

Cable Modem Status

Item                                                             Status                       Comments  
Acquire a Downstream Channel    40600000 Hz                 Locked 
Connectivity State                          In Progress                   Ranging Complete 
Boot State                                         In Progress                  Unknown

Connectivity State fluctuates between "Not Synchronized", "Ranging Complete" and "Upstream Parameters Acquired"

Acquire a Downstream Channel fluctuates from 40600000 Hz to 122750000 Hz

Boot State fluctuates between "Unknown", "Waiting for DHCP Offer" and something else which I missed apparently.


His Cable Modem Downstream page was fluctuating so rapidly that I actually copied it four times to show you just how much it was bouncing around:

 

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream   Lock :                           Not   Locked
Downstream   Channel Id :                     0
Downstream   Frequency :                     570750000   Hz
Downstream   Modulation :                    QAM256
Downstream   Symbol Rate :                   5360.537   Ksym/sec
Downstream   Interleave Depth :               taps128Increment1
Downstream   Receive Power Level :           5.7   dBmV
Downstream   SNR :                           22.2   dB
        
Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream   Lock :                           Not   Locked
Downstream   Channel Id :                     0
Downstream   Frequency :                     706750000   Hz
Downstream   Modulation :                    QAM256
Downstream   Symbol Rate :                   5360.537   Ksym/sec
Downstream   Interleave Depth :               taps128Increment1
Downstream   Receive Power Level :           -5.8   dBmV
Downstream   SNR :                            22.1   dB
        
Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream   Lock :                           Locked
Downstream   Channel Id :                     4
Downstream   Frequency :                     586750000   Hz
Downstream   Modulation :                    QAM256
Downstream   Symbol Rate :                   6952   Ksym/sec
Downstream   Interleave Depth :               taps12Increment17
Downstream   Receive Power Level :           -2.9   dBmV
Downstream   SNR :                            34.2   dB
        
Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream   Lock :                                           Not   Locked
Downstream   Channel Id :                     0
Downstream   Frequency :                     298750000   Hz
Downstream   Modulation :                    QAM256
Downstream   Symbol Rate :                   5360.537   Ksym/sec
Downstream   Interleave Depth :              taps128Increment1
Downstream   Receive Power Level :          -7.6   dBmV
Downstream   SNR :                           22.0   dB

His Upstream was the same, so I copied that 3 times too:

Cable Modem Upstream

Upstream   Lock :           Not   Locked
Upstream   Channel ID :           0
Upstream   Frequency :           0   Hz
Upstream   Modulation :           QPSK
Upstream   Symbol Rate :           0   Ksym/sec
Upstream   transmit Power Level :           33.0   dBmV
Upstream   Mini-Slot Size :           0
        
Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream   Lock :           Not   Locked
Upstream   Channel ID :           2
Upstream   Frequency :           37500000   Hz
Upstream   Modulation :           QPSK
Upstream   Symbol Rate :           2560   Ksym/sec
Upstream   transmit Power Level :           33.0   dBmV
Upstream   Mini-Slot Size :           2
        
Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream   Lock :           Not   Locked
Upstream   Channel ID :           3
Upstream   Frequency :           42800000   Hz
Upstream   Modulation :           QPSK
Upstream   Symbol Rate :           2560   Ksym/sec
Upstream   transmit Power Level :           33.0   dBmV
Upstream   Mini-Slot Size :           2

I did copy the upstream burst but it appears to have not copied properly to the text file I made, hope that's not a problem.

Cable Modem Operation Configuration

Network   Access :       Denied
Maximum   Downstream Data Rate :      --
Maximum   Upstream Data Rate :      --
Maximum   Upstream Channel Burst :       --
Maximum   Number of CPEs :             -1
Modem   Capability :            Concatenation   Enabled, Fragametation Enabled, PHS Enabled

These code boxes hate me, sorry guys, I cant seem to align anything properly.

First TimeLast TimePriorityDescription

  Sun May 24 20:54:50 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:50 2009 Critical (3)SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/Q...
  Sun May 24 20:54:47 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:47 2009 Critical (3)SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC f...
  Sun May 24 20:54:45 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:45 2009 Error (4)ToD request sent- No Response received
  Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Information (7)DS channel override in cfg file, re-scanning downstream
  Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Information (7)IP init completed ok
  Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Information (7)CableModem TFTP init ok
  Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Error (4)ToD request sent- No Response received
  Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Information (7)CableModem DHCP client init ok
  Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:39 2009 Critical (3)DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
  Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Information (7)MAP w/initial maintenance region received
  Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Information (7)Downstream sync ok
  Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Information (7)Beginning initial ranging...
  Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Information (7)downstream time sync acquired...
  Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Information (7)Downstream sync ok
  Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:32 2009 Information (7)starting ds time sync acquisition...
  Sun May 24 20:54:29 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:29 2009 Information (7)Locked on the downstream. Waiting for UCDs...
  Sun May 24 20:54:29 2009 Sun May 24 20:54:29 2009 Information (7)Downstream lock ok
  Sun May 24 20:53:56 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:56 2009 Information (7)DS channel override in cfg file, re-scanning downstream
  Sun May 24 20:53:56 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:56 2009 Information (7)IP init completed ok
  Sun May 24 20:53:56 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:56 2009 Information (7)CableModem TFTP init ok
  Sun May 24 20:53:54 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:54 2009 Error (4)ToD request sent- No Response received
  Sun May 24 20:53:54 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:54 2009 Information (7)CableModem DHCP client init ok
  Sun May 24 20:53:54 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:54 2009 Critical (3)DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
  Sun May 24 20:53:48 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:48 2009 Information (7)MAP w/initial maintenance region received
  Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Information (7)Downstream sync ok
  Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Information (7)Beginning initial ranging...
  Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Information (7)downstream time sync acquired...
  Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Information (7)Downstream sync ok
  Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:47 2009 Information (7)starting ds time sync acquisition...
  Sun May 24 20:53:45 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:45 2009 Information (7)Locked on the downstream. Waiting for UCDs...
  Sun May 24 20:53:45 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:45 2009 Information (7)Downstream lock ok
  Sun May 24 20:53:22 2009 Sun May 24 20:53:22 2009 Information (7)DS channel override in cfg file, re-scanning downstream

Anyway, that's pretty much the extent of it. If anyone could help diagnose what the issue may be I'd be very grateful please, as would my friend. I'm happy to give you any information you need.


Cheers,


KsE

[Wayfair]

0o0 me reaps a mac address..

You might wanna edit that out dude.

[WeyounTDB]

Originally Posted by Wayfair

0o0 me reaps a mac address..

You might wanna edit that out dude.

What?

MOD REMOVED MAC

that?

why?

[Milambar]

Because it can be used for nefarious purposes.

[KillswitchEdge]

Ah, very sorry about that. I thought I'd removed it, but then again I think I'd clicked back after the preview to sort something and perhaps undid it.

Anyway, sorry again about that, though I doubt it'd matter much to him right now as his net doesn't work at all anyway.

Anyone got any ideas?

[Joxer]

If it it getting to ranging complete and the ready light is blinking fast it would appear to be getting upstream and downstream lock - you would need to confirm the upstream by refreshing the upstream page and hecking it gets to locked. If this is the case it would point to an account issue (non payment among them but not the only reason) or possibly upstream SNR problems/FEC errors. If it's not locking on the upstream he needs a tech. For the first issue it would be a call to tech support or customer services dependant on whet the problemm is, the second a call to tech support to raise it to the outage team.

I wouldn't worry about the level changing if it isn't locked - that is normal - if it is still varying wildly while locked that will be the problem.