VPN problems and my connection

Golden Boy · 27-02-2004, 22:05

I have recently attempted to connect to my works network via a VPN connection and everything works fine with one major flaw. While in the process of working the connection is lost and the cannot reconnect.

Now what I have tried is the following :-

1) ran pings to the work IP address and ntl's website address to see if both dropped out at the same time as the connection is lost. The work ping times out but the ntl ping carries on.

2) It falls over at irregular intervals, ie not after a fixed time, sometime 2 minutes sometimes 1 hour. I thought at first this might be due to the dynamic IP address from ntl but apparently this initially shows as a 1 hour licence then extends to 24/48 hours after being on for 45 mins (ipconfig/all).

3) They have tried various settings at work but nothing has changed for me at home. They are now blaming the quality of the ntl line which they are saying is degrading the quality of the signal (they are saying the compression used is causing this loss of quality).

4) I do not appear to lose connection when browsing or playing games which I can do for well over an hour. Also the lights on the cable box remain constant and do not flicker when the signal is lost with work.

I need some idea of what else either I or the IT team can try to help resolve this. I can map the network drives with work without any loss of connection (ie they do not lose connection at any point).

Is VPN just really useless because everyone else using it as a connection to work are not experiencing the same problems. They may lose their connections briefly but the connection is quickly reestablished. Also they seem to only lose connection if they leave the system idle. Neuther of these is happening to me I just get plain booted out and the work computer I connect to reboots!

Please help....

tkiely · 27-02-2004, 23:25

Hi GOlden Boy, welcome to the forum.

What kind of VPN are you trying to use? ie whaich make/model/prog are you using?

Terry

Stuartbe · 27-02-2004, 23:35

m8.... are you using a cisco vpn client ?

Golden Boy · 27-02-2004, 23:49

It is a GNAT Box VPN Client.

rdhw · 28-02-2004, 19:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden Boy

They are now blaming the quality of the ntl line which they are saying is degrading the quality of the signal (they are saying the compression used is causing this loss of quality).

Complete nonsense. There is no compression used on a cable broadband connection. If all your other connections stay up, then there is nothing wrong with your broadband line quality either.

Golden Boy · 28-02-2004, 20:44

You sound like a guy who knows what he is talking about....is there anything I can tell the IT guys to try.

Also I could do with seeing the diagnostics for my modem, it is an ABIT and I can go to the website but I dont know the user name or password. I rried ntl and they said they would email me it...a week ago.

Thanks for any help you can give.

rdhw · 28-02-2004, 22:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden Boy

I could do with seeing the diagnostics for my modem, it is an ABIT and I can go to the website but I dont know the user name or password.

For the NTL Ambit cable modems, the default useird is root with password root.

mmm · 28-02-2004, 23:12

Do you also have a NAT router? If so then that can cause probs with UPNP not working properly. The only other setting that seemed to be important to my VPN is the PC has to have the TCP/IP MTU set to 1300 to allow for overhead added by my router(?), the cable modem works with MTU of 1500.

Golden Boy · 29-02-2004, 17:31

Thanks, I will try changing the settings and see if this works.

Golden Boy · 29-02-2004, 17:48

I am a little stupid...I dont have a router and therefore cannot change these settings.

Just as an additional piece of info my IT guys believe I should have a SNR of 60 whereas if I check my modem status the Downstream SNR is around 30.

Could this be part of my problem?

What do other users have as their Downstream SNR?

threadbare · 29-02-2004, 18:31

SNR should be above 20. 30 is fine

rdhw · 29-02-2004, 23:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden Boy

my IT guys believe I should have a SNR of 60 whereas if I check my modem status the Downstream SNR is around 30.

Your IT guys don't seem to be talking about cable networks here: no cable network ever gets anywhere near 60dB. If your SNR is around 30dB, that will be fine.

Golden Boy · 01-03-2004, 20:17

I connected last night and was on for 5 hours before it kicked me.

The only thing I did was turn my computer on and left it for an hour before connecting to the VPN. I wonder if the temporary initial lease of 1 hour on ntl ip addresses changing in to the 24/48 hour fixed IP has anything to do with it. I know this is meant to be seamless but only time will tell if my connection times are longer as a result of this.

I am sure one of you guys are gonna tell me this is completely illogical and I have just been lucky.

ps I have given up on my IT guys they clearly dont know what they are on about.

Golden Boy · 16-03-2004, 00:30

I am not sure if anyone is interested in this anymore but I found the route of my problem which may end up helping others.

It seems to be down to the hyperthreading enabled on my computer. When I disable it the connection remains on with no drop outs.

Don't ask me the logic behind this but I tried it after i attempted using a laptop on my connection and found that it worked fine. It was then just a process of elimination.

I hope this helps anyone else with a similar problem who have hyperthreading on their computer.

Stuartbe · 16-03-2004, 00:34

WOW - Thats wierd - Did you discover this ny disabling HT in the bios ???