Disconnections

[Noreen]

Previously my router has stayed connected for many months but my Netgear router logs show that on two Fridays in the early hours there have been disconnections. Would this indicate some work at the exchange or elsewhere (because of the time) or could there be some other problem. The router stats don't appear to have changed.

Fri, 2007-08-24 01:00:00 - LCP down.
Fri, 2007-08-24 01:00:07 - Initialize LCP.
Fri, 2007-08-24 01:00:07 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Fri, 2007-08-24 01:01:08 - Initialize LCP.
Fri, 2007-08-24 01:01:08 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Fri, 2007-08-24 01:02:08 - Initialize LCP.
Fri, 2007-08-24 01:02:08 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Fri, 2007-08-24 01:02:20 - CHAP authentication success
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:31:16 - LCP down.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:31:22 - Initialize LCP.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:31:22 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:32:23 - Initialize LCP.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:32:23 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:33:24 - Initialize LCP.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:33:24 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:34:24 - Initialize LCP.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:34:24 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:35:25 - Initialize LCP.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:35:25 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Fri, 2007-08-31 00:35:31 - CHAP authentication success

[Rik]

It looks like exchange work, or possibly BT's radius servers, Noreen. Quite a few people were affected by one around 2am on August 23.

You might want to try running Routerstats to log the changes in your noise margin, which will give you an idea if it could be a local problem.

What Netgear is it and what version of the firmware are you running?

[cavillas]

Had the same problem on two occassions, must have been some widespread BT work somewhere.  About that time didn't the Hull network have major problems that seemed to affect a large part of the BT network?

[Rik]

About that time didn't the Hull network have major problems that seemed to affect a large part of the BT network?

It did, Alf. KingCom blew a gasket and declared UDI.

[Inactive]

Serves them right, they should get rid of them funny old white public phone boxes..

Anyway it's 'ull, not Hull to the locals or even Kingston upon Hull to the visitors.

[Noreen]

Rik, the router is a DG834 v3 with firmware v4.01,20. I've now installed the program that you mentioned but to be honest this elderly lady doesn't really understand it. 

[Rik]

Well, the good news is that you've got the best version of the firmware, Noreen, as the later one doesn't record losses of sync.

Where are you stuck with router stats?

[Noreen]

I've just installed it and entered the router password so far, don't know what I have to do to get it working.  I have to admit that I haven't read all the Help section yet but my mind is a bit "boggled" with it.

[Rik]

If you open router stats, then click on the cog at top left, then hit 'Get page'. That will bring up the basic stats page from the router. Highlight the d/s sync speed and hit the Rx speed button, then highlight the d/s noise margin and hit the Rx Noise button. It's not worth graphing any other stats, imo.

On the graphs tab, select the common settings tab at the left, and change the 'sample every' settings to 30 seconds. On the Y-axis tab, set the Rx Noise max and min values to suit your connection, I use +10 to -3, as I have a 9db target noise margin.

On the top, Netgear Telnet tab, I advise unchecking 'Enable Telnet', as I have found using this tends to produce instability in the router.

That should get you going, if I haven't covered anything, please ask.

[Noreen]

Thanks Rik, I'll give a try and report back later.

[Noreen]

Well, it's been running for just under an hour now and the Rx noise constantly goes from 11 to 13dB. No idea whether that's good or bad.
 

[Rik]

A 2db wobble is fairly normal, Noreen, I've been seeing 5db today. What is unusual is your noise margin, what's your downstream sync speed?

[Noreen]

Connection Speed 8128/448kbps
Line Atten.                 28/7.5db
Noise Margin              13/25db

[Rik]

Well, you've got maximum sync with bags of headroom in the noise margin - I'm jealous! 

That line should be going full tilt for you.