Router or line problems

[Glenn]

I came home yesterday evening after spending the weekend in Cornwall for my mothers 80th birthday. Whislt catching up on the things going on in the virtual world I lost connection for a few minutes, I have just checked the logs and I find that since the 4th Match it has lost DSL connection 10 times, I rebooted the router this morning before I left for work 6.30, at 7.11 it lost connection again. I feel that it is a problem with the line, would you agree?

Below is the log.

INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:53  sys:  Set system clock: 2008/03/04 08:09:13 GMT
INF  2008-03-04T08:20:49Z  sys:  Successfully logged into a password protected page
INF  2008-03-04T16:20:56Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-05T00:26:40Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-07T10:10:02Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-07T18:15:50Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-07T19:23:01Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-08T03:28:43Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-09T10:32:34Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-09T10:32:56Z  sys:  ppp0: Up with ipv4 service on pppoa0
INF  2008-03-09T20:30:32Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-09T20:30:55Z  sys:  ppp0: Up with ipv4 service on pppoa0
INF  2008-03-09T20:35:13Z  sys:  Successfully logged into a password protected page
INF  2008-03-09T21:41:34Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-09T21:41:56Z  sys:  ppp0: Up with ipv4 service on pppoa0
INF  2008-03-10T06:14:24Z  sys:  Successfully logged into a password protected page
INF  2008-03-10T06:32:05Z  sys:  dnstest0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:13  sys:  System started
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:30  sys:  Wireless SSID set to WRRacing
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:30  sys:  Wireless authentication set to WPA-PSK
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:30  sys:  Wireless encryption set to TKIP
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:30  sys:  Wireless channel set to 1
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:30  sys:  Wireless power set to 25
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:30  sys:  ipnet1: Up on bridge0 with 192.168.0.254/24
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:31  sys:  ipnet15: Up on bridge14 with 192.168.178.254/24192.168.178.254
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:31  sys:  DNS up DNS1:0.0.0.0, DNS2:0.0.0.0
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:52  sys:  ppp0: Up with ipv4 service on pppoa0
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:52  sys:  ipnet0: Up on ppp0 with 212.69.52.233/32212.69.63.55
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:52  sys:  DNS up DNS1:0.0.0.0, DNS2:0.0.0.0
INF  P0000-00-00T00:00:53  sys:  Set system clock: 2008/03/10 06:33:30 GMT
INF  2008-03-10T06:34:04Z  sys:  Successfully logged into a password protected page
INF  2008-03-10T07:11:55Z  sys:  dsl0: connection lost, reconnecting...
INF  2008-03-10T07:12:18Z  sys:  ppp0: Up with ipv4 service on pppoa0
INF  2008-03-10T16:16:37Z  sys:  Successfully logged into a password protected page

[Rik]

What are your stats like, Glenn?

[Glenn]

They are fine for my line nothing out of the ordinary

Current Rate:  3456 kbs   448 kbs 
Max Rate:  3456 kbs   928 kbs 
Current Connection:
Current Noise Margin:  9.0 dB   20.0 dB 
Current Attenuation:  59.7 dB   31.5 dB 
Current Output Power:  18.8 dBm   11.9 dBm 

[Rik]

I'd be inclined to run Routerstats on it for a while, Glenn, so that you can see what the noise margin is like when the line drops. If you have one, can you connect to the test socket for the duration, so that your internal wiring is ruled out?

If you contact IDNet, that's what they'll ask you to do anyway, as they won't want to get an engineer out to you unless they're fairly certain that it's not a problem on your side of the master, given the cost involved for you.

[Glenn]

Thats not a problem, I can leave it running for the next 24 hours and see what it finds. Is the lite version OK?

[Rik]

The lite version is fine, Glenn. You're just looking to see what the noise margin is doing at the time the sync drops.

[Glenn]

I started the Router Stats yesterday evening, around 9pm the line dropped again, it showed the noise margin as 8db when the line dropped. I still have it monitoring the line.

[Rik]

That sounds more like router than line, then, Glenn. If you look at the DSL stats page (the one with the frequency graph), do you see any warnings about suspicious noise?

[Glenn]

I'll need to look at that once I get home

[Glenn]

Now this is strange, but I presume it is to do with noisy external wiring. With my 2700 connected directly to the face plate I was getting a connection around 2300 - 2500kbs, however with the face plate back on and the line connected to it again (engineer install) I'm getting 3500kbs.

Rik, the graph you asked for is in the 2nd attachment.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Rik]

Earlier sync, Glenn? It should be higher now than in the evening.

[Glenn]

When I checked at about 16.15 the noise margin was up at 12db, I have a manual set margin of 9db, the router was still sync'ing at 2300, it then re-trained around 10 mins later to 2528. I turned the router off and reconnected the face plate, turned the router back on and it connected at 3520.

[Rik]

Now that is weird. I can't explain that at all, Glenn, theoretically it's impossible to get better stats away from the test socket. The only two things I can think are that (a) the router did a better job after the power down or that (b) you have a worn test socket that didn't make good contact when you connected the router. The latter seems unlikely though.

Might be worth a word with support to see if they can take a look at the line...

[Glenn]

Andrew has done a line check, no problems found, I have reconnected my Netgear 834G (running at approx 2500kbs), to see if the problems are still there with the dropouts, if not, I will be buying another 2wire, as it gives me a far higher connection speed.

[Rik]

Good luck, Glenn. Eliminating cause is so tricky in these situations. Like you, my Netgear always had a lower sync speed, but it seemed to cling to the line like a leech.

[Glenn]

Well I have had the Netgear on for 24hrs, no dropouts. So this morning I have reconnected the 2700 to see if that drops again.

[Rik]

Good luck with that, Glenn, let us know how it goes. Having a spare router is always a good diagnostic.

[Glenn]

The 2700 is still dropping connections, so I have a new 2700HGV on the way £16.50 from ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190203705671&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=009

[Rik]

You'll soon be building a shed for your surplus stock, Glenn.

[Glenn]

Let me see what I have

SMC wireless router - connects at 2400kbs but stable
SMC router - connects at 2400kbs but stable
Netgear D834GT v2 - connects at 2400kbs but stable
2700HGV upgraded firmware - connected at 3500kbs, was stable until started rebooting constantly
2700HGV 2SSID - Connected at 3500kbs stable for the past 6 months, now keeps dropping connection randomly

There must be another one somewhere in the house.

[Rik]

I've restricted myself to two spares - so far.

[Glenn]

Well since I brought and paid for the 'New' 2700, the old one has behaved itself

[Rik]

I swear they know. Once I had a 2700 on the way, the old Netgear went up a gear.

[Glenn]

Just about everyday since my last post in this thread my router has retrained or rebooted everyday, I have tried another router and still get the same problem. In the past 24 hours the line has retrained 5 times and the router rebooted once. The error I get when the retrain happens is normally "ERR_SIG_INTERRUPT"

The ADSL line I have is a BT engineer install, so should they still carry out work up to the ADSL socket they originally fitted, or only to the face plate?

[Rik]

No idea, tbh, Glenn. The demarcation is normally the test socket, so I would guess that would still apply, but don't know for sure.

Do you know if you're imminent for 21CN, and have you noticed any loss of service on the voice side?