Internet Connection dropping out

[electronicsfreak]

Ok, first off, before anyone ask, yes my computer is clean.

I am having a strange issue with my internet connection. I have considered the possibility of it being my modem, but I am not sure. It started about 4 days ago.

Every so often, it will lose its connection as if the cable company shut off my connection. Usually its only down for about 1-2 minutes, then connects back. However, sometimes it goes as long as 20 minutes. I called the isp, and they mentioned something that was highly disturbing. According to them, the modem had been running for days without ever disconnecting.

Well I had a tech come out, he was useless. He did not test the lines, or check much. The only thing he did was look at the modem lights, see they were all lit up, then he replaced the splitter. Then he left. As I am typing this, I have lost my connection again.

Basically, I would like to get some opinions on this on what is causing it. As I am starting to get highly annoyed at this reoccurring problem. I called a tech as about 20 minutes ago, it disconnected again. He said to just run straight off the modem so they could see better when it disconnects.

Any ideas on what is causing my nightmare?

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[goombawaho]

You didn't mention your environment, but from your comment, I believe you have a router and then a modem (cable or dsl).

I would set up a continuous ping at the command prompt and ping both your router's IP address and another OUTSIDE IP address. That way, you can see if you connection to your router drops at the same time the connection to the outside world stops.

If both crap out at the same time - it's your computer or your router. If only the external ping craps out, it's the ISP or their router.

START RUN CMD (enter)
Do this twice - get two windows open

in one window
ping -t 192.168.1.1 (YOUR router's internal address) ENTER

in the 2nd windows
ping -t

http://www.google.com

ENTER

Watch and see which craps out.

 

[G0AOZ]

You could also observe the l.e.d.s on both router and modem during a connection failure. If ALL go out, on either or both, suspect a PSU or faulty mains socket, etc.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[electronicsfreak]

Yeah, I should have been more specific. I have been watching the leds, and I bypassed my computer to go directly to the modem. When I lost connection, the led on the modem would go out. The one that shows a connection to the cable.

Thankfully today, I had a good tech show up. He actually tested the cable line and found very high interference in it. So, we yanked out the old cable, put a new one in, and the connection appears to be much cleaner. So we will see within the next 2 days if that fixes it or not. Going to report the bad tech I had yesterday.

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[G0AOZ]

Glad you've made some progress with the problem...

I'm in a rural area where cable is non-existent, so I have no experience of it, but sometimes have go out and troubleshoot a problem for one of my users. On a practical note, is there software available for cable modems which the user can run to determine signal level, noise margin, etc? Maybe the cable modem has some built-in feature for this? The ability to check signal level and noise on ADSL Broadband telephone connections (usually feature of the modem/router's firmware) is very useful when troubleshooting a connection drop problem.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[goombawaho]

Do what I said to do above anyway, it will help you see whether the "fix" is actually working so you can give an objective report to the ISP if things are still not working.

 

[BadBigBen]

The first fix, I usually tell all my customers, is to go ahead and power down the ROUTER / MODEM (e.g. take the power cord out of the unit) wait a little while, then power it up again...

sometimes these units just get caught up with glitches...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[gbaughma]

Up here in the great state of MinneSNOWta, I have continual problems with cable modems.

Seems that what usually happens is that a little moisture gets into the connection out on the tap on the pole.

When the temperature drops (especially when it hits 40 below F), the moisture freezes, breaks the connection.

Then, by the next morning when the cable repairman gets out there, the sun has beat on it and melted it again, and it's working fine.

Ugh.

That's why I have DSL.

Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[electronicsfreak]

Goaz - As for testing cable modems, the only way I know how is pinging them like crazy and seeing what happens. What he was using was some hardware device that measured noise in the cable line itself, not the modem.

goombawaho - I will try it sometime today when I get a chance. As so far I have not had any disconnects since he replaced the cable and its been over 24 hrs.

BadBigBen - I do that usually at first anyway as we get power outing here a lot.

gbaughma - dsl we have here is not near as fast as the cable. The dsl here is around 1.5Mb verses the cable which goes up to 12Mb. Also, dsl is not available in most areas here. (I live in a small city right now)

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[goombawaho]

Hopefully you will have no more problems, but it's worth waiting for to find out.

 

[wahnula]

My problems with cable in the past have all been due to the danged splitter. I was having problems with my Internet connectivity, the tech that came out said it was the splitter that I had before the modem to get basic cable to my PC. He removed it and the problem was solved.

When I built my new hose in 2003 I had a dedicated cable (colored white) that ran only to the cable modem from the panel (I installed a huge metal electrical-style panel to hold the ugly phone & cable connections). The main cable feed went underground, then up the pole. At the other end it came up into the metal box I had provided. I looked inside after the cable tech set everything up...an lo & behold...a splitter holding both the black & white cables! So now I don't know whom to believe, although I CAN see multiple splitters might deteriorate the signal.

If the cable goes bad again try removing the splitter and see what happens. And it is quite true that techs can vary greatly in competence and customer concern...keep calling until you get one you like!

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[goombawaho]

I've had a splitter (inside the house) on my cable connection since day one - never a problem except when the ISP had a general problem in the area.

In fact, my connection speeds have always actually been ABOVE advertised rates. Woohoo - the splitter is increasing my performance apparently!!! How do you like that conclusion??

Not trying to be too much of a wise acre.

 

[cckens]

Had the same issue as OP. Talked on phone to a tech from the cable company and specifically asked for details on what he was seeing. This one was good. He related tech-to-tech what he was monitoring and the data he was seeing. When he couldn't accurately diagnose the problem, he scheduled an onsite tech.
This tech also related well to a fellow tech (some don't, that snotty superior, I-know-better-than-you-so-don't-ask-questions attitude). We discussed root causes and realized that this seemed to occur during the late afternoon/evenings particularly after a rainy day/evening. He tested the signal (which was active, naturally) and his meter showed that my signal was dead-on with miniscule interference. He was stymied, and said he might need to call the wire guys to look at the poles outside as he didn't see anything at the house connection. He came back 5 minutes later and said he found the break-off point to the complex and diagnosed that a boot on the cable to my house was old and in poor shape. When condensate got into the boot it would cause a short until it evaporated. He replaced it and I haven't had a problem since...
Just relating a similar problem and resolution...

Ken

"cckens is a nick... why the H-E- double-hockey-sticks am I using a nick for a name? Am I afraid of who I am?"
-me
"...don't know why, but I think of chickens when I see that nick...maybe even choking chickens???"
-Tony (wahnula)

 

[electronicsfreak]

Yeah, I hate those arrogant type. The first guy that came out had that attitude. Its been 2 days since the second tech replaced the cable, and I have not been disconnected since. Things are still running smooth

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[BadBigBen]

before I was in the IT business, I used to deliver replacement parts to techies at various sites, kinda on demand delivery/just in time...

well, one day I had a tech replace a POS computer at a store, and as I was packing the old POS equipment, I mentioned to him that what he was doing was not going to work... he got a bit belligerent and said "Who is the Tech guy here, me or you!", well I didn't press it, but said out loud as I was leaving, that plugging the computer into the power outlet will do wonders, the store owner just guffawed out loud...

that was the day that I decided to make my money in the business, I mean if he can make money as Tech then I could too...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[electronicsfreak]

Well its no longer dropping connection but it started slowing down majorly tonight. I started getting a ping of 115 in my server which is usually around 40 (my gaming server is rented, so not in the same location as I am). So I went to speakeasy to do a speed test and instead of getting 8Mb, I was getting 1.1Mb. Also pinged google like you mentioned and got a range from 79 to 126.

Any ideas?

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[electronicsfreak]

By the way, that was with the router bypassed

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[electronicsfreak]

Back to normal now, I think that one was weather related. Getting some ice storms here right now.

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[cckens]

If you're getting ice storms, the inteference could be coming at almost any affected junction down the pipe. Keep and eye on conditions (journal, if you're really AR) so that you have a baseline for signal strength.

Actually that's not a bad idea. I may need to see about writing me a batch file that will ping periodically and append the data to a text file. Maybe I can see if I get any anomolies on my connections...

Ken

"cckens is a nick... why the H-E- double-hockey-sticks am I using a nick for a name? Am I afraid of who I am?"
-me
"...don't know why, but I think of chickens when I see that nick...maybe even choking chickens???"
-Tony (wahnula)

 

[robmazco]

I had something similar. After several visits, one tech went outside and opened up the box on the house where the cable come sin from road.
He said there was an older type pass-thru connector in there which he just bypassed. VOILA.