Cable Modem RFI

"Something" is interfering with my cable modem and causing it to reboot. All the wire to the telephone pole has been replaced. The modem has been replaced. I had cable service here with no trouble. A month ago, 15 cable trucks descended upon my neighborhood, they said to "Clean things up." After three weeks, they left and left me with an inop connection.

"Something" between the time of 7:54 and 9:54 is causing constant reboots, then after 10:00 am, thing smooth out so I "only" get a reboot every hour or so. Sometimes it exactly on the nose, on the :30's or the :15's. Other times, it will be fine for 2 hours, then reboot.

When I say "reboot" I mean the cable light goes out while the power and PC lights stay on, then the cable light slowly flashes, then rapidly flashes, then comes on solid.

Once I saw a pattern, I started using Ping Plotter, to keep track. It is easier than hand logging.

My house is simple. I have nothing on timers, not even a VCR. After 3 truck rolls and numerous tests when nothing is wrong, there is no fix. All the wire and the modem has been replaced. They suggest that maybe a pool pump is to blame? I don't have a pool.

So today, I ring all the doorbells and ask about their pool pumps. One of my next-door neighbors has a pump that comes on a 7 am and shuts off at 12 pm, but all the others have other times. I turn off the neighbors pump, go home and look to see no fix.

I was able to get a SNR reading from my modem, but I can't keep it up since the cable company won't allow SNMP. I have to fiddle like crazy to see what I have.

Here are the numbers I can get: Power Level: Received: 4.4 dBmV Transmitted 41.6 sBmV Received SNR: 32.5 db

Sorry, but that's all the Toshiba PCX2500 will let me see.

I am open to ideas.

Reply to
Vey
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i had something similar happen recently. there is nothing to do but keep reporting the problem.

Reply to
TimPerry

I had the exact same problem with a Motorola Surfboard. The culprit? A noisy splitter! Try removing all the splitters if possible. Other things to check would be to remove all other equipment on the line - VCRs, TVs, etc.

Reply to
JW

Done before I hollered for help by calling the cable company in the first place. I guess I have some sort of "guilt complex" and assume when things go wrong that it is something *I* did. The guilty boy complex, I suppose you could call it. When I was a boy, I might have touched something and broken it . . . well, my Dad never let me forget it.

So I try to eliminate *everything* that I did or could have done before I call and complain to the company. I sometimes waste a lot of time this way. A sloppy technician left things in a bad state, and I spent a 8 hours a day for a week trying to fix something that I couldn't because there was no way I could.

Reply to
Vey

Tim Perry, I think you are on the right track. I think if the "cable" light goes out, there is nothing, on my end to do about it. I had a technician out here today. I won't say much because I don't want to jinx things, but he knew how to take the modem down from the PC end. I would have never known how to do that, but there is, technically, a way it can be done.

But other than that way, I don't know a way.

Constant complaining finally sent me a tech that knew a little something. Whether he has acutauuly fixed it, will take a day or two, and maybe three to know.

I will post the results.

Reply to
Vey

:

power and

rapidly

culprit? A

things

TVs,

when

complex, I

before

this

because

Have you tried looking up your modem status?

My Motorola Surfboard SB5101 is accessed by typing http://192.168.100.1/RgStatus.asp in my web browser.

Reply to
Ross Herbert

Can't do that with BrightHouse owned modems. They lock the modems down so that they won't display anything. The technician had a magical password protected http address that he used to access the docsis pages by way of the MAC address. He could look at that and see that the numbers were pretty bad.

So far, everything is working fine again.

Reply to
Vey

Really? I have Earthlink broadband through Brighthouse. I just tried: http://192.168.100.1/ and got:

Name WebSTAR DPC2100 Modem Serial Number 201455763 Cable Modem MAC Address 00:11:xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hardware Version 2.0 Software Version v2.0.2r1244-050319 Receive Power Level -2.7 dBmV Transmit Power Level 36.5 dBmV Cable Modem Status Operational

and the same address workes with other cable modems in the area. Some funtions ARE locked, but only form the user's end. For instance, I can't do a software reset of the modem, but their techs can.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
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Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Hi!

Try typing http://192.168.100.1/ into your web browser's address bar. Most cable modems have an internal web page that lists statistics and may even allow you to reboot/reset them:

formatting link
(840x559, 76KB)

There are some that also have TELNET or FTP servers running, but those are far less common.

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

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