Defective Cable Modem?

[Lord]

I think my cable modem is defective, but I'm not sure. Ever since last Thursday, the lights have been turning on and off repeatedly. I have to wait for the top 4 green lights to become solid and the orange activity light to become solid as well. Then, a few minutes after they become solid, they all turn off and start blinking and I have to wait for it to become solid again before I can connect to the internet again. It happens over and over and over.
I lost internet connection only 1 time yesterday, but today has been the worst ever; it lasts for about 30 seconds usually. Before you ask, yes, everything is plugged in completely. I've tried unplugging the modem to give it a break for a few hours, but it doesn't help.
I'm using a router as well. However, taking the router away and using a direct connection to the internet doesn't work any better. Cablevision told me that I might have a defective modem, which I can replace. However, I figured that they were simply have service areas in my problem, although I don't see how they could be having problems for 5 days.
The even lost connection twice while I was writing this post. What do you guys think? Is it likely to be a defective modem?

[Larry_OHF]

Well...a defective modem is one possibility as you said...and you already answered my question as to whether you have called your ISP for the possible news that there was cable trouble outside your home or down the street. It could still be a line that runs from the pole to your house. But not likely since you did not say anything about having cable TV problems. During the "brown-out" with your modem, have you the possibility of running into where the TV is playing and seeing if its also on the fritz?

If it is outside of your own connection to that pole, then somebody else would be complaining.

Another silly question until I have explained it...Is it raining these days up there? I once had a phone line go out on me and it took the repair guys four days to realize that the wire was frayed on the inside of the wall from the outside and that rain water was causing a short.

These are just ideas that come to me as I think about your problem. I hope one of them might trigger something more useful in somebody else's post...

[Felix The Assassin]

Orange light solid? That is a textbook example of a modem failure. Or, 'failed power on self test' (POST). Replace. Is this out of pocket, or do you rent? Is it still under warranty?
Also, have you completely taken the network down, then back up, one component at a time?
Can you communicate to the router? If so, does it display any weird IP or MAC address', what is it's self report status? Have you attempted a firmware update on it? Have you re-booted it, from the connection? (Not the power source!) Electronic failure is usually just that, failure. It sounds like you have an intermitent disruption to service. Either caused by Spam, Trojan, Virus, or you have lost it all, and a spammer has control of your systems resources, and you are steadily moving up the FBIs hot list of Internet spammers. Telephonically, check all of your bank accounts and credit cards NOW! Not tomorrow, or when you feel like it, NOW! If you have lost control, and you have any type of banking information, to include taxes from 1942, you are toast. Even if you think you have never done online banking, think about that time you used a credit card to order that special request. Bingo, that account is now open for infiltration.

I have also heard that if you run cable TV, and internet, and every room that uses cable data is working, something has to give. Could you be experiencing data overload?

Do you have firewall? Hardware? Software? or both? What does it report?

A lot of variables to contend with, but security must be taken seriously!

[Lord]

Larry, it hasn't been raining too much, so I don't think that is the problem.

Felix, the orange activity light has always been solid. In fact, it has been like that for years and it always worked fine (I've had the modem for 5 or 6 years). I doubt that it is still under warranty after all of these years.

I have no idea how to back-up or take down my network. If you mean re-booting by the connection by pressing 'standby' or removing all of the wires and puting them back in, then yes, I've done that.

The router appears to be fine.

I didn' think that this could be due to spyware or a virus/trojan, etc, but I did a scan and removed all spyware and found nothing (Norton 2004 and spybot 1.2). Hijackthis didn't find anything unusual either.

There's no way I can be experiencing data load. I haven't even bought a new TV yet (old one lost sound about 2 weeks ago for some reason), so I haven't even turned on a single TV in my house ever since.

I have a firewall, but I never put it up...I should put it up right away.

I checked my online banking account and everything is fine.

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Lord: I checked my online banking account and everything is fine.

Yeah, I did too, just to make sure.

[Azred]

How are you connecting the computer to the router and modem--ethernet or USB? Do you have to authenticate to get online or is it automatic?

[Lord]

Originally posted by Azred: How are you connecting the computer to the router and modem--ethernet or USB? Do you have to authenticate to get online or is it automatic?

I have an ethernet connection.

I don't know what authenticate is, but I'd assume that it's automatic.

[Azred]

What kind of router do you have? You might want to access its firmware and check the DHCP least granted/lease expires time to make sure that isn't dropping the connection too quickly. Also, there are a couple of TCP/IP settings to check through your Local Area Connection--examine the properties, go through Internet Protocol, click "advanced" and try disabling NetBIOS.

Another option: remove the router and connect the modem directly to see if the connection becomes any more stable. If not, switch the modem to USB connection, if possible.

Who is your service provider? I agree that it might be the modem; that possibility cannot be ruled out.

By the way...it isn't like I'm a Tier 3 DSL technician or anything. [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]

[Felix The Assassin]

Ok. Good on your accounts, and spyware / virus check. You say the orange light has always been steady? What name brand modem is this? Model number to if you have it.
Most/Some modem troubleshooting guides resemble this:

Power: this lights steadily green when the cable modem is powered up.

Link Status: this light flashes green while the cable modem is acquiring a connection, and lights steadily green when the connection has been acquired successfully. See the Surfboard notes above for details of the acquisition process.

Data Rate: this light flashes when the cable modem is receiving or transmitting data. For early firmware versions, the resting state of this light is off. For later firmware versions, the resting state of this light is off when there is no link to the PC (check your cables and drivers), and steadily lit when there is a working connection.

Multifunction: use unknown at time of writing.

Status: this two-colour LED lights as follows:
Blinking short off, long orange Power-on self-test in progress - Steady orange Power-on self-test failed -
Blinking short off, short orange Searching for downstream channel - Blinking long orange, short green Acquisition negotiations in progress - Blinking short off, short green Denied permission to go online - Steady green Online and operational

In your documentation you should have a static IP address for your ROUTER manufacturer, from here you should also have registered your router etc. Also here, you will find your personal space on the WWW your IP and MAC address In addition you can do all kinds of hardware setting adjustments etc. Be warned, only mess with what you have tolerance for, and always write it down and recheck your writing before making any adjustments. You should find a place to Refresh your account, Re-boot your router, along with a place to update router firmware etc. Attempt the update, which may entail a re-boot, then follow with a re-boot if not already complete. 'Normally' if you can communicate with the router, the malfunction then solely lies within the modem. But... Furthermore, you have another totally your space on the WWW, and that is very similar to your router, but in fact is from your modem. Repeat same procedure once you have the documentation, or your IP address. To answer your what if: Go to ~network connections~I don't know how many you have, but you should have one that identifies itself as connected to the networking controller, or card or whatever you might have. If you look under details in XP, or Properties for others, you will see your IP Address a series by 3# followed by . In addition you will see your subnet. Left click this connection and review tab for 'support', here you will find your 'default gateway' type it into a browser as you read it and hit go. You should now be connected to your Router. Check here that it has the same submask as from your connection details. Start process. If you have an additional connection, that might be to your modem, check for IP address/default gateway there as well. Ensure that your Router is set for 'Assigned By DHCP' checked, if your are running a submask from your modem. Once you locate your modem site, ensure it allows for a DHCP gateway. The standard here is way to liberal, and allows for no set standard. What should work may not, but you should be able to find the basics, and start. Also, do a 'google' on your modem, you might find more and better info there. For security you will not find your modem gateway from your router, this is a second level protection to your PC.

[Bungleau]

If I read right, Lord's done everything appropriate so far -- shut down and rebooted the modem, connected direct through it, called tech support, and behaved nicely. From my experience, and I'm definitely no level 3 DSL tech, the cable modem lights indicate the status of the connection to the outside world. The five lights sound like the old surfboard modem from my cable provider, and unless the first four were solid, there was no chance for a connection.

If it's their modem, have them give you a replacement to try it out. If it's yours.... well, check the manufacturer to see if they have any tests you can run to determine if it's good or not.

I'm assuming at this point that you haven't had anything *interesting* happen to this point... such as power failures, massive storms, and the like. 'Course, all those things can be protected against with a whole-house surge supressor... something I *highly* recommend

BTW, Spybot 1.2 is a wee bit out of date. I've got 1.4 on this machine, and I just realized I haven't checked for major updates recently.