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I have a really odd issue, I currently have comcast internet, for a while my internet was dropping on me, and when it would I would see my Motorolla surfboard modem reboot, so I went down to comcast, and they replaced the modem, with a Scientific Atlanta modem, same thing happend, so I replaced my Hawking R54G Wireless router with a Netgear WGR614v9 router, and when I did that noticed the drops when they would happen, they would happen, like 4-6 times at a time, almost within 2-3 minutes apart, I noticed the lights on the router going amber (AKA rebooting). So I call comcast cause I doubted it was the new router, they came, replaced the spliter that splits the cable and internet, replaced the coax cables. Still dropped....... So they came out again because they were supposed to replace the cables outside of my apartment, comcast guy noticed that on their end they noticed spikes from both me and my neighbor, which could still mean a comcast issue, he also replaced the modem again, back or a motorolla surfboard. Still dropped, Ive tried updating the firmware, changing my wireless channel settings to check for wireless conflicts, no-go. Then over the weekend i decided to take my Zonet ZSR0104CP router, and hook that up my modem, and the daisy chain the netgear to it.

So its setup like this.

Modem->Zonet Router->Netgear Wireless

And I have my desktop hooked to the Zonet running a ping www.google.con -t and my laptop doing the exact same thing.

And for two straight days no drops or anything. So I decided to remove the Zonet from the picture and just go directly to the Netgear. And this morning when I hoped on it dropped (rebooted the router as well) a few times, so I hooked it back up to the Modem->Zonet->Netgear, and has been working over all fine, had a small drop, but not nearly as large it when it was just the Netgear.

So I am a tad stumped, the only thing I can think of is there is some weird compatibility issue with my Netgear and comcast. Or possibly a subnet issue.

Since when comcast prodcasts it uses a 255.255.254.0 Subnet and the Netgear uses a /24 subnet, but so does my Zonenet.

Any insight?

1: Shouldn't need 2 routers.
2: if using 2 routers, make sure the 2nd one is set to bridge mode and not router mode.

Forgot to mention, it was set in bridged mode. But the point is not with the bridged mode, its the rebooting of the Netgear on the modem, and really none of the other routers are rebooting.

Try updating the firmware on the netgear?

Updated it, still no workie

bad router

See I would agree with you that its a bad router, other then the fact that it works fine when hooked up to another router, it only does it when its hooed up to the modem.

Go to 192.168.100.1, which should bring up your cable modems internal page, you are on the motorola modem now? Goto the signal page and post the information on that page here.

Any particular reason you're running through two routers? or is the wireless just an AP?

I was using too routers to have more points of failure, AKA if the internet went out on all the computers in the house still with the Wireless farther down the chain it would reduce the chance of it being the wireless router. So if the wireless was just down, then I knew the internet was fine just the wireless router was crap.

Also my netgear wireless router died yesterday so I got that replaced with the v7 model. So far so good with that.

But here is the stuff about the modem.

Frequency 525000000 Hz
Signal to Noise Ratio 35 dB
QAM QAM256
Network Access Control Object ON
Power Level -6 dBmV The Downstream Power Level reading is a snapshot taken at the time this page was requested. Please Reload/Refresh this Page for a new reading

Channel ID 11
Frequency 20400000 Hz
Ranging Service ID 7338
Symbol Rate 2.560 Msym/s
Power Level 46 dBmV

But having more than one point of failure isn't good. More things can and will go wrong.

Guys, he daisy-chained the routers as a diagnosis method, not a permanent solution.

captain_twinkie, don't read too much into the results from daisy-chaining the routers. Remember, you said that there was still a drop when using both routers. Even if the drops weren't as often as only using the Netgear, it still tells you the root problem was the Netgear going bad (especially since you said it finally died in your last post).

But the interesting part, it still dropped when netgear was not even hooked up. The main reason why I had to have a wireless connection connected, was cause I share my connection with my neighbors.

The downstream power level is a bit low, but still well within spec, it will work down to -12 (range is about -15 to +15) or so, but your transmit power at 46 is perfect, still you have 6db to play with. (as far as amount of signal you can raise by removing splitters from the line, before it causes your transmit to drop too low, your transmit power should stay between 40 and 50, higher or lower can be an indication of problems, but it will work from 35 to 55 before it drops out)

Knowing nothing about the wiring in the building, I'd have to say your modem is likely not the problem. Keep an eye on your downstream power, and your transmit. If the top number goes down and the bottom goes up, if either number moves more than 2db in a short period of time, there could be a problem, but if it doesn't really change, you shouldn't have any problems at the modem.

With that moto modem, as long as those 4 green lights are lit solid, you should be online with no problems. The motos are probably the most solid modem out there. Which puts your problems at your network.

If the amber light (not the standby at the bottom, but the one right above it) isn't on at all, then its not seeing a physical connection to the router, which likely means a bad jack on the router. That light blinks with activity. If that is on, then your router should pull an IP from your provider, and the dns servers. At that point you should be able to get online. If you cant = bad router.

I've had tons of problems with crappy netgear routers, it was probably your bad piece of equipment. The reason it worked when set in bridge mode is probably because whatever part of it does the routing is toast. Its flash storage is probably damaged or something.

Do you lose internet when plugged directly into the Modem with your PC via the Ethernet Connector??

If yes = BAD MODEM

If No = BAD ROUTER

Not Much room for error there

If your accessing your Router Via Wireless only

-Bad Antenna or Interference from YOUR Neighbor's Channel ( Change from CH6 or 11 - Factory Defaults)

-Bad Wireless Card/Drivers (recently Updated)- or auto-configed Vista Wireless Profile trying to change router settings)

Or Something \"New\" you have in the equation that you are not realizing

Do you lose internet when plugged directly into the Modem with your PC via the Ethernet Connector??

If yes = BAD MODEM

If No = BAD ROUTER

Not Much room for error there

ehh, not always.

Yes it drops when connected directly, and I have already gone through 3 modems for this issue.

try cloning the WAN MAC address from the router that works to the netgear and see what happens.

captain_twinkie wrote:Yes it drops when connected directly, and I have already gone through 3 modems for this issue.

If that is the case, there might be a problem with the physical line itself. Has your ISP checked the line to make sure there are no faults?

Zantor wrote:If that is the case, there might be a problem with the physical line itself. Has your ISP checked the line to make sure there are no faults?

That was my thought too. This is outisde my area of expertise, so I'm probably wrong - but it occurred to me that just becasue you get no problems for two days when bridging routers, doesn't mean that the bridging solved the problem. If the fault is in the wire then maybe you got two good days of connection purely by chance, which gave you a false positive reult.

(granted, it's unlikely - but still possible)

Yeah, after getting pissy with comcast they finally were convinced it was the lines and they are comming out to get it checked, ironically the time they choose to come out is when i go out of state on vacation.

Most Like it's a bad frequency card at the headend CMTS... especially if your neighbor is having the same issue

I mean it's going to take at least 10 idiots like the one above on trouble tickets throwing drops and terminating RG6 and swapping modems(for used ones in the truck) before they figure out it's not on the last mile after the node

Bad Frequency card? You have no idea how a cable modem system works Bubba, but thanks for that. I haven't laughed this hard since I was a little girl.
(nice try on the edit too, but still a fail)
Twinkie, If your signal level isn't changing, your lines are fine, its not the modem. You still dropping since you got the new router? It could be a bad line amp, if its return is going bad, but I'd have to be there with a meter to look at that.

I bought the netgear because I thought I had issues with my hawking router, so it happened before it came into the picture

Pay attention to your modem if your internet connection drops, if you have 4 solid green lights, then your modem is online, the problem will be on your side of the modem. Keep an eye on those levels in the signal screen though, if any of the numbers change significantly, then there is a problem, and if you keep notes on what those levels are, it will also help the technicians figure out whats going on. (provided they know what they're doing)

Well I got back from my vacation in PA on saturday and I had comcast over this morning, and they tested all of the lines outside of my apartment (finally) and finally replaced some of the lines outside, now things are running alot better. So I'll be testing it for the next few days but it looks like all should be well.

A single poor connector can wipe out your return path, even if it looks good it can be bad. It don't take much.