Virgin Media ethernet drops - wifi stays up
Discussion
Posting this as i'm at my wits end with my broadband.
Fault is always the same, wifi stays up and working, ethernet goes 'unidentified network' or 'no internet'.
Virgin have called three times and moved my connection in the green box to another 'slic' I think they called it. Remade every connection, swapped the broadband 'Y' connector, swapped the filter for new ones, made new interconnect cables and on the second visit swapped the Hub3 for a new one.
The issue persists, and the 3rd engineer said it must be my set up that had switches plugged into switches. So I repatched such that every switch (only 2 now) are plugged into a home run straight into the back of the hub.
Still drops after a day or so. 30 mins or 2 hours later it restores by itself, or whilst I'm messing with it trying to get to working, so I get convinced I've fixed it only for it to happen again the following day. It's not at the same time - always random.
After reading around the web, I switched the Hub3 into modem mode, bought myself a Netgear wifi router, and swapped both the switches for new ones. I have buzzed out every cable and patch cord - all pass and are ok. After another day - same thing happens.
This morning when it failed again, I plugged a laptop straight into port 1 on the Hub3 - no internet - 'unidentified network'. So in my book the issue must be the Hub3 although this has been swapped - possible a second faulty one? The TV TIVO stays working, proving to me that connection is getting into the house ok.
Thoughts anyone?
Fault is always the same, wifi stays up and working, ethernet goes 'unidentified network' or 'no internet'.
Virgin have called three times and moved my connection in the green box to another 'slic' I think they called it. Remade every connection, swapped the broadband 'Y' connector, swapped the filter for new ones, made new interconnect cables and on the second visit swapped the Hub3 for a new one.
The issue persists, and the 3rd engineer said it must be my set up that had switches plugged into switches. So I repatched such that every switch (only 2 now) are plugged into a home run straight into the back of the hub.
Still drops after a day or so. 30 mins or 2 hours later it restores by itself, or whilst I'm messing with it trying to get to working, so I get convinced I've fixed it only for it to happen again the following day. It's not at the same time - always random.
After reading around the web, I switched the Hub3 into modem mode, bought myself a Netgear wifi router, and swapped both the switches for new ones. I have buzzed out every cable and patch cord - all pass and are ok. After another day - same thing happens.
This morning when it failed again, I plugged a laptop straight into port 1 on the Hub3 - no internet - 'unidentified network'. So in my book the issue must be the Hub3 although this has been swapped - possible a second faulty one? The TV TIVO stays working, proving to me that connection is getting into the house ok.
Thoughts anyone?
felixgogo said:
This morning when it failed again, I plugged a laptop straight into port 1 on the Hub3 - no internet - 'unidentified network'. So in my book the issue must be the Hub3 although this has been swapped - possible a second faulty one? The TV TIVO stays working, proving to me that connection is getting into the house ok.
Thoughts anyone?
Sorry, more questions Thoughts anyone?
When this happened did you still have a WiFi connection to the internet?
If so then there is still a working link between the hub3 & netgear router/ap
When the outage happens what happens if you just reboot the hub & netgear?
When the system is working what happens on the laptop if you disconnect the netgear and plug the laptop into the same port on the hub?
(I haven’t used virgin but I believe in modem mode it will provide a wan ip via dhcp not pppoe as used on ads/vdsl connections, but could be wrong)
Thanks,
All wired computers fail the same when the issue happens - two desktops, two laptops.
A reboot of the hub3 or router does not solve the issue - the ethernet restores by itself, sometimes minutes, sometimes hours later.
Yes usually the wifi stays up and accessible, but on two occasions this also didn't work. When I plug a laptop straight into the port 1 of the Hub3, I can get online when its working, but when its faulty I get the same 'unidentified network' here too.
All wired computers fail the same when the issue happens - two desktops, two laptops.
A reboot of the hub3 or router does not solve the issue - the ethernet restores by itself, sometimes minutes, sometimes hours later.
Yes usually the wifi stays up and accessible, but on two occasions this also didn't work. When I plug a laptop straight into the port 1 of the Hub3, I can get online when its working, but when its faulty I get the same 'unidentified network' here too.
Edited by felixgogo on Saturday 4th December 09:35
How many things do you have connected to the wifi and Lan? often routers (cheap isp supplied ones) start to fall over with 50 odd things connected, virgin say the hub 3 can connect more than 20. so I would say you will probably have issues with 22.
Just a thought, and a problem I have had with cheap routers.
Just a thought, and a problem I have had with cheap routers.
Around 22 Wifi items, and around 4-6 wired, but 3-4 of these are laptops so not always plugged in.
The issue persists after I moved the Wifi off the Hub3 and onto the Netgear Router, and usually only affects the wired connections.
I have tried disconnecting the wired items one by one, but the results are inconclusive as the issue is intermittment.
I have tried calling Virgin, hence the 3 engineer visits, but they are starting to wash their hands of this, as they have changed the Hub3.
The issue persists after I moved the Wifi off the Hub3 and onto the Netgear Router, and usually only affects the wired connections.
I have tried disconnecting the wired items one by one, but the results are inconclusive as the issue is intermittment.
I have tried calling Virgin, hence the 3 engineer visits, but they are starting to wash their hands of this, as they have changed the Hub3.
Does it happen more often when they are all plugged in or with a few hours of them all being plugged in? If so it will be the DHCP server not coping with that many things and letting some disconnect so others can connect. I had these issues a few years ago, seemed random and for no reason. Built a new DHCP sever from a raspberry pi and have had no issues since. I now have 86 things connected. This may not be the easiest solution for you but there is probably a way some here can help with. Change wifi to the other router and let it do the DHCP stuff, disable the DHCP on virgin router as well as wiifi.
If I’ve got this right you experience the fault, you disconnect the netgear router plug in the laptop and it’s unavailable to connect, reboot the modem and the network is still down?
If so I would also try unplugging and repluging the network cable to the laptop after the router has rebooted to force it to renegotiate the connection if that fails then I’d say it’s the hub3 or something downstream of that.
Given you’ve already had a new hub I’d guess upstream is more likely.
I’d be pushing virgin to explain why there is no connection from the hub when rebooted
Not an area I’ve looked at but could you buy a DOCSIS3 cable modem to try and prove it’s not the modem but upstream
Also perhaps this night help troubleshooting?
https://www.draytek.co.uk/information/blog/cable-m...
Specifically can you turn on any kind of logging on the modem and routers to see what happens when it goes down?
Also it’s worth confirming that your local lan stays up when the fault happens, can you ping devices on the lan wired and wireless if you have a nas can you access that okay?
Best of luck
If so I would also try unplugging and repluging the network cable to the laptop after the router has rebooted to force it to renegotiate the connection if that fails then I’d say it’s the hub3 or something downstream of that.
Given you’ve already had a new hub I’d guess upstream is more likely.
I’d be pushing virgin to explain why there is no connection from the hub when rebooted
Not an area I’ve looked at but could you buy a DOCSIS3 cable modem to try and prove it’s not the modem but upstream
Also perhaps this night help troubleshooting?
https://www.draytek.co.uk/information/blog/cable-m...
Specifically can you turn on any kind of logging on the modem and routers to see what happens when it goes down?
Also it’s worth confirming that your local lan stays up when the fault happens, can you ping devices on the lan wired and wireless if you have a nas can you access that okay?
Best of luck
Edited by Captain_Morgan on Saturday 4th December 13:03
Draw a diagram of your network. It honestly sounds like the problem is with your network rather than Virgin. Every time I’ve tried to diagnose a problem with a supplier, I’ve removed everything from the equation apart from the supplier’s router/hub and one computer. If that stays up, on either WiFi or Ethernet, then the problem is the network.
Drawing a diagram of all the hard connections will show if there’s an issue, it’s usually a switch or hub clashing or two devices trying to issue IPs addresses.
Drawing a diagram of all the hard connections will show if there’s an issue, it’s usually a switch or hub clashing or two devices trying to issue IPs addresses.
Share a picture / include IP address/default gateway and if using dhcp where they get it from/ and if DNS is obtained from the DHCP or set manually
Disconnect everything except pc/laptops directly plugged in the virgin media box - i.e. you just want to check the ethernet connected
When "ethernet" drops how do you know ? look at ipconfig/all is the ethernet dropping or the IP or the connection to the internet ( if ethernet is up ... then ping between the various boxes to see if IP is up... ) If this is up then we are looking at DHCP/Routing + possibly DNS
( If doesnt happen . then start reconnecting other things one at a time and repeat )
outnumbered said:
If all your Wifi devices still have Internet connectivity when the failure happens, and you have now got the Superhub in Modem mode, there is absolutely ZERO chance that this is a Virgin Media problem.
The last paragraph of the first post says he doesn't get connectivity when he plugs a laptop directly into the Superhub though. The symptoms seem contradictory as to where the fault could be.xeny said:
outnumbered said:
If all your Wifi devices still have Internet connectivity when the failure happens, and you have now got the Superhub in Modem mode, there is absolutely ZERO chance that this is a Virgin Media problem.
The last paragraph of the first post says he doesn't get connectivity when he plugs a laptop directly into the Superhub though. The symptoms seem contradictory as to where the fault could be.outnumbered said:
xeny said:
outnumbered said:
If all your Wifi devices still have Internet connectivity when the failure happens, and you have now got the Superhub in Modem mode, there is absolutely ZERO chance that this is a Virgin Media problem.
The last paragraph of the first post says he doesn't get connectivity when he plugs a laptop directly into the Superhub though. The symptoms seem contradictory as to where the fault could be.I suspect there might be more than one fault here but the logs might give a view into what’s happening on the hub or line
Captain_Morgan said:
Which is what the op says, he can reboot the hub and still have zero connectivity with a direct connection to his laptop from the hub.
I suspect there might be more than one fault here but the logs might give a view into what’s happening on the hub or line
In my area, VM has an occasional fault which requires rebooting the SH3 to fix. When this fault happens, there is no internet connectivity at all, nor does the SuperHub log show anything.I suspect there might be more than one fault here but the logs might give a view into what’s happening on the hub or line
I wouldn't be surprised if the OP is also getting this fault from time to time. The SH3 takes 3-4 minutes to come back after a reboot.
It's his statement that he has working WiFi but non-working Ethernet that now tends to rule out a Virgin Media problem, given that he's had the same problem for a while, and during that time he's changed from router to modem mode and now has a separate router and WiFi setup.
Surely it's more likely that he's got a dodgy ethernet driver or hardware in his laptop.
If someone has a valid technical explanation of how a VM hub in modem mode can tell the difference between traffic sourced on Ethernet vs WiFi, and somehow conspire to block the former but not the latter, please go ahead, you'd be breaking new ground...
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