Cable modem issues unresolved

[dracodraconis]

Had a nice talk with Rogers technical support. The problem was not resolved, but we concluded that the Airport was not hanging due to the DHCP updating the IP address assigned to the Airport's MAC address; that only takes place once every two weeks. Nothing is happening on the Rogers network that explains these types of periodic errors. This problem has only happened once in the past and they concluded that the problem was with the Airport, not the modem. They can only guess that something in the Rogers cable modem that is not in the DSL modem is causing problems with the Airport.

They suggest plugging the modem directly into the laptop for 24 hours and see if the connection drops. If it does, we record the light activity on the modem and the time we noticed it.

I tend to agree with the assessment. The modem (and ethernet cable) works consistently with the laptop (but a 24-hour connect test will confirm that), while the Airport works consistently with the DSL modem (based on more than a year of continuous use). When the Airport hangs, the modem still communicates happily with the Rogers network (their diagnostics indicated that the modem connected to the internet and functioning properly when I had no internet connection here), but the Airport communicates happily with computers on the wireless network (including piping music through to the stereo). All that happens, is the throughput of packets between the computer and the modem ceases to be managed by the Airport, an issue that is resolved by resetting the Airport.

A thought that came to mind is whether the NAT ceases to resolve packet readdressing correctly when it updates the internal IP address. One way to test this is to lock the laptop's and G5's MAC addresses to specific internal IP addresses. Problem is, I've watched the IP address change on the laptop while using it and the internet remains active.

I used to day this back in the days when I was a network administrator, but I say it again: intermittent problems suck for being solved!

Comments

[ms-danson.livejournal.com]

That... helps? *sigh*

[cristofcanada.livejournal.com]

I don't know if this is possible with the airport device (not being much of a Mac head...), but could you set up the desktop to connect directly to the cable modem, then use another ethernet card in the desktop to connect to the airport, acting as a bridge between the two?

Yes, it's a duct-tape solution, but it might just work...no clue if your desktop has two ethernet ports, or if you can do that, but who knows.. :)

[dracodraconis.livejournal.com]

There's only one ethernet port on the laptop so the idea is out. It also kind of defeats the purpose of portability. Similarly for the G5, except in addition to it having only one ethernet port it is on another floor of the apartment.

Subsequent discussion with a friend who has a wireless network for Macs in their home revealed that their solution was to use a cheap wireless router since their Airport router/hub died.

I think we will just go back to DSL (and just drop the landline to cut the cost (since the landline is only being used by telemarketers anyway) and cancel our Rogers subscription since it is less than one week old.

[dracodraconis.livejournal.com]

ironpheonix's link sounds like the problems you've been having. No solution, but common enough to have a name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenbug

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

intermittent problems suck for being solved!

More annoying bug types here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenbug)

[dracodraconis.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the bug cristofcanada is experiencing in his thesis.