Wireless Network in and out. (what could it be?)

Router is a X6 R8000
Modem is SB8200, my own and new
I have Gigabit Internet
Router is nowhere near enough to other 2.4 or 5 Ghz devices to cause interference.
There is one wall between me and the router and the router is no more than 30 feet from me.

I had multiple drives on my network, disconnected all of them.
Three Roku's, two are off. One is in use.
One Chromecast
Have a couple of IHome Mini's but this was going on prior to purchasing them.
Couple of cell phones but it doesnt matter whether they are attached or not.

I paid the $400 pro installation for 1 Gig.
The Modem never flashes or shows that there is no signal.
The router never shows there is no signal.

But there is no signal intermittently, enough that it is definitely getting irritatiing.

At first I thought it was their (Provider) equipment.
Changed Modem. Didn't work.
Replaced my Nighthawk X4S to the X6. Didn't work.
I added an X45 2700 extender 30 feet from the router. Didn't work.
I have made changes to every setting. Nothing works.
Removed VPN and shut off DNS server. Changed nothing.
Removed everything except one laptop to test. Still did it.
Checked neighbors channels and moved my 2.4 and 5 to fixed channels out of their range. Changed nothing.
Reset modem and set everything back up. It fixed nothing.
I have done quite a few hard resets, that does nothing since there appears to be nothing wrong to the outlet (Modem) anyway.
There are no Guest networks on.

It is both frequencies this happens on.

Weather is not the issue, it does it in all weather.
Signal strength from neighbors is not the issue. One neighbor is running an X46 with strong signal strength but when I check it is always on different channels. Other neighbors are too far away to interfere.

There should be absolutely nothing wrong, but my connection goes in an out constantly. You get maybe 15-20 minutes before it goes out. Comes right back on. Repeat.

Suggestions on what could be causing this and what to do about it would be greatly appreciated.

With an SB8200 nd a Nighthawk X6 plus an extender 30 feet from the area where there are two laptops, two phones and one TV with Chromecast and a Ruku Stick, this should not be doing this.

HELP!?

Also all Firmware is updated and laptop drivers are up to date.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
I'm assuming your wireless network adapter is AC? Unfortunately, there are a decent amount of issues with AC adapters, including mine as it intermittently loses signal and then reconnects within a few seconds. Updating drivers does nothing. Can you tell me what exact wireless adapter you are using?
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Have you tested a hardwired connection and let it run for a while like on a download to see if it drops/hangs?

Kinda sounds more like a WAN issue than a LAN issue as @beers suggested. Is this a brand new setup that just isn't working from the get go or did you add stuff and stop working?

If you haven't' had the ISP back out I'd do that as well. Particularly for a $400 installation.
 
If i found the right source, the userguide for yourSB8200, and in reply to your:
"The Modem never flashes or shows that there is no signal." the guide says:

"Establish an Internet Connection
Although your computer may already be configured to automatically access the Internet, you should still perform the following cable modem connectivity test to check that your devices were connected properly:

1. Power ON the computer connected to your SB8200, if it is turned off, and then log in.

2. Contact your service provider to activate (provision) your SB8200. You may have to provide the HFC MAC ID listed on the cable modem label.
Note: Your service provider may allow for automatic activation which will automatically launch their special website when you open a web browser.

3. After your SB8200 is provisioned (or activated), open a web browser (such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) on the computer. 4. Type a valid URL (such as www.surfboard.com) in the Address bar and then press Enter. The ARRIS SURFboard website should open. If it fails to open, please contact your service provider for assistance. 5. Check that the Power, Receive, Send, and Online front panel LEDs on your SB8200 light up in sequential order. See Front Panel for additional LED status information.  If all four LEDs did not light up Solid and you are not connected to the Internet, you may have to contact your service provider to reactivate your SB8200 or check for possible signal issues. 

If you still cannot connect to the Internet, your SB8200 may be defective."

My question is: have you performed step 2 above??
If not! Why not? If the modem does not have any connection, the your router has no internet to "route"...

I found the user guide here:
https://www.cox.com/content/dam/cox...ernet/print_media/Arris_SB8200_user_guide.pdf
(And the above text is found on page 16...)
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
If i found the right source, the userguide for yourSB8200, and in reply to your:
"The Modem never flashes or shows that there is no signal." the guide says:

"Establish an Internet Connection
Although your computer may already be configured to automatically access the Internet, you should still perform the following cable modem connectivity test to check that your devices were connected properly:

1. Power ON the computer connected to your SB8200, if it is turned off, and then log in.

2. Contact your service provider to activate (provision) your SB8200. You may have to provide the HFC MAC ID listed on the cable modem label.
Note: Your service provider may allow for automatic activation which will automatically launch their special website when you open a web browser.

3. After your SB8200 is provisioned (or activated), open a web browser (such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) on the computer. 4. Type a valid URL (such as www.surfboard.com) in the Address bar and then press Enter. The ARRIS SURFboard website should open. If it fails to open, please contact your service provider for assistance. 5. Check that the Power, Receive, Send, and Online front panel LEDs on your SB8200 light up in sequential order. See Front Panel for additional LED status information.  If all four LEDs did not light up Solid and you are not connected to the Internet, you may have to contact your service provider to reactivate your SB8200 or check for possible signal issues. 

If you still cannot connect to the Internet, your SB8200 may be defective."

My question is: have you performed step 2 above??
If not! Why not? If the modem does not have any connection, the your router has no internet to "route"...

I found the user guide here:
https://www.cox.com/content/dam/cox...ernet/print_media/Arris_SB8200_user_guide.pdf
(And the above text is found on page 16...)

If it's working sometimes then it's definitely been activated on the ISP's end. Likely not working properly though.
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
Possible solution?

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2104998-hp-pavilion-15-laptop-wifi-keeps-disconnecting

Power Save Polling (PSP) Causes Connection Issues with Access Points
"PSP mode is a feature that provides extended battery life for laptop computers. The mode requires coordination between the AP or router and the Wi-Fi adapter. Some APs or routers may not implement the feature correctly or completely.

How to fix
You can contact the AP or router vendor for updated software or firmware to correct the problem.
As an optional workaround, you can manually put the Wi-Fi adapter into continuously aware mode (CAM). This disables the PSP feature."

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...5645/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking.html

If a Wi-Fi access point (AP) or broadband Wi-Fi router does not support the power save polling (PSP) feature:

Intermittent loss of Wi-Fi connection
Inability to initiate a Wi-Fi connection
Poor Wi-Fi connection data performance
Using battery power can reveal these symptoms.

I've never had issues with AC WiFi or the adapter, but my adapter is Realtek based.
 
First, thanks for all the suggestions.

I'm a former broadband engineer (Area Engineer) and have my own test equipment. I have designed these plants, supervised their construction, upgraded analog plants to digital, built and designed digital headends and all that other stuff (Fiber, Dish Farms etc), though not in the last 8 years. There was no issue with signal and I can measure it behind the modem. On top of that the providers original equipment does have a signal light, but I swapped it out, and it still did the same thing. Calling a tech over or the Call Center would have been a complete waste of time, I already know to unplug and plug in my equipment. Any time a tech comes to my house all we end up doing is standing around talking about the Cable business and how it has changed.

I found the problem, found one person with the exact same issue. From 2012 - "However, I have an odd issue now, my router keeps dropping the internet connection to all clients sporadically although the network connection never officially drops, just access to the internet, all internal devices can access each other, so I know the router, DNS and Active Directory are working properly".

My issue is identical. The solution was also identical.

I also have an Ooma, three in fact. Purchased in 2011. I only swapped out my ASUS for the Nighthawk X4S about six months ago. But I was having random dropouts on X4S so that is why I swapped that out for the X6. Of course that did not fix the problem. The problem was the Ooma, in Automatic mode it spoofs the Router Mac and the Router in turn blocks the connection. So how did I miss an obvious Ooma problem? I disconnected everything, Ooma included. Reset everything and it would work no problem. Need the phone hooked up for reasons, would plug the Ooma back in and it would be fine, until a short while later, hour or two, then it would begin doing it again. I ruled out the VOIP because it worked fine plugged in for some time before the issue would start all over again.

This has been going on for quite a while but not as bad as it has been for the last weeks or months. The fix was simple. Disconnect everything, plug a Network cable into the Ooma and into a computer, disable wifi on the computer , log into the Ooma setup firmware (pages), then in the setup pages go to Internet > Internet Port MAC Address > Switch "Automatic" to "Built in".

I haven't had a drop since I did that over 24 hours ago. Hopefully it is permanently fixed. (Hopefully). There is the same fix but slightly different process if the route is Modem > Ooma > Router.

Edited to add: If someone else has the same issue and wants to log into the Ooma settings pages to change to "Built in" the address is http://172.27.35.1

One thing I noticed on other Forums is there is a lot of this and finally the persons state they are done with XXXXX Company. Then they buy a new Router and have the same problem. Same here. And there are a lot of fixes and changes that never work. A lot of people talk about Double NAT. Well Double NAT (Or even Multi-Nat) should not cause your wifi to drop. I wonder how many of those people have Ooma's connected that are in automatic mode because that is never mentioned on any of the Computer FOrums or Router subforums, I only found it on the Ooma Forum. Those claims on other Forums that the issue is a Double NAT issue due to the VOIP being behind the router are wrong, they have to be because the fixes never work (And Double NAT wont cause a dropout).

As far as adapters, I was one of the Beta testers for Cisco on the early Driver-OS Compatibility issues. I was working with two Chinese guys (Engineers) and sending them all of that info, and long email explanations concerning exactly what was happening including drop out times, how long out, when it came back on, how long it stayed on, numbers of drop outs, firmware screenshots trying to catch it at the moment is dropped out etc. That was almost seven years ago, those driver-OS compatibility issues were fixed. I have used easily a dozen different AC adapters since, built in and dongle, including a cheap $13 Linux compatible dongle and they all worked just fine. The original two I used to test and send up the info, they still dont work even with the latest drivers. Everything since works just fine.

On provisioning, my ISP has a provisioning system website for subscribers. First thing you have to do is provision your modem. Changes to modem firmware on provisioning are done through your ISP. in our case, your Modem wont even work at all until provisioned. For example, the SB8200 has two ports. The purpose for the second port is for a future dual network system (I forget the name of it at the moment). The ISP disables that second port because if they didnt there are other things that can be done with it that most major ISP's do not allow. Firmware changes are made by the ISP at provisioning that make them compatible with the ISP's system.

Last Edit for specific steps in case someone needs to try it:

1. Connect Network Cable between Ooma Home Port and Computer LAN Port.
2. Disable Wifi on Computer
3. Reboot Computer.
4. Open Browser and type in http://172.27.35.1
5. Hit Enter. Setup pages open.
6. Internet > Internet Port MAC Address > Switch "Automatic" to "Built in".
7. Click on "Update Device"
8. Unplug power from Modem, Router and Ooma.
9. Plug Modem back in and wait to power up.
10. Plug Router back in and wait to power up.
11. Plug Ooma back in and power up.

If it is the Ooma spoofing the Router MAC, this should fix the problem.
 
Last edited:
Sure would have been useful information.

I agree, but didnt consider that the issue. On the other hand, I doubt it would have made a difference either way. This problem has been addresed on numerous Forums including by the manufacturers techs. The only result from the solutions seem to be it sold a lot of extra and unneeded routers. In all honesty, did you (or anyone else) know about the Ooma MAC Spoofing problem? Because not a single person has mentioned it on any other Forum other than seven years ago on the Ooma Forum. The best result there would have been buying another Ooma Telo I didnt need.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
I agree, but didnt consider that the issue. On the other hand, I doubt it would have made a difference either way. This problem has been addresed on numerous Forums including by the manufacturers techs. The only result from the solutions seem to be it sold a lot of extra and unneeded routers. In all honesty, did you (or anyone else) know about the Ooma MAC Spoofing problem? Because not a single person has mentioned it on any other Forum other than seven years ago on the Ooma Forum. The best result there would have been buying another Ooma Telo I didnt need.
Not a clue but that's an incredibly specific issue. Glad you found it out. Sounded like you knew your stuff from the original post so had a feeling it would be something weird if you hadn't figured it out yet. Your extensive background might have been a good thing to mention though haha.
 
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