Octavean
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-31
New York, NY
| Strange Activity, Could Use Some Help Please
The best way to describe this would be to say that my cable modem’s “Link” and “Receive” LEDs seem to be blinking night and day nonstop (with occasional “Send“ blinking). I’m at a loss to account for such consistent activity.
I have a Netgear WGR614v9 router connected to the Linksys BEFCMU10 cable modem. The WGR614v9 is connected to a D-link 8 port Gigabit Ethernet switch and several other routers are also connected to the D-link Gigabit Ethernet switch (3 in total but they only serve as switches). There are about 5 client Pcs, about 4 or 5 wireless devices (laptops / ipod touch / Wii / DSi) and two WHS. There are also two Silicondust HDHomeRun units but they shouldn’t be accessing the cable modem in any way.
I’ve tried shutting down all my clients (or putting them in suspend mode). I’ve tried shutting down my two WHS and it seems to have no effect on the activity.
I was going to try to setup a program for Syslog capture but I didn’t see any way in the routers web setup interface to direct such logs to a specific IP address. I was thinking of trying link logger unless anyone else has some suggestions and links.
Thanks in advance.
Oct. |
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stormbow
Freedom isn't FREE
Premium
join:2002-07-31
Simi Valley, CA
clubs: | That is normal internet noise. All the virus infested bots checking out every IP address for vulnerabilities to exploit. That is why it is suggested to practice safe computing, which includes a router, firewall and anti-virus/malware. |
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nwrickert
sand groper
Premium,MVM
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Octavean
I'm not a cable customer, so I am not sure what "send" and "receive" lights do. "Send" could me send to the internet from the LAN, or it could mean send to the LAN from the internet. And it makes a big difference.
If there is unexpectedly high traffic from your LAN to the internet, then you might have malware on one or more of the LAN computers. Unexpectedly high traffic from internet to LAN is only a problem if it interferes with what you are doing. Depending on your ISP, there can be a continual background of DHCP requests, because cable is using a shared network segment.
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AT&T Uverse; Zyxel NBG334W router (behind the 2wire gateway); openSuSE 11.0; firefox 3.0.15 |
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cowboyro
join:2000-10-11
Shelton, CT | reply to Octavean
Stop being paranoid, you don't have the only modem on the node. The modem is a network bridge... that should give you a hint on what happens there... |
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ironwalker
World Renowned
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-31
Keansburg, NJ
clubs: | reply to Octavean
Heh, can imagine if cable modems came with traffic monitoring in there logs.....there would be a ton of threads here. |
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Octavean
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-31
New York, NY
| reply to Octavean
Well, technically, you’re only paranoid if someone “isn’t” out to get you,……. 
So the consensus is I have nothing to worry about or am I reading your responses incorrectly?
For what its worth I went over to “shields up” and performed their “File Sharing”, “Common Ports” and “All Service Ports” tests. It all came back positively with the minor exception of port 68 being “Closed” not “Stealth”. I’d prefer stealth but I’m not going to get too concerned about this.
Still I cant recall this modem ever acting this way before. The routers are acting the same way. When I check the attached devices and MAC addresses they all check out just fine nothing new or odd.
I’m using Vista’s native Firewall on the Vista systems and ZoneAlarm on the one XP system. I recently switched from Avast! To Microsoft Security Essentials on all systems. |
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Jahntassa
What, I can have feathers
Premium
join:2006-04-14
Conway, SC | said by Octavean  : the consensus is I have nothing to worry about |
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nwrickert
sand groper
Premium,MVM
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Octavean
Still I cant recall this modem ever acting this way before. Your ISP might have reconfigured its network, resulting in an increase in DHCP packets on that segment. Or maybe one of your neighbors is sending out NETBIOS broadcasts on that segment. These will be blocked you your router, so not a concern.
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AT&T Uverse; Zyxel NBG334W router (behind the 2wire gateway); openSuSE 11.0; firefox 3.0.15 |
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Octavean
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-31
New York, NY | reply to Octavean
OK, thanks to everyone for helping me out here. Great info. |
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Graycode
join:2006-04-17
 ·net2phone
| reply to Octavean
With a cable ISP most of the blinky-blinky light activity is the ARP Protocol. Unlike DSL or other ISP, the cable modem also has its own IP on the internal ISP network in addition to your WAN IP. There's constant ARP chatter, most of which doesn't go all the way through the modem to reach the LAN side of your computer(s). |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| reply to Octavean
Lower the Cone Of Silence, please! |
said by Octavean :OK, thanks to everyone for helping me out here. Great info. Personally, I only surf the net with this in place.  |
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brianiscool
join:2000-08-16
Miami, FL | reply to Octavean
Trying moving any fans away from your computer, or plug a fan that is near your modem in a different power socket. Tell me if it fixes your problem. |
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NS4683
join:2000-08-25
Hoboken, NJ | What do fans have to do with anything? |
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Ronnie_USA
BigBlueFan
Premium
join:2003-10-09
Galion, OH | Electrical line noise.
I would think. |
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JesusBeamz
Lord of the Jesus Beamz
join:2009-05-14
Ontario | brb tin foil hat |
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nokiatech
join:2000-10-18
Stuart, FL | reply to Octavean
»Comcast High Speed Internet FAQ »Why does the light on my modem blink all the time?
100% normal and nothing to worry about. |
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