O Canada! > Canadian > TekSavvy > [Cable] Thomson DCM475 Firmware

[Cable] Thomson DCM475 Firmware

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,27094399?
 

There is probably a way to flash the firmware yourself, but it is also probably against the TOS of teksavvy/rogers cable internet.
You are entering very dangerous territory, as modded firmware can be used to obtain service without paying.
For this reason only the cable company should be updating the firmware.

reply to ratpack
Who cares about the warranty? So you just flash it back to the original firmware if it busts. I'd try many dfiferent firmwares but alas like every problem with cable internet the signal strength is always too low. Only Canada has this problem.

reply to ratpack
If you raise enough stink at Teksavvy they might swap your modem for one with the STAC.02.16 firmware. One guy I know had disconnects driving him crazy for months and the modem swap finally sorted it out. I'm not sure if even Teksavvy can update these things or if they just have to eat the cost.

reply to ratpack

reply to pnjunction
Teksavvy can't (ed: upgrade firmware).

I'm pretty sure they just use an SPI flash though, so a little hard work should be able to make it happen.

I wonder what Teksavvy does with the STAC.02.08 modems
--
electronicsguru.ca/for_sale/Cablemodems

reply to ratpack
Post on the direct forum about this. I got some help from them there (they made me go through all the annoying troubleshooting first), and then they swapped out my modem.

After getting the 02.16 modem I've had no more problems. Neighbor also had this issue and it got fixed after modem swap also.

reply to ratpack
Thanks, everybody, for your replies.

I don't expect Teksavvy will exchange since I didn't get this modem from them. The original surfboard has been thrown away.

It seems so ridiculous that a firmware upgrade can't more easily be done to correct this.

What is the "direct forum"? Is that the new one on Teksavvy's site?
Edit: nvm, I see the Direct tab now

reply to Teddy Boom
We check what firmware is on modem. Ship them back to our Vendor & they upgrade them for us.

I'm having this same issue. After discussing this with teksavvy support I decided to purchase a new modem last month (DCM476) for $110 thinking this would be the solution to my random/often disconnects/reboots. However the problem persists, so this is NOT a modem issue IMO.

Related modem log entries that appear when the modem reboots happen:

Time Priority Description
Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=80:c6:ab:7f...

The T3 time-out is the culprit. When the modem reboots the power levels on each of the 4 downstream channels jumps by 3+db, indicating an RF issue on the rogers coax.

I've been having this for months and slowly going nuts.

Spoke with William at teksavvy today and he agreed it was an RF issue and opened a ticket with Rogers. Fingers crossed.

reply to ratpack
I recently experienced this same issue when the St-Laurent POI here in Ottawa was upped to 8/2 channel bonding. Before the upgrade my DCM475 stac.2.08 was rock solid.

Recently swapped out the modem (still under warranty with Teksavvy being the supplier) to a stac.2.16 and haven't had a disconnect/reboot since. It has been about a week now without a single disconnect/reboot.

Give it a few more days and it will be back, unless Rogers has addressed the issue between you and your POI.

Got a call and I have a technician coming Tuesday.

reply to Teddy Boom
@TSI-Martin

said by Teddy Boom:

said by TSI Martin:

We check what firmware is on modem. Ship them back to our Vendor & they upgrade them for us.

That's interesting.. So, could you negotiate something so that other customers can get their modems upgraded?

I might be able to figure out how to upgrade them, but I need some modems to play with to find out

reply to ratpack
Sadly there are many who are stuck with with the modem that has 2.08 firmware.
It was on teksavvy approved list and for some time there teksavvy was low in modem stock so people bought elsewhere.

This of course is not something teksavvy planned and they had tested the modem on rogers network at the time.
They couldn't know a rogers upgrade would make the modem slightly incompatible.

But quite a few people are now stuck with the modem based on teksavvy recommendation.

Did teksavvy plan this no but it would be great for them to provide the firmware for users to flash at their own risk.

Sadly i doubt they have the final say on that happening as some modem makers aren't very good at making users happy.

TSI Martin contacted me directly after posting a PM and we worked out a few things.

First off the Rogers tech visit went well. The tech was thorough and very courteous. He ran a new wire from the outside of my house into the basement where the cable modem is and increased signal by a couple db. All measurements checked out and within range. He also escalated my ticket to his supervisor and said I should get a call today to discuss monitoring of my line.

Here's where it gets interesting... overnight the modem rebooted again with a bunch of sync/timeout/range errors. But this morning it's suddenly bonding 8 channels down and 2 up, double what it was last night (I'm on the fallowfield POI):

Status Code: Operational
Software Version: STAC.02.31
Software Model: a81a
Bootloader: 2.3.1

Cable Signal Details
Forward Path:
Channel Frequency Power SNR BER Modulation
1 639.0 MHz 5.6 dBmV 41.3 dB 0.000 % 256 QAM
2 591.0 MHz 5.8 dBmV 41.3 dB 0.000 % 256 QAM
3 597.0 MHz 5.9 dBmV 41.6 dB 0.000 % 256 QAM
4 603.0 MHz 6.0 dBmV 41.3 dB 0.001 % 256 QAM
5 609.0 MHz 5.6 dBmV 41.3 dB 0.000 % 256 QAM
6 615.0 MHz 5.5 dBmV 41.1 dB 0.000 % 256 QAM
7 621.0 MHz 5.0 dBmV 40.8 dB 0.000 % 256 QAM
8 633.0 MHz 5.2 dBmV 40.8 dB 0.000 % 256 QAM
Return Path:
Channel ID Frequency Power Modulation
2 25.3 MHz 39.0 dBmV 16 QAM
1 31.3 MHz 40.5 dBmV 16 QAM
0 0.0 MHz 0.0 dBmV QPSK
0 0.0 MHz 0.0 dBmV QPSK
Data Service Details
Provisioned Address: Yes
Provisioned Time: Yes
Provisioned Configuration: Yes
Registered: Yes
BPI: Enabled

I have no idea what motivated this change. Anyone else on the fallowfield POI bonding double the channels now? I know we were all waiting for this since other POI's had gone active with 8/2.

Now on to Teksavvy. Martin offered to swap my DCM475 with stac 2.08 with a new DCM475 with the latest firmware.

So far my DCM476 is running well so far with stac 2.31, but I was informed that there may be an issue with this firmware as well. So time will tell on the DCM476. Once I get my DCM475 back with the latest firmware I'm going to swap it out if these reboots persist with the 476.

In the meantime I'm going to continue to push and update my ticket with Rogers if these reboots persist.

Step 1 complete. We'll see what the next step is in the next 24 hours.

For the past week or so, I've been having a disconnection that lasts from around 10pm to 10am; almost like clockwork. A Rogers tech is coming on Friday to check it out. Since I might be away that morning, I asked my neighbour if he could be available to let the tech in my house. I explained my problem, and he said that he was experiencing the exact same issue with his Rogers connection; the tech is coming to his house after mine. The only difference between our symptoms is that at 10am his Motorola modem re-connects; my DCM475 STAC.02.08 doesn't. I have to unplug the modem and then plug it back in to get a connection. Since I'm at work all day, I have seen the disconnection last until 6pm when I get home and power cycle it. Basically I'm getting 4hrs/day out of my connection.

So, I would be reluctant to get an upgraded DCM475 02.16 unless that specific problem has been addressed. I'm not even sure that the DCM476 is the answer; didn't I read here somewhere that it skimps on receiver circuity to make it cheaper? This means the vendor makes more profit from selling it at the same price as the earlier model?

TSI doesn't sell the Motorolas, although it's on their approved list. I think if it turns out that I need a new modem, I'll get me a Moto!

These Thomson modems suck if there are rebooting issues on two different firmwares..

TekSavvy should go back to Motorolas, now that there is a SB6421 that does 8x4 bonding...

This is not a modem issue as far as I know. Google the t3 timeout errors and users with every kind of modem on every provider in north america has reported them.

It's possible a firmware update could mitigate the sensitivity of these timeouts. I'm not sure, but to say it's a modem issue is inaccurate, or at best not determined yet.