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Meatball
join:2006-03-26

1 recommendation

Meatball

Member

SB6141 Firmware Update?

Anyone know what the latest and greatest firmware on the SB6141 is? I've got one for Time Warner Cable and they've provisioned it fine. I'm getting random connection drops, and they're claiming there is nothing wrong on their side.

I was thinking that a firmware update might be in order, since mine is from Aug of 2011, but TWC won't push anything to customer owned equipment.

Here's my Modem Info:

Model Name: SB6141
Vendor Name: Motorola
Firmware Name: SB_KOMODO-1.0.6.3-SCM03-NOSH
Boot Version: PSPU-Boot(25CLK) 1.0.12.
Hardware Version: 7.0
Firmware Build Time: Aug 18 2011 10:27:53

Anyone know if the modem is consumer flashable and if so, where I can grab a more recent version?

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

2 recommendations

NetFixer

Premium Member

Comcast is currently pushing SB_KOMODO-1.0.6.8 SCMO1-NOSH to SB6120, SB6121, and SB6141 modems on their network (it makes no difference whether the modem is leased or customer owned).

Until/unless Time Warner decides to push a newer firmware to your modem, you are going to be stuck with what you have. The DOCSIS standard generally does not allow the installation of firmware in a cable modem by the end user; it must be pushed by the ISP over the coax interface.

I have heard of some who have done it on some DOCSIS modems by opening the case and installing a JTAG interface on the modem's circuit board, but that is not a project for everyone. With that method, you would still need to obtain a copy of the firmware, and if your ISP did not support that firmware version, it would be almost immediately overwritten by their supported version as soon as the modem connected to their network anyway.
Meatball
join:2006-03-26

Meatball

Member

Yeah, unfortunately, that's not going to happen. TWC only offers these awful Ubee modems for DOCSIS 3, and on top of that they've started charging a modem rental fee.

You can buy your own modem, but you're limited to the SB6121 and the 6141, and they've told me they'll never update a customer owned modem, so I'm going to be stuck.
Expand your moderator at work
Meatball

Meatball

Member

Re: SB6141 Firmware Update?

Man, I'm loving life here. Been having random disconnect issues, probably about 2-3 times a day with the following errors.


Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice Cable Modem Reboot due to T4 timeout ;CM-MAC=96:dc:b9:45:7b:32;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

Dec 23 2012 22:04:20 3-Critical R04.0 Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;CM-MAC=96:dc:b9:45:7b:32;CMTS-MAC=00:1b:54:c6:dc:60;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

Dec 23 2012 22:03:50 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=96:dc:b9:45:7b:32;CMTS-MAC=00:1b:54:c6:dc:60;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

Jan 01 1970 00:00:10 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=96:dc:b9:45:7b:32;CMTS-MAC=00:1b:54:c6:dc:60;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;


According to Time Waren, a firmware update from Motorola should solve the issue, but they won't do it, because I own the modem. But of course, Motorola doesn't offer firmware updates to the public.

Jeez louise...
Meatball

Meatball

Member

Alright, I have a bit more information, none of it great though. I'm still seeing random modem reboots/disconnects anywhere from 10-20 times a day. Sometimes it'll go a few hours without happening, other times it'll have 4 times in an hour.

I talked to two different people in Time Warner yesterday, and they are claiming the signal is fine, and it's probably the modem. They told me that as long as downstream power levels are within -15 to +15 dBmV and upstream is between +30 and +53 dBmV the signal is fine. They put my modem on some sort of 'watch list' to track it, but told me to contact Motorola.

So, I talked to Motorola, and this guy really sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He's saying it's the signal. The modem needs a signal more along the lines of -5 to +5 dBmV downstream, with closer to 0 being better, and 'high 30's to low 40's' dBmV upstream, with 40 being better. I'm seeing downstream power levels of +6 to +8 and upstream of +35, so he's saying the modem is rebooting because these levels are out of whack. I asked if there was any way I could get a newer firmware, but no dice, they'll only give that out to ISP's.

So, I had a TWC tech come out today to do a full check of the line and try to get things closer to the range Motorola wants. He said that the Ubee modems aren't as sensitive and they work fine with the -15 to +15 and +30 to +53 power levels. But he also made two comments that caught my interest.

First, apparently everyone is having issues with the Motorola's on TWC, and he says he's getting a call every day or two for the same issue with them rebooting. After about a month of use, he says everyone starts getting that, and they're not sure why, but they really can't do anything about it.

Second, he made an offhand comment that he wonders if TWC is actually doing it on purpose so everyone goes back to the leased modems. Lovely, eh?

Regardless, he checked the line and was able to get things down to 0 to +1 dBmV downstream and +43 dBmV upstream. He left about 2 hours ago and I've already seen one disconnect/reboot. Not really sure where to go from here, but it's BS.
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

mpgstuff to Meatball

Member

to Meatball
Meatball, I (and I'm sure others) appreciate your findings, please continue to update this thread with any progress/information.

I believe I am in the same exact boat you are, what you describe is identical to what I am seeing here as well. Was experiencing 5-15 reboots a day on my very old Motorola SB4100. Purchased a brand new Motorola SB6141 and still experience 5-15 reboots a day. Longest I have gone is 2 days and a few hours without a reboot. Error messages are always the same including: T3 Timeouts, unable to communicate on new upstream channel, unicast ranging received abort response, cable modem reboot due to T4 timeout.

I've had a tech come out as well, checked the lines and all is good. With the current splitter config: upstream power level is at 41 and my downstream levels are at +3. I've tried two other splitter configs where upstream was 46 and downstream was -2; and upstream 49 and downstream -6. In all splitter/signal configurations I still experience the timeouts/reboots.

Again please continue to update with any information. Thanks
Meatball
join:2006-03-26

4 edits

1 recommendation

Meatball

Member

I think a lot of this problem stems from the fact that what Time Warner believes are acceptable levels are not acceptable for the Motorola.

Yesterday I finally had enough, so I drove to my local TWC office and got one of their modems. They gave me an Arris DG860A. Plugged it in, came up and within an hour I had a disconnect. I didn't have any problems last evening, but I woke up today to find the modem error logs loaded with the following errors:

- No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
- DCC-ACK not received
- Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out
- Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC
- MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1

There were at least 4 connection drops in the past 2 hours that I can see. The modem does not appear to be restarting, but the connection drops and it resynchs after about 30-60 seconds. The log doesn't go any further back than that, so I'm assuming it's been doing that all night.

I spoke with another two techs last night, one of which found some signal issues and they're sending out another truck tomorrow. I'm not even sure where to go from here, everytime I talk to someone or they come out, they say it's fine, and within a few hours I start having issues again. Not to mention they all keep contradicting each other. By tomorrow I'll have talked to 6 different TWC support folks on the phone, 3 different support folks through their online chat, had two trucks/techs at my house, went into their office and spent 30 minutes with two people at the desk and been through 2 modems.

Now I see why they keep raising their rates. The amount of money they're wasting to get this fixed is stupid.

PS: Go figure, I went to post this, hit Preview and the site timed out. 2 disconnects while trying to post this...GAH!
Meatball

Meatball

Member

I did just notice one thing. The Arris modem is not restarting, but I seem to be dropping connection every 15-30 minutes. During one of these drops, I went to the status screen real quick and did a refresh. I noticed that the power levels for the 4 downstream channels were still good in the 1-2 dBmV range, yet the upstream was dead, as in there was no power level. After about a minute it came back up and upstream was back at 40 dBmV.

Since they're only using one upstream channel, that going down would certainly make it appear to be the whole connection going out since anything I send times out.
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

mpgstuff to Meatball

Member

to Meatball
So even with a different brand modem, Arris, you still see essentially the same exact error messages and disconnects?? Jeez.

What kind of signal problems did tech believe he/she saw? It sounded like the previous tech that came out had put your levels at near perfect.

It seems like there are a number of people nationwide having this problem. Maybe of their approved/leased devices, only 1 or 2 truly still work depending on area? Maybe it is something beyond a modem/residential problem?

I share your frustration as I am experiencing the same dropouts.
Please keep us up to date with any findings.
Meatball
join:2006-03-26

Meatball

Member

Well, the tech had put the levels at near perfect, because I had asked him to. When he was about to leave I was getting 7-8 dBmV down and 35 dBmV up, which according to him was in range and should be fine. Knowing that Motorola wanted closer to 0/40 dBmV, I asked him if he could tweak it and he added a splitter in to move the levels to closer to that.

When I started having problems last evening, I pulled the splitter out for a few hours, which included the time when I talked to the tech that saw the 'signal problems' which amazingly were the same levels that the tech was planning to leave them at in the first place. Regardless, I put the splitter back in, but continued to have problems.
Meatball

Meatball

Member

I've also figured out that every time it happens I see this in the modem Error Logs.

MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=00:xx:xx:xx:1e:02;CMTS-MAC=00:1b:xx:xx:xx:1x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Meatball

1 edit

Meatball

Member

Click for full size
Error Log Mid Crash
Click for full size
Signal Mid Crash
Click for full size
Error Log After Crash
Click for full size
Signal After Crash
Alright, I caught a crash in midstream and grabbed some screenshots. I started losing connection at 2:40 PM ET and saw two error messages in the log and then the upstream signal died. The modem then became unresponsive for a minute or two before finally reconnecting upstream with a bunch more error messages around 2:42.

It happened again at 2:46 and was down till about 2:48, again at 2:56 till about 2:58, at 3:05 to 3:06, at 3:31 to 3:22, at 3:35 to 3:36 and 3:39 to 3:40...
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

2 edits

mpgstuff to Meatball

Member

to Meatball
I see those MIMO events quite often in my logs as well. I'm not entirely sure what they are and they do seem to appear in/around/after my stream of timeouts. I have been saving spreadsheets of the modem logs several times a day and also when I experience the timeouts first hand.

Luckily I've only had one today so far at around 2:00PM CST. There were no users on the the network at the time that this happened.

Time Priority Code Message
Dec 29 2012 14:05:13 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:52 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:19 3-Critical R07.0 Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice Cable Modem Reboot due to T4 timeout ;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Dec 29 2012 14:03:56 3-Critical R04.0 Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Dec 29 2012 14:03:26 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Dec 29 2012 14:03:16 4-Error C401.0 DCC-ACK not received;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Dec 29 2012 14:03:16 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

Edit: have had 4 or 5 resets between 9PM-midnight, pretty much always the same subset of messages as above. Sometimes I'll see a "16 consecutive T3 Timeouts...." message. This is driving me nuts.

beninhell
@63.96.13.x

beninhell to Meatball

Anon

to Meatball
Any luck getting this issue resolved? I'm having the same issue... Thanks, Ben
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

mpgstuff to Meatball

Member

to Meatball
I'd be interested to know as well. I'm still experiencing the same issues, have another tech coming out in a week, but will most likely be contacting tier 3 again shortly after the visit.
Meatball
join:2006-03-26

Meatball

Member

Yes and no...

Things had been getting extremely bad over the last week, to the point where I was seeing these disconnects every 10-20 minutes. I finally got pushed up to Tier 3 support and after describing my issue, he looked through things and said it was definitely a problem in the 'neighborhood node'. He needed to send out maintenance, but to do that, they had to send another tech to the house. The other thing he verified was that there should never be more than a single splitter in the entire run before the cable modem. Previous techs had come in here and put 3 splitters in line to knock the signal down. Nice, huh?

3rd truck/tech came by yesterday, and this guys seemed to have a clue. He run full tests on the line which takes a couple of minutes and saw the errors. Apparently most techs run a test for 10 seconds and if they don't see anything they stop, but they should be letting them run for 4-5 minutes. He found I had a bad filter in the drop in front of my house, so he replaced that and redid the ends on the cable. Also pulled out all the extra splitters and things have gotten better.

I ran for almost 16 hours without a single disconnect, but since then I've seen 5 or 6 in the past 12 hours. Better, but I still wouldn't consider it fixed. I still don't think the maintenance guys have been out here because my signals are way high and they don't actually call you and tell you that they've been here. I'm seeing 11-13 dBmV downstream and 30-32 dBmV upstream, which is right on the border of being bad. I'm going to have to keep bothering them if it doesn't clear up

So, to offer some suggestions. First, pull everything that they didn't put in place out of the loop. If you have your own router, modem, splitter, switch, whatever, they're going to try to blame that. Make sure there's no more than 1 splitter before the modem. If you get a tech at your house that seems like he knows what he's doing, get his cell phone number, apparently they still 'own' any calls they've gone to for up to 30 days.

Wish I could offer more...
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

mpgstuff

Member

Thanks for the update Meatball.
Your tier 3 conversation/experience sounds very similar to mine.

I spoke to a tier 3 rep for an hour on Sunday and he witnessed two dropouts while I was on the phone with him. He said he would then try to find another house in the neighborhood on the same upstream as me and monitor both of us to see if we both dropped. If he witnessed this, he could then create a ticket that could be escalated up to a network engineer because it is an "area issue". Of course there happened to be no more timeouts for the rest of our phone call, but he said he would pass it off to a team that monitors these things. I know I experienced several timeouts about an hour after our conversation ended. I have not heard from them, and don't really expect to. I haven't tried to call back and ask for any "monitoring" results since I have nothing to reference, and the tier 3 rep said I didn't have to call back.

The tier 3 tech also scheduled another field tech to come to the house. He said he made notes on the service order so the field tech would know what to test. He is supposed to come out next week. He said if the issue persists, call back within 3 days of the tech visit and I should get transferred to tier 3 right away. I'm sure this will be what I end up having to do. I explicitly asked the tier 3 rep if he thought it was something in my house and he said, with what he had seen, no - it seems to be something on their end.

I am convinced it is definitely something beyond the household. I've tried the modem in several locations, with several different splitter configurations resulting in different signals, all within spec (including a configuration with it being the first leg off of the drop). I still continue to experience all of the same type of disconnects/reboots. The last tech that was out said the signals were good and every time I call they say the signal levels are good.

Please continue to update us, it seems like there are several people with this issue on the forums.
Meatball
join:2006-03-26

Meatball

Member

Will do as I find out more. While it's definitely better, I just dropped again. Granted, it's only 5 times so far today, but that's still annoying when you're in the middle of things and the connection drops for 2 minutes. Lost a call with my boss twice today which awesome.

I'm calling the tech on his cell phone first thing AM tomorrow and going to try to get him back here. He at least seemed to care to try to find out what's going on, but these intermittent deals make things even worse.

So basically, I've been having problems pretty much since December 13th and there's no end in site. Once they fix it I'm going to raise heck to get reimbursed for a month of service. Not like it matters, it must be nice to be a monopoly
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

mpgstuff to Meatball

Member

to Meatball
I personally would still say 5 times is way too much, it should be 0.
In my case, I have saved spreadsheets of timeouts/disconnects from mid-October. Back then it was 1-2 a day if that. We've had RR for 11 years and have never had any issues that persisted so long.

In December it has been a lot worse, but it seems to vary day to day. In the past 3 weeks I've had an instance where I went 2 days with no disconnects/reboots. And then another instance of 1.5 days with no reboots/disconnects. But then there have been days when I got upwards of 15-20.

When the field tech comes out next week to my place, I am going to stress that I don't think it is anything with our coax/house and I will quote the tier 3 tech on saying that he didn't believe it was within the house either. When I questioned the tier 3 tech why even have a field tech come out, he said just to "cover all bases". One of my fears is that he'll say I need all new coax or a new cable modem. I truly believe it is nothing within the house. I've had virtually 0 issues in 11 years and nothing from a coax or modem/hardware location has changed within the house (except that I have now purchased a new modem because of this issue).

Again, please keep us updated. I am sure there are a few of us who share your frustration
Meatball
join:2006-03-26

1 edit

Meatball

Member

Well, here's a new little wrinkle. Since the tech was out here on Wednesday, things have been pretty good, but I've noticed a pattern. Every six hours I'm dropping connection once or twice. Here's my latest round of disconnects.

1/3/13
AM
9:08 - 9:11
9:21 - 9:22

PM
2:55 - 2:57
3:03 - 3:04
9:46 - 9:47

1/4/13
AM
3:04 - 3:05
3:14 - 3:15
9:08 - 9:09
9:13 - 9:14

Great huh? My power levels are really getting near the borders of acceptable signals, close to +14 downstream and +31 upstream. I'm calling in again, but unless the tech shows up right at 3 or 9 and can see the disconnects happening they're going to shrug and say they have no idea.

Edit: Just talked to Tier 3 support again. Truck 4 is on it's way tomorrow AM. This is just getting stupid. I swear, if I had any viable option to switch to another ISP I'd be all over it.
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

1 edit

mpgstuff

Member

That is quite odd that there seems to be a time pattern now?

Does tier 3 ever mention the possibility that it could be something beyond your house/drop? Like a misconfiguration on their end? Do you know if your "neighborhood node" maintenance ever happened? If you go to the RR network status page, do you see anything scheduled around you residence? (»help.rr.com/AA/rrwho.asp ··· tus.aspx)

Although now, like you said, your levels are super borderline out of spec so I would think that would be the first thing the field tech focuses on.

With each dropout do you still receive the same errors as in earlier in the thread? The T3 timeouts, failed to communicate on upstream, etc?

I just had a dropout myself, right in the middle of doing some work.
Here is a combination of two log files I've saved so far today. I notice I get two scenarios - both result in loss of connection. Sometimes I get the T4 timeout which logs a full modem reboot, resets modem uptime, etc. Sometimes I'll just get the "16 consecutive T3 timeouts" - still lose service and modem lights will cycle - but no legit modem reboot and uptime remains the same. My upstream signal level is around 48-50 and downstream -6 (tier 3 said that is fine, but I have had this modem on several different configurations where upstream wasn't as hot - still had same problems).

Jan 04 2013 19:45:34 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:01:53 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:19 3-Critical R07.0 Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice Cable Modem Reboot due to T4 timeout ;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:43:20 3-Critical R04.0 Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:42:50 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:42:40 4-Error C401.0 DCC-ACK not received;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:42:40 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:40:37 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:40:28 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:40:02 3-Critical C206.0 DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:40:02 3-Critical R08.0 16 consecutive T3 timeouts while trying to range on upstream channel 3;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:40:02 3-Critical R03.0 Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 19:39:59 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 11:00:39 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:43 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:20 3-Critical R07.0 Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice Cable Modem Reboot due to T4 timeout ;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 10:59:35 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 10:59:34 3-Critical R04.0 Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 04:39:03 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 04:38:45 3-Critical C206.0 DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 04:38:45 3-Critical R08.0 16 consecutive T3 timeouts while trying to range on upstream channel 3;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 04:38:45 3-Critical R03.0 Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 04:38:38 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 03:48:30 6-Notice I503.0 Received REG-RSP while in REG-HOLD2 state;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 03:48:27 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 03:48:11 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 03:47:20 3-Critical C206.0 DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 03:47:20 3-Critical R08.0 16 consecutive T3 timeouts while trying to range on upstream channel 3;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 03:47:20 3-Critical R03.0 Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 03:47:13 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 02:31:28 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:01:23 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:20 3-Critical R07.0 Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice Cable Modem Reboot due to T4 timeout ;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 02:29:33 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 02:29:33 3-Critical R04.0 Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 02:29:03 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Jan 04 2013 02:28:53 4-Error C401.0 DCC-ACK not received;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Meatball
join:2006-03-26

Meatball

Member

Surprisingly I haven't had a drop in almost 12 hours and I still have a tech coming tomorrow morning. Downstream levels have been in the 9-10 dBmV, which is better, but still not great, and upstream is still sitting just about 31 dBmV.

As for the errors, yes, the exact same pattern. I'll first get these two error messages.

Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:86:1e:02;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx::cb:2c:60;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx::86:1e:02;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx::cb:2c:60;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;


My internet connection and connection to the modem will then begin to timeout. About 60-90 seconds later I get the following 2 errors and everything is up again.

No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx::86:1e:02;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx::cb:2c:60;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx::86:1e:02;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx::cb:2c:60;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;


Sometimes some of those messages will pop up individually without reconnects, but the MIMO event message only shows when the modem reconnects.

As for the tier 3 guys and a neighborhood problem. Yes and no. Depends on who I talked to. I've probably talked to over 15 different people at this point including 3 techs at my house and 3 different 'Tier 3' support techs. 4 or 5 of them believed there was a problem with something in the neighborhood, but then again, 4 or 5 of them thought it was my modem. I really don't think these guys communicate very well, and one tech will 'discover' something, and the next person you talk to has no idea what your talking about. Some of the techs are amazed that other techs didn't test or see what they're seeing, other guys have no idea.

It's getting to point where I know more about what I should be seeing and what's going on than most of the support folks I'm talking to. I know what's wrong, I just can't fix it... :)

I honestly think that I can use the Motorola and bring the Arris back if they ever fix whatever this underlying issue is, but at this point I don't want to give them anything they can try to blame that isn't theirs.
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

mpgstuff

Member

I identify 100% with your post. I have a 2nd field tech coming out Wednesday and I am certain I will be calling the following day to speak with tier 3 and continue down the same road.

Looks like I have the same log messages in my post above as well. I've had 2 more timeouts since posting that.

Again, please keep us updated!
Meatball
join:2006-03-26

1 edit

Meatball

Member

Tech just left, but I don't really think much was accomplished. Of course, I haven't had a disconnect in almost 24 hours, which is great, but I don't know if there's any reason for that or I've just been lucky.

No one can tell me whether or not maintenance has been out in my neighborhood and done any work, and I was still seeing high power levels, but things seem to be working.

When the tech showed up (another new guy, that's 4 new guys in 4 visits), I walked through the whole situation once again (don't these guys document anything?) I might have been talking over this guys head because he's nodding and says, "Yeah, I think I had a call in your neighborhood a week ago, a guy had good signal levels, but was getting I3 and I4 timeouts." So I say, "You mean T3 and T4?" And he nods, "Yeah those." Oi...

He checked the lines, and of course they were fine other than the signal being high. The only thing he did was swap out the one splitter I had left, a Commscope SV-V2G that knocked each output down 3.5 dB's with a Commscope SVD-C6G that knocked down one output 1.2 dB's (fed to the intelligent home Ubee modem) and the other down 6 dB's (fed to the Arris internet service modem). Power levels on the Arris are now 7-9 dBmV across the 4 downstream channels and 34.75 dBmV on the one upstream channel.

Unfortunately, there's little for me to do but wait and see what happens. The Tier 3 guy I spoke to last night might have hit the nail on the head when he told me, "Lot of times the guys coming out just keep swapping out stuff until things work, but we never figure out what the problem actually was." I'm pretty sure that's what's happened in my case. I did ask the tech that was here if he had any other modems on the truck, and all he had was the same Arris model I had.

So at this point, I'll give it a few days and if I don't see any issues, I'm going to throw the Motorola back online and see if it works. I doubt it though since I'm out of range of the power levels Motorola told me were best for the SB6141.
Meatball

3 edits

Meatball

Member

And once again, I spoke too soon. 2 Disconnects within 15 minutes...GAH!

Edit: Make that 3 times in 20 minutes...

Edit 2: Make that 4 times in 30 minutes. Swapping the SV-V2G 3.5 dB splitter back in.
Meatball

Meatball

Member

Well, just got off the phone with these guys again. Got transferred up to Level 3 support. He said he was seeing 'very high' Rx levels and that they were all over the place. That could be caused by the weather, but they should be able to fix that.

Of course, they have to send another tech out, and the next available appointment is Monday at 11 AM. And that's probably just for them to come out and say, "Yeah, they look high, I have to put in a Maintenance ticket."

Flipping unbelievable...
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

mpgstuff

Member

That is ridiculous, exactly the type of cycle I am hoping to avoid, but seems inevitable.

Does tier 3 ever make mention of escalating the issue up to a "network engineer" or anything? The one tier 3 guy I spoke to mentioned this, but he said he had to witness/have proof of my connection dropping and another house in the neighborhood dropping before he could escalate it as an "area issue" for a network engineer. All the customer service reps, two tier 3 guys, and one field tech have all said my signal levels look fine, well within spec.

As you've stated, the intermittent nature of this problem doesn't help the troubleshooting process at all. My connection has been flawless since 11:08PM last night, up until an hour ago. I've had 2 disconnects in the last hour.

I'm playing the waiting game until Wednesday when the field tech comes. I am very doubtful that he will find anything wrong inside the house. I am going to stress that the tier 3 guy said he didn't think it was anything inside the house and that he scheduled the truck roll "just to cover all bases". The tier 3 guy said he made notes for what the field tech should test for, hopefully that is true.

I also called the national support # last night to see if they had any "monitoring results" from what the tier 3 guy setup on Dec. 30th. The national helpdesk person said he could only see 24 hours worth of monitoring data. I then asked if "name" from tier 3 made any notes on my account and he said the only thing it showed was that he scheduled a truck roll. I'm hoping there are some notes, somewhere on my account, that this tier 3 guy wrote since he witnessed 2 timeouts while I was on the phone with him. Probably not, and it will be like starting fresh the next time I talk to someone.

I'm 99% certain I will be calling support Friday after the field tech visit on Wednesday. Hopefully I can get to tier 3 relatively easily. On the RR network status page for my area there is a "planned event" on Thursday about 4-5 blocks away from my residence that says: " ... CUTTING OVER COAX AFFECTING NODE ... " and then lists some sort of node ID and a specific house address. This probably doesn't mean anything and will have no affect on my connection, but I've resorted to putting all my hope of getting this issue fixed into 'events' like these.
Meatball
join:2006-03-26

Meatball

Member

Well, I got lucky and they were able to get another guy out here today. 5th guy/truck in less than 2 weeks, yay! He ran signal tests outside and found that the signal was running "very high" at both the tap on my house and on the street. Levels were like +19 dBmV downstream and +25 dBmV Upstream. He was shocked none of the other guys had noticed this. (Seems to be a recurring theme) and said there was probably an amplifier pushing out way too much to my house and maintenance should be able to fix it.

This guy seemed to be pretty good and actually called into his supervisor to discuss and the maintenance dispatch while I was standing right there to tell them to expect the maintenance request shortly. While I was talking to him he mentioned a few nice tid bits.

1) Even though 2 previous techs had said they were going to put in a maintenance ticket, neither had done so and maintenance had never been sent out.

2) The maintenance trucks aren't allowed to contact the customer, and there really isn't an easy way to find out if it they actually go to your neighborhood unless you actually see the truck.

3) They've been having all sorts of issues with the Motorola's.

4) They've also been having issues with the Arris modems as well. (He didn't have any other suggestions on what Modems to try.)

5) The tools that the Tier 3 guys use aren't the same ones they're using in the field and a lot of times they'll see different results.

He basically put in the maintenance ticket right in front of me and told me that if things weren't squared away by noon tomorrow to call in again.

I ended up going out right as he left since they'd killed my entire day off and I had to get some stuff done. About 45 minutes after he and I left, I see in my modem logs that there was about 10 minutes repeated Synch errors ("Synch Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Synch", "RCS Partial Service", "Lost MDD Timeout") had some Synch failures for about 10 minutes and then everything cleared up. Modem hasn't had a problem in the three hours since and levels look better. Down to 5-6 dBmV downstream and 34 dBmV Upstream.

I'm hoping that means the maintenance guys were here and fixed whatever the root problem is, but at this point I won't believe anything till the modem has been up a week without the issues coming back.

Good luck with your call!
mpgstuff
join:2003-07-07
Kenosha, WI

2 edits

mpgstuff

Member

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you got lucky and got a good field tech out there, hopefully your issue is resolved. It makes me uneasy to hear they are "having issues" with certain brands of modems. Do you plan on switching back to your SB6141 if everything seems to have cleared up?

I'm sure you'll be keeping an eye on the logs/connection. Let us know if you happen to experience any of the same dropouts over the next few days (hopefully not!!).

Edit: I've had 8 dropouts in the last hour and a half. I think that might be a record for me frequency-wise. Tried to call and speak to tier 3 but they would not let me since I have this field tech visit scheduled for the 9th. She said if a level 3 person set up the truck roll, it will be a "level 3" technician sent to the house she said "the best of the best, rest assured they will fix it".