Argh! Broken internet. How to troubleshoot?

[Chris]

I should learn not to fiddle.

Sorry for yet another thread from me. Graham J pointed out I could get a
static IP from plusnet for the princely sum of a fiver and I thought why
not, it could come in useful.

Logged into my PN account, enabled it and rebooted my router AND THE
INTERNET DIED!

I can access the router, it's reporting as connected, has the correct IP
and shows a sync speed, but no web sites load. I can't ping 8.8.8.8 nor
1.1.1.1 nor plusnets DNS on 212.159.6.10. The router logs are throwing
errors that it can't access the NTP server which is obvious since it thinks
it's 8th November.

What else can I try before having to resort to CS?

[Graham J]

Chris wrote:

[snip]

> What else can I try before having to resort to CS?

Do you have the correct Username & Password for your Plusnet connection
in the router?

Does the router show that there is a PPPoA or PPPoE session alive?

Does your router show the Plusnet gateway IP?
For example, my Plusnet connection shows:
My Plusnet IP = 212.56.xxx.xxx
Gateway IP = 195.166.130.253

It may be necessary to disconnect and reconnect the DSL wire - quicker
than rebooting, and you can watch the sync establish itself.

What follows is from some old notes - might no longer work ...

Change the Username as follows:

Username = speedtest@startup_domain
Password = no password required
You should be able to see the BT gateway and http://speedtester.bt.com
Your own IP will then be something in the BT IP space.

Also try:

Username = bt_test_user@your_connnection_pipe - where
your_connection_pipe is the bit after the @ symbol in your ADSL login.
Password = no password required

Your own IP might be something different in the BT IP space, and you
will only be able to see BT websites

Then re-establish your Plusnet credentials and try again.


--
Graham J

[Chris]

On 16/03/2021 17:30, Graham J wrote:
> Chris wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>> What else can I try before having to resort to CS?
>
> Do you have the correct Username & Password for your Plusnet connection
> in the router?

Should do. I've not changed anything.

> Does the router show that there is a PPPoA or PPPoE session alive?

"PPPoE is up" - in the logs

> Does your router show the Plusnet gateway IP?
> For example, my Plusnet connection shows:
> My Plusnet IP = 212.56.xxx.xxx

Mine is 195.166.xxx.xxx (both on the router and in my account).

> Gateway IP = 195.166.130.253

Mine is 195.166.130.248

> It may be necessary to disconnect and reconnect the DSL wire - quicker
> than rebooting, and you can watch the sync establish itself.

This is the log from when the cable was re-attached. Read it from the
bottom up. The CWMP messages seem odd to me.

00:38:36, 08 Nov. ( 2317.330000) CWMP: Server URL: https://pbthdm.bt.mo;
Connecting as user: ACS username
00:38:36, 08 Nov. ( 2317.330000) CWMP: Session start now. Event code(s):
'1 BOOT,4 VALUE CHANGE'
00:38:05, 08 Nov. ( 2286.890000) CWMP: session closed due to error:
Could not resolve host
00:38:05, 08 Nov. ( 2286.890000) NTP synchronization failure!
00:37:45, 08 Nov. ( 2266.760000) CWMP: Server URL: https://pbthdm.bt.mo;
Connecting as user: ACS username
00:37:45, 08 Nov. ( 2266.750000) CWMP: Session start now. Event code(s):
'1 BOOT,4 VALUE CHANGE'
00:37:44, 08 Nov. ( 2265.930000) NTP synchronization start
00:37:43, 08 Nov. ( 2264.720000) WAN operating mode is VDSL
00:37:43, 08 Nov. ( 2264.720000) Last WAN operating mode was VDSL
00:37:42, 08 Nov. ( 2263.290000) PPP IPCP Receive Configuration ACK
00:37:42, 08 Nov. ( 2263.210000) PPP IPCP Send Configuration Request
00:37:42, 08 Nov. ( 2263.200000) PPP IPCP Receive Configuration NAK
00:37:42, 08 Nov. ( 2263.200000) PPP IPCP Send Configuration ACK
00:37:42, 08 Nov. ( 2263.190000) PPP IPCP Receive Configuration Request
00:37:42, 08 Nov. ( 2263.160000) PPP IPCP Send Configuration Request
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.910000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=38171Kbps, Up
Rate=9999Kbps; SNR Margin Down=8.9dB, Up=7.9dB
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.890000) CHAP authentication successful
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.700000) CHAP Receive Challenge
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.700000) Starting CHAP authentication with peer
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.700000) PPP LCP Receive Configuration ACK
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.690000) PPP LCP Send Configuration ACK
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.680000) PPP LCP Send Configuration Request
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.680000) PPP LCP Receive Configuration Request
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.600000) CHAP Receive Challenge
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.600000) Starting CHAP authentication with peer
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.590000) PPP LCP Receive Configuration ACK
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.590000) PPP LCP Send Configuration Request
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.580000) PPP LCP Receive Configuration Reject
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.580000) PPP LCP Send Configuration ACK
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.580000) PPP LCP Receive Configuration Request
00:37:40, 08 Nov. ( 2261.580000) PPP LCP Send Configuration Request
00:37:20, 08 Nov. ( 2241.490000) Wire Lan Port 2 up
00:37:14, 08 Nov. ( 2235.490000) Wire Lan Port 2 down
00:36:50, 08 Nov. ( 2211.590000) PTM over DSL is up

> What follows is from some old notes - might no longer work ...
>
> Change the Username as follows:
>
> Username = speedtest@startup_domain
> Password = no password required
> You should be able to see the BT gateway and http://speedtester.bt.com

Yeah, that doesn't exist anymore.

> Your own IP will then be something in the BT IP space.
>
> Also try:
>
> Username = bt_test_user@your_connnection_pipe - where
> your_connection_pipe is the bit after the @ symbol in your ADSL login.
> Password = no password required
>
> Your own IP might be something different in the BT IP space, and you
> will only be able to see BT websites
>
> Then re-establish your Plusnet credentials and try again.

Not sure if a factory reset will make things worse or better.

[Graham J]

Chris wrote:

[snip]

OK the PPP session is up and you have a Plusnet gateway,
195.166.130.248. Can you ping it?

> This is the log from when the cable was re-attached. Read it from the
> bottom up. The CWMP messages seem odd to me.

See
<https://friendly-tech.com/glossary/cwmp/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInu25m7S17wIVk2DmCh2nxwwaEAAYASAAEgJAIPD_BwE>

This is for TR-069 which is intended to get the correct username &
password to put into your router.

But it fails because it can't resolve the hostname for the configuration
service, so the underlying problem is that your router isn't talking to
a DNS server.

If rebooting the router doesn't solve it I suspect the problem is with
the device (RADIUS Sever) at Plusnet which is issuing your IP address -
it should also tell your router the gateway and DNS values.

Does your router show the DNS values it gets from Plusnet? These should
be 212.159.6.9 and 212.159.6.10 - can you ping either of them? If so,
change the settings so these are the values specified by your router to
your PC.

If you can't ping the Plusnet DSN I think a call to their CS is the next
step.



--
Graham J

[Woody]

It is now speedtester.btwholesale.com as it is operated by Openreach.

I would have expected your external IP address to be in the same address
range as the gateway, so 212.56.xxx.yyy would not work but
195.166.xxx.yyy would. As your ISP will be using DHCP I would make sure
that that it is working - your static address will be fixed in your
ISP's DHCP addressing not in your router.

But I may be wrong of course......

AS your ISP is PN you need to contact Bob Pullen at PN who will sort it
for you.

[Chris]

Graham J <nob...@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:
> Chris wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> OK the PPP session is up and you have a Plusnet gateway,
> 195.166.130.248. Can you ping it?

Nope.

>> This is the log from when the cable was re-attached. Read it from the
>> bottom up. The CWMP messages seem odd to me.
>
> See
> <https://friendly-tech.com/glossary/cwmp/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInu25m7S17wIVk2DmCh2nxwwaEAAYASAAEgJAIPD_BwE>
>
> This is for TR-069 which is intended to get the correct username &
> password to put into your router.
>
> But it fails because it can't resolve the hostname for the configuration
> service, so the underlying problem is that your router isn't talking to
> a DNS server.
>
> If rebooting the router doesn't solve it I suspect the problem is with
> the device (RADIUS Sever) at Plusnet which is issuing your IP address -
> it should also tell your router the gateway and DNS values.
>
> Does your router show the DNS values it gets from Plusnet? These should
> be 212.159.6.9 and 212.159.6.10 - can you ping either of them? If so,
> change the settings so these are the values specified by your router to
> your PC.

Yes the router has the right DNS settings, but I can't ping them.

> If you can't ping the Plusnet DSN I think a call to their CS is the next
> step.

Ok. Wish me luck... :)

[Graham J]

Woody wrote:

[snip]

> It is now speedtester.btwholesale.com as it is operated by Openreach.

Thanks.

> I would have expected your external IP address to be in the same address
> range as the gateway,

No, that's not generally true. Mine:

My IP = 212.56.xx.xxx
Plusnet Gateway = 195.166.130.253

Similarly for my Zen connection:

My IP = 88.97.9.161
Zen Gateway = 51.148.72.21

> so 212.56.xxx.yyy would not work but
> 195.166.xxx.yyy would.


> As your ISP will be using DHCP I would make sure
> that that it is working - your static address will be fixed in your
> ISP's DHCP addressing not in your router.

DO NOT put your static address in your router. Let Plusnet's DHCP
service give your router the address it knows about.

All that £5 does is pay Plusnet to mark the allocation as Static, so it
never changes.

>
> But I may be wrong of course......
>
> AS your ISP is PN you need to contact Bob Pullen at PN who will sort it
> for you.

--
Graham J

[Chris]

Sooo. They answered super quick - first ring - which was a nice surprise.

It's been escalated to level 2 and I should be contacted within 72
hours, which isn't so nice. Seems to be an auth issue at their end.

[Jeff Gaines]

On 16/03/2021 in message <s2qosh$rdm$1...@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:

>Logged into my PN account, enabled it and rebooted my router AND THE
>INTERNET DIED!

Shades of the IT Crowd :-)

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day.
Tomorrow, isn't looking good either.

[Chris]

Jeff Gaines <jgaines...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> On 16/03/2021 in message <s2qosh$rdm$1...@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:
>
>> Logged into my PN account, enabled it and rebooted my router AND THE
>> INTERNET DIED!
>
> Shades of the IT Crowd :-)

:D

[Graham J]

Chris wrote:

[snip]

>
> Sooo. They answered super quick - first ring - which was a nice surprise.
>
> It's been escalated to level 2 and I should be contacted within 72
> hours, which isn't so nice. Seems to be an auth issue at their end.

Something misconfigured at their end? Given that you changed the
settings using their GUI rather than talking to a person, I suspect
their GUI isn't working properly.

I got a static IP for my account some years back and all that happened
was that I got a new IP address next time I connected, and that address
has stayed the same ever since.

Let's hope Bob Pullen is along soon to help. 72 hours seems quite
unreasonable ... why not tell them you want to migrate to Zen if they
can't fix it by 10am tomorrow?


--
Graham J

[PeeGee]

On 16/03/2021 18:27, Woody wrote:

>
> I would have expected your external IP address to be in the same address
> range as the gateway, so 212.56.xxx.yyy would not work but
> 195.166.xxx.yyy would. As your ISP will be using DHCP I would make sure
> that that it is working - your static address will be fixed in your
> ISP's DHCP addressing not in your router.
>
> But I may be wrong of course......
>
> AS your ISP is PN you need to contact Bob Pullen at PN who will sort it
> for you.

IIRC PN IPs are allocated from a "local pool" for dynamic IPs and
centrally, from the same pool as the DNS servers, for static IPs.

--
PeeGee

[Chris]

Graham J <nob...@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:
> Chris wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>>
>> Sooo. They answered super quick - first ring - which was a nice surprise.
>>
>> It's been escalated to level 2 and I should be contacted within 72
>> hours, which isn't so nice. Seems to be an auth issue at their end.
>
> Something misconfigured at their end? Given that you changed the
> settings using their GUI rather than talking to a person, I suspect
> their GUI isn't working properly.

Turns out they'd given me an already allocated static IP. They were going
to send out an engineer, because "everything was fine" until I reminded
them it wasn't. "Ah well in that case we need to reset the static IP". Fine
by me. So now I have a new static IP and default gateway (both very
different from each other) and all is working well.

Thanks very much for the hand holding, Graham, it's appreciated.

Now let's see if it's also fixed the intermittent speeds...?

[Graham J]

Chris wrote:

[snip]

>
> Turns out they'd given me an already allocated static IP. They were going
> to send out an engineer, because "everything was fine" until I reminded
> them it wasn't. "Ah well in that case we need to reset the static IP". Fine
> by me. So now I have a new static IP and default gateway (both very
> different from each other) and all is working well.
>
> Thanks very much for the hand holding, Graham, it's appreciated.

Thats's OK. Thanks for the explanation. Something seriously wrong with
their internal recorrd-keeping if they can make that sort of mistake!

>
> Now let's see if it's also fixed the intermittent speeds...?
>

The static IP by itself won't change anything to do with speeds.

But it will make it easier to use F8Lure, but you still have to set up
something in your DMZ to respond, because of the naff Hub One!

What router were you bidding on with eBay? It would be worth getting
something that gives good diagnostics, and that works with RouterStats.


--
Graham J

[Chris]

On 17/03/2021 14:16, Graham J wrote:
> Chris wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>>
>> Turns out they'd given me an already allocated static IP. They were going
>> to send out an engineer, because "everything was fine" until I reminded
>> them it wasn't. "Ah well in that case we need to reset the static IP".
>> Fine
>> by me. So now I have a new static IP and default gateway (both very
>> different from each other) and all is working well.
>>
>> Thanks very much for the hand holding, Graham, it's appreciated.
>
> Thats's OK.  Thanks for the explanation.  Something seriously wrong with
> their internal recorrd-keeping if they can make that sort of mistake!

Indeed.

>>
>> Now let's see if it's also fixed the intermittent speeds...?
>>
>
> The static IP by itself won't change anything to do with speeds.
>
> But it will make it easier to use F8Lure, but you still have to set up
> something in your DMZ to respond, because of the naff Hub One!
>
> What router were you bidding on with eBay?

A TP-link VR600. I'm not really prepared to spend more than about 50
quid on a 2nd hand one.

> It would be worth getting
> something that gives good diagnostics, and that works with RouterStats.

What's good about RouterStats? Apparently the Plusnet Hub One is compatible:
http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/RouterStatsHub/routerstatshub.htm

[Graham J]

Chris wrote:

[snip]

>
>> It would be worth getting something that gives good diagnostics, and
>> that works with RouterStats.
>
> What's good about RouterStats? Apparently the Plusnet Hub One is
> compatible:
> http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/RouterStatsHub/routerstatshub.htm

It captures line stats such as SNR margin and sync speed. Useful to see
whether your loss of sync is preceeded by changes in SNR margin - might
indicate that bursts of noise are responsible.

Also good evidence to show your ISP if they say there's nothing wrong
with your line.

Routers - possiby:

<https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DrayTek-Vigor-V2862AC-Security-Firewall-Wireless-Router-Latest-Firmware/254903429745?epid=19027214004&hash=item3b596daa71:g:~L0AAOSwBRdgTz~H>

<https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DrayTek-Vigor-2760n-High-Speed-VDSL2-Router-with-Gigabit-LAN-2760n-Annex-A/393182628426?epid=5034709179&hash=item5b8b82ca4a:g:lK4AAOSwK61gSi7J>

<https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DrayTek-Vigor-2860-VDSL-ADSL-firewall-router/274718770992?hash=item3ff683c730:g:nBwAAOSwBTpgTMC2>

<https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DrayTek-Vigor2862-VDSL2-WAN-Port-Router-x4-Gigabit-LAN-ports-x2-USB-Firewall/233929229180?hash=item367744c37c:g:SskAAOSw4cdgTMcq>

But the Drayteks don't work with RouterStats. They do have syslog, to a
server or USB memory.


--
Graham J