Asus RT-AC88U and Virgin media - newbie in search of help getting a stable connection

[Jason66]

Super Hub 3 log file. This is all there is in the SH3 "Network Log" tab.

02/01/2021 12:48:18​	notice​	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
02/01/2021 12:48:2​	Warning!​	LAN login FAILED : Incorrect Username / Password / ConnectionType;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
02/01/2021 10:24:11​	notice​	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
02/01/2021 10:23:49​	Warning!​	LAN login FAILED : Incorrect Username / Password / ConnectionType;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
31/12/2020 14:52:21​	critical​	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
30/12/2020 06:44:35​	notice​	DHCP Renew - lease parameters tftp file-cmreg-vmdg505-bbt057-b.cm modified;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
30/12/2020 06:44:35​	Error​	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
27/12/2020 04:26:29​	critical​	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
26/12/2020 19:48:3​	notice​	DHCP Renew - lease parameters tftp file-cmreg-vmdg505-bbt057-b.cm modified;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
26/12/2020 19:48:3​	Error​	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
24/12/2020 17:53:3​	critical​	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
23/12/2020 04:41:22​	notice​	DHCP Renew - lease parameters tftp file-cmreg-vmdg505-bbt057-b.cm modified;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
23/12/2020 04:41:22​	Error​	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
20/12/2020 01:34:39​	critical​	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
19/12/2020 16:41:21​	notice​	DHCP Renew - lease parameters tftp file-cmreg-vmdg505-bbt057-b.cm modified;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
19/12/2020 16:41:21​	Error​	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
18/12/2020 14:14:1​	critical​	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
16/12/2020 04:41:20​	notice​	DHCP Renew - lease parameters tftp file-cmreg-vmdg505-bbt057-b.cm modified;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
16/12/2020 04:41:20​	Error​	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
13/12/2020 17:12:10​	critical​	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​

 

[ColinTaylor]

Super Hub 3 log file. This is all there is in the SH3 "Network Log" tab.

That looks fine. Nothing to indicate that there was an internet outage on the Virgin Media side.

Side note: I suggest you setup a free internet monitor for your connection so you can keep track of any outages and line quality issues: https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality

 

[Jason66]

Here's the Asus log. Note that there is a prior one after I cleared the log but there's a big gap in entries. I can post that previous one if it will help. If this is too much useless info I'm happy to remove it.
The device D8:13:99:FB:C1:82 causing the recurring entries is a 'smart' TV which I've just rebooted.

 

[Jason66]

That looks fine. Nothing to indicate that there was an internet outage on the Virgin Media side.

Side note: I suggest you setup a free internet monitor for your connection so you can keep track of any outages and line quality issues: https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality

I've done that but it's not telling me anything - I will try again

Broadband Quality Monitor | thinkbroadband

FREE Broadband Quality Monitor to keep track of latency & packet loss

www.thinkbroadband.com

 

[ColinTaylor]

I've done that but it's not telling me anything - I will try again
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broa...hare/1c62381565a70c797db2c90bf2ebd3704bfd5b7e

You need to have Respond ICMP Echo (ping) Request from WAN set to Yes in the router's Firewall > General settings.

 

[Jason66]

You need to have Respond ICMP Echo (ping) Request from WAN set to Yes in the router's Firewall > General settings.

Now done, thanks

 

[Jason66]

Should I set the Asus IP address to something other than 192.168.1.1 now?

 

[Jason66]

Now done, thanks

That links to the live status, click to update - very good really (thanks for the prompt to fix my settings Colin!)

 

[ColinTaylor]

Should I set the Asus IP address to something other than 192.168.1.1 now?

Probably not necessary. I can see in the log that your router is in modem mode.

The log indicates that the router's WAN connection was "restored" at 10:05 today. [Did anything notable happen at 10:05?]

So that means it went down at some earlier time. Unfortunately because the log is swamped with those wlceventd_proc_event messages (thanks Asus ) it only goes back as far as 09:13, so it must have been before then. Seeing the error messages from when it went down would have been the most useful thing.

If you can "calm down" the number of wlceventd_proc_event messages, perhaps by powering off some of those devices, we might be able to actually see the error messages the next time it occurs.

 

[Jason66]

Probably not necessary. I can see in the log that your router is in modem mode.

The log indicates that the router's WAN connection was "restored" at 10:05 today. [Did anything notable happen at 10:05?]

So that means it went down at some earlier time. Unfortunately because the log is swamped with those wlceventd_proc_event messages (thanks Asus ) it only goes back as far as 09:13, so it must have been before then. Seeing the error messages from when it went down would have been the most useful thing.

If you can "calm down" the number of wlceventd_proc_event messages, perhaps by powering off some of those devices, we might be able to actually see the error messages the next time it occurs.

OK, I'll leave it as it is for now.
10:05 was uneventful, at that time there was no connection to the internet and I was probably connecting a PC to my phone in order to make a connection. The internet connection came back up sometime after that, before 11:00 (as I was typing in the thread). I may have rebooted the SH3 at that time, I certainly powered it off and on again at some point this morning and it could have been then.

The underfloor heating (that's 2C:F4:32:56:8A:CE and 2C:F4:32:56:8A:CE can't be powered off unless I trip the breaker and it's too cold for that to be off for long. I can power down the TV overnight and maybe get some phones off. I wonder if I just block them whether that takes them out of the log - or do I just get swamped with log entries of them trying to get back on!?

 

[Jason66]

Well blocking them seems to create even more entries!

 

[ColinTaylor]

Well it looks like your internet went down again at about 06:40 this morning and came back at about 10:40.

Probably unrelated, but your latency looks horrible. Maybe that's normal for your connection. Are you running anything on your router or network that would create a continuous traffic load 24/7, like torrents for example.

 

[Jason66]

Good morning Colin,
Yes the internet went down and has just come back up - I didn't notice as I was working (tethered to the iPhone).

I do use torrents but was not downloading anything at the time, it's usually seeding some files - I've had a bunch of Linux distros on there for ages now, my ratio's good so I've stopped uTorrent now, we'll see if that improves the latency.

Today's SuperHub log entry reads;

05/01/2021 11:39:52​	notice​	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
04/01/2021 13:45:44​	critical​	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:20:01:f3;CMTS-MAC=04:62:73:e4:e8:ec;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​

I also attach the Asus log but this only goes back as far as 09:07 - is there a way I can get full logging saved onto my cloud storage?

I didn't do anything to restore the connection other than restart the Ubuntu PC which had hung (black screen, unresponsive KB and Mouse. Hard reboot off the power button to 'fix' it - it's an old clunker and it needs a kick every now and again).

I think the log shows the re-connection at 10:38:29 - at least that's the first new set of entries amongst the repetition!

 

[ColinTaylor]

I didn't do anything to restore the connection other than restart the Ubuntu PC which had hung (black screen, unresponsive KB and Mouse. Hard reboot off the power button to 'fix' it - it's an old clunker and it needs a kick every now and again).

I think the log shows the re-connection at 10:38:29 - at least that's the first new set of entries amongst the repetition!

This is the second time that restarting that PC has brought your network back to life. Your syslog shows a problem with the Realtek switch chip that presumably this PC is connected to. This makes me very suspicious.

The RT-AC88U is unusual because four of its LAN ports are connected to a Broadcom switch chip and the other four are connected to the Realtek.

I suggest that as an experiment when you are not using that PC you unplug its LAN cable. Then wait and see if your problem goes away.

P.S. Does that Ubuntu PC also have WiFi?

 

[Jason66]

Sounds like a plan.
I'll unplug the Ubuntu Desktop now - it doesn't usually have WiFi - there's an old WiFi card in there but it doesn't get recognised by Ubuntu so I just plug a little USB WiFi dongle in the front when I need it (I'm on it now, writing this). The machine's just a back-up/experimentation rig really. It used to be the movies and music server but there's nothing I can't live without or have covered by Spotify and Netflix!
As I had a Raspberry Pi for Christmas, that will take the desktop's place.

 

[Jason66]

OK, back on the Windows machine now and the Ubuntu Desktop is powered off and no longer plugged into the Asus. It was connected to the LAN 3 port. Let's see if we get another outage tonight!

 

[Jason66]

Good Morning world! No overnight outage and all seems well. I hope so as have a few video calls for work today!

 

[ColinTaylor]

Good Morning world! No overnight outage and all seems well. I hope so as have a few video calls for work today!

Still looking good I see. The latency is much better also (not great, but good). Hopefully that improves your video calls.

 

[Jason66]

Thanks for your continued interest Colin
Teams video calls are OK, I haven had the 'poor connection' warnings yet but to be fair, I didn't get those very often. Latency is interesting, what's causing that I wonder? I wasn't home most of the day yesterday but my wife was so she would have been streaming some soap opera garbage all day through Netflix or Amazon or some other service via one of the Rokus.

 

[ColinTaylor]

TBH your latency isn't particularly bad now that you've turned off the torrents. I'd say it's about typical for Virgin Media. Here's mine by way of a comparison, but I'm on a faster package.


Because the latency is measured using ICMP and ICMP is low priority traffic it tends to reflect how much bandwidth saturation there is on the upload side. This can be important for video calls, particularly on very asymmetric connections like Virgin Media provides.