More MoCA woes. Heh.

[Quickster357]

In reference to my previous thread here: http://www.snbforums.com/threads/moca-woes-help-1-1-works-but-2-0-does-not.30754/

I was able to get my ECB6200's to finally talk. However, the speeds on them seemed limited. I was sending a large ~1.5GB file via Samba to my NAS and was only getting a max of around 8.5 MB/s at layer-2.

But this is the real problem... the wife and I were away over the weekend of March 5th and 6th. When we arrived home the ECB6200's lost coax connection. UGH! I tried resetting them by pulling the power. That didn't work. I then tried resetting them to factory by holding down the reset button for ~15 seconds. That did not work either. On the basement node, I replaced with my ECB2500 and it works fine, but here's the scoop.

I was thinking maybe if I tried a different band such a F or E they would stop losing connection. This was after I reloaded the firmware on the basement ECB6200. I submitted the request to the device. It soft rebooted, but the ethernet connection would then stop working. I would have to reset it back to factory conditions. I'm curious if this is why I'm having so many problems with them losing sync. Say if the device is trying to make a better sync and they lose connection after changing bands over coax. Is anyone else still having problems with their ECB6200's? Have you tried any other bands or RF frequencies?

I wish there was a way to diagnose the nodes while they're hooked up and running...

Update, March 8: I did a little research thanks to http://www.mocalliance.org/MoCA2/specification/MoCA_2_Device_RF_Characteristics-150406d.pdf I was able to see that Bands E or F are not for use while having a digital cable TV provider such as Comcast, which I use. However, with analog only cable channels, Band F is usable (and Band E is available for satellite users). Info can be found on pages 8 and 9 of the article. Bands E and F use 400-700MHz and 650-875MHz, respectively. Still, that does not explain why the ethernet connection breaks after submitting the request to the node. In any case, I'll report back with further findings. Pages 6 and 7 of the article are also filled with good info for anyone wondering about used frequencies and bands for cable TV networks.

Update-2, March 8: I reloaded the "current" firmware on the eMTA/Modem node and swapped it out with the basement ECB6200 node. I submitted the "RF Channel" in the interface to 1350, but it spit back 1300 when I rechecked. Whatever. I hooked them back up and they're running again. I'll see how long it takes for them lose sync again. I also noted that when changing the "RF Switch" from high to low it would break ethernet connection as well as "RF Band". I wonder if Actiontec needs to update these puppies again.

Update-3, March 15: Well, the adapters have stayed connected for a week now. So I believe I am in the clear so far. However, I do not think I am getting the highest achievable speeds unless something is limiting my connection between my laptop (wireless, which is a known at 144mbps or 18MB/s ) and my Thecus N2100 NAS connected via ethernet. Anywho, lesson is, if you're having problems with the adapters right out of the box with the "current firmware" try uploading it manually in the "Update Firmware" section and adjusting the "RF Channel" and see if that works.

 

[convergent]

I'm having some similar problems to what you've had and curious about how you obtained and loaded new firmware for the ECB6200, and then how you manipulated the band and channel it is using. I was unable to find any documentation or downloads at all for this device. Thanks.

Basically, the problem I'm having is that I had an older MoCA 1.1 network that had been fairly stable and starting having some problems. I decided to upgrade to the newer MoCA 2.0 Bonded adapters and have not been able to get it to be stable, nor achieve speeds any faster than MoCA 1.1. It will run for a while and then for no apparent reason one of the adapters will lose sync for a few hours and then magically start working again.

 

[Quickster357]

I'm having some similar problems to what you've had and curious about how you obtained and loaded new firmware for the ECB6200, and then how you manipulated the band and channel it is using. I was unable to find any documentation or downloads at all for this device. Thanks.

Basically, the problem I'm having is that I had an older MoCA 1.1 network that had been fairly stable and starting having some problems. I decided to upgrade to the newer MoCA 2.0 Bonded adapters and have not been able to get it to be stable, nor achieve speeds any faster than MoCA 1.1. It will run for a while and then for no apparent reason one of the adapters will lose sync for a few hours and then magically start working again.

Yeah, that happened here as well, but my ECB6200's did not want to sync at all. So, I found this link here --> https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8HwR5FqmyDtLXRzTndTYmRoVGc&usp=drive_web in a MoCA 2.0 ECB6000 thread, page 7.

I followed the instructions to redo the firmware and afterwards set the RF Channel to 1350 on both ECB6200's. They now have been stable since my last posting in this thread. Don't play with the bands. It will break the ethernet adapter communication. If you have any trouble beyond this, let me know and I can try to help.

 

[sfx2000]

Update-3, March 15: Well, the adapters have stayed connected for a week now. So I believe I am in the clear so far. However, I do not think I am getting the highest achievable speeds unless something is limiting my connection between my laptop (wireless, which is a known at 144mbps or 18MB/s ) and my Thecus N2100 NAS connected via ethernet. Anywho, lesson is, if you're having problems with the adapters right out of the box with the "current firmware" try uploading it manually in the "Update Firmware" section and adjusting the "RF Channel" and see if that works

Makes me wonder if you have a bad or hidden splitter somewhere inside your cable network... or a really old splitter that has pretty steep cut off above certain frequencies..

Before I cut over to DBS from CATV, the existing runs could support analog TV just fine, but with the CATV provider moving everything over to SDV, the DTA mini-box would always lose sync because of poor signal - I ended up redoing all the runs with new RG-58 (and the new style compression connectors), along with putting in 1 three way, replacing two very old two-way splitters...

So where I'm at now - Demarc/Curbside into the service entry, a three way there for CATV, CM, and POTS network adapter - the CATV run goes up into the attach in a 3 way to drops in the living room, family room, and master bedroom. On the broadband run, there's a bandpass filter on it to clean up DOCSIS 3... I've since replaced the first threeway with a two way after the transition to DBS (DirecTV in my case, and it has it's own RG6 runs for it, and that's all over MOCA)

Friend of mine is a cable installer (independent), and he used a time-domain reflectometer (it's a function in the CATV equivalent of a Telco butt set), and that's how we found a hidden splitter on the old runs, along with an unterminated end on one of them (was inside the wall) - thirty five year old home, and I'm the third owner, so most of the stuff was from before...

The gist here is that it's not always what's hooked up, sometimes it's the wires themselves - and not all splitters are created the same - older ones don't have the frequency range of the more recent ones...

 

[Quickster357]

Makes me wonder if you have a bad or hidden splitter somewhere inside your cable network... or a really old splitter that has pretty steep cut off above certain frequencies..

Before I cut over to DBS from CATV, the existing runs could support analog TV just fine, but with the CATV provider moving everything over to SDV, the DTA mini-box would always lose sync because of poor signal - I ended up redoing all the runs with new RG-58 (and the new style compression connectors), along with putting in 1 three way, replacing two very old two-way splitters...

So where I'm at now - Demarc/Curbside into the service entry, a three way there for CATV, CM, and POTS network adapter - the CATV run goes up into the attach in a 3 way to drops in the living room, family room, and master bedroom. On the broadband run, there's a bandpass filter on it to clean up DOCSIS 3... I've since replaced the first threeway with a two way after the transition to DBS (DirecTV in my case, and it has it's own RG6 runs for it, and that's all over MOCA)

Friend of mine is a cable installer (independent), and he used a time-domain reflectometer (it's a function in the CATV equivalent of a Telco butt set), and that's how we found a hidden splitter on the old runs, along with an unterminated end on one of them (was inside the wall) - thirty five year old home, and I'm the third owner, so most of the stuff was from before...

The gist here is that it's not always what's hooked up, sometimes it's the wires themselves - and not all splitters are created the same - older ones don't have the frequency range of the more recent ones...

We had our wiring replaced with RG-6 quad shield, which is better than RG-58, I wan't to say about 8 years ago by my father, an engineer and very skilled handyman. The lines run from the wall and terminate directly to our cable amplifier, a PPC Evo Entry 1-9-U/U that is supposedly MoCA friendly. There is only one splitter which is upstairs being unused on a bedroom line. It was the ECB6200's acting up somehow. Like I posted, after reflashing the firmware and setting the RF Channel to 1350 I haven't had any problems...