My (usually) very stable VDSL internet connection dropped out a few days ago and took a lot to get re-established again afterwards!
I've been looking into the problem since, trying to work out what happened.
I found this in the router logs ...
A number of things strike me as a bit odd...
i) this happened at 12:00:00 on a sunday
ii) connect time of "129589.5 minutes" is 89 days, 23 hours, 49.5 minutes - suspiciously close to 90 days!
iii) Timeout waiting for PADO packets - it wouldn't let me just reconnect like a normal disconnect-reconnect
iv) those byte totals look very small for 90 days of traffic - they must have wrapped? (many times?)
Despite rebooting the rooter (from the web interface), power cycling the VDSL (ECI) modem (the DSL sync light was rapidly back on), it didn't want to reconnect again.
I resorted to calling the ISP's support and was told to try their router, which I dug out and after much messing about configuring it again, successfully got it connected.
Going back to the Asus router initially didn't work, until I power cycled that too and then it did.
So I'm left wondering what finally got it reconnected? Was it something the ISP did their end? Did connecting the other router somehow clear up the connection? Was it just the passage of time (it was a good hour or more before it reconnected)? Was it power cycling the Asus router, rather than "soft" rebooting it from the gui?
I wont really know, tbh...
But, can anyone shed any light on any of this? in particular...
From what I can tell PADO timeout indicates a problem at the ISP end?
Is it likely that something, somewhere, terminates the session after 90 days? or at exactly 12:00:00 on a sunday?
Is the Asus/Merlin firmware known for having trouble with PPPoE Discovery?
Next time, what command can I enter at the CLI to just restart the PPPoE process and force it to attempt to reconnect?
(if it matters, it's Merlin 380.69, yes, I know it's old, but upgrading is always such an ordeal... can I preserve params or not? does it need a factory reset?... hmmm... at least with the AC56 being unsupported I only ever have one more update to go!
)
I've been looking into the problem since, trying to work out what happened.
I found this in the router logs ...
Code:
Feb 24 11:59:54 pppd[580]: No response to 10 echo-requests
Feb 24 11:59:54 pppd[580]: Serial link appears to be disconnected.
Feb 24 11:59:54 pppd[580]: Connect time 129589.5 minutes.
Feb 24 11:59:54 pppd[580]: Sent 575555972 bytes, received 2943682033 bytes.
Feb 24 12:00:00 pppd[580]: Connection terminated.
Feb 24 12:00:00 pppd[580]: Sent PADT
Feb 24 12:00:00 pppd[580]: Modem hangup
Feb 24 12:00:45 pppd[580]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Feb 24 12:02:00 pppd[580]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Feb 24 12:02:11 pppd[580]: Unable to complete PPPoE Discovery
Feb 24 12:02:11 pppd[580]: Hangup (SIGHUP)
Feb 24 12:02:11 pppd[580]: Terminating on signal 15
Feb 24 12:02:11 pppd[580]: Exit.A number of things strike me as a bit odd...
i) this happened at 12:00:00 on a sunday
ii) connect time of "129589.5 minutes" is 89 days, 23 hours, 49.5 minutes - suspiciously close to 90 days!
iii) Timeout waiting for PADO packets - it wouldn't let me just reconnect like a normal disconnect-reconnect
iv) those byte totals look very small for 90 days of traffic - they must have wrapped? (many times?)
Despite rebooting the rooter (from the web interface), power cycling the VDSL (ECI) modem (the DSL sync light was rapidly back on), it didn't want to reconnect again.
I resorted to calling the ISP's support and was told to try their router, which I dug out and after much messing about configuring it again, successfully got it connected.
Going back to the Asus router initially didn't work, until I power cycled that too and then it did.
So I'm left wondering what finally got it reconnected? Was it something the ISP did their end? Did connecting the other router somehow clear up the connection? Was it just the passage of time (it was a good hour or more before it reconnected)? Was it power cycling the Asus router, rather than "soft" rebooting it from the gui?
I wont really know, tbh...
But, can anyone shed any light on any of this? in particular...
From what I can tell PADO timeout indicates a problem at the ISP end?
Is it likely that something, somewhere, terminates the session after 90 days? or at exactly 12:00:00 on a sunday?
Is the Asus/Merlin firmware known for having trouble with PPPoE Discovery?
Next time, what command can I enter at the CLI to just restart the PPPoE process and force it to attempt to reconnect?
(if it matters, it's Merlin 380.69, yes, I know it's old, but upgrading is always such an ordeal... can I preserve params or not? does it need a factory reset?... hmmm... at least with the AC56 being unsupported I only ever have one more update to go!
)
