RT-N66R can't determine internet connection type

[ameacham]

I have an RT-N66R attached to a Cisco modem for Charter Ultra-High Speed access. It's been working great for 13 months. I left the house today and 3 hours later when I got back, I did not have any access. All lights are on properly on the router and modem! I have worked with Charter; they can find the router on the other side of the modem. I have rebooted both modem and router multiple times; even left the modem off about 15 min. I have replaced the cable between router and modem. I also reset the router to factory defaults. The router simply can't determine the connection type. I checked with Charter to be sure of the type and the router still can't find it. I can ping the router but nothing outside.

So I went to buy a new router - got another RT-N66R. And exactly the same thing is happening. QIS can't determine internet connection type.

When I plug directly into the modem, I have access. And I can connect without issue to the wireless network. But internet access just doesn't get from the modem to the router....

Surely hope you guys can give me some suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

[cofetym]

What firmware are you using, stock or RMerlin ?

 

[RMerlin]

A few random notes here:

1) When moving a cablemodem between routers or computers, you must always power it off for 5-10 mins before turning it back on again with a new router (or a direct computer) plugged to it. This is because most ISPs will only allocate one DHCP lease to the first MAC they see. If a different MAC requests a new lease without the first one being expired/released by them, it won't provide you with a new lease.

2)Try a different cable between the modem and the router (even if that cable worked fine with a PC plugged to it).

3) Charter are quite aggressive at blacklisting MACs that send too many DHCP queries. Make sure you have DHCP mode set to "Normal" and not "Aggressive" on the router's WAN page. Once you change it, it can take up to 5 mins before Charter will once again start issuing DHCP leases to you.