Virgin Media Community

[roblye]

Hi All

We have been having problems for the last couple of weeks after years of stable internet.. 

Our setup comprises of a VM 2 hub with 200Mbps connection, from which I have a single lead (bottom socket), connected to a TP link 8 way switch connected to this is (by cable), is a tv, PS4, Sonos Beam, Apple tv, VM V6 box and a link to a TP Homeplug.

Upstairs the remote Homeplug is connected directly to a Apple TimeCapsule from which there are hard wired connections to an iMac and and my work Windows laptop. We also have 3 MacBooks, 2 iPads, 2 iPhones and a Blink home CCTV connecting wirelessly.

This was all working fine, no problems, no dropouts but a weak wifi signal in my study. Due to having been working from home for the last few months and no foreseeable return, I thought I would try to improve my wifi upstairs in my study by adding a TP-Link mesh system. 

Installed it, disabled wifi on the VM router, but found it was a bit flakey with the Mesh keep resetting itself so removed it and went back to what we had, including reenabling the wifi.

Since then the wifi drops out, shows connected but no internet, the wired connection, especially to the PS4 fails to connect, today it failed to connect my hoemplug and hence my work laptop, all this means is we have to reset a couple of times a day.

The most common fault/indiction/error message seems to be a with IP address's being "self assigned"  (which I looked up as I am not an IT engineer), it seems that the hub is failing to allocate IP addresses. Would this be the case?

Would doing a factory reset solve this or is it something more fundamental? 

I would change ISP provider but no one else does high speed fibre by me.

[roblye]

We have been having problems for the last couple of weeks after years of stable internet.. 

Our setup comprises of a VM 2 hub with 200Mbps connection, from which I have a single lead (bottom socket), connected to a TP link 8 way switch connected to this is (by cable), is a tv, PS4, Sonos Beam, Apple tv, VM V6 box and a link to a TP Homeplug.

Upstairs the remote Homeplug is connected directly to a Apple TimeCapsule from which there are hard wired connections to an iMac and and my work Windows laptop. We also have 3 MacBooks, 2 iPads, 2 iPhones and a Blink home CCTV connecting wirelessly.

This was all working fine, no problems, no dropouts but a weak wifi signal in my study. Due to having been working from home for the last few months and no foreseeable return, I thought I would try to improve my wifi upstairs in my study by adding a TP-Link mesh system. 

Installed it, disabled wifi on the VM router, but found it was a bit flakey with the Mesh keep resetting itself so removed it and went back to what we had, including reenabling the wifi.

Since then the wifi drops out, shows connected but no internet, the wired connection, especially to the PS4 fails to connect, today it failed to connect my hoemplug and hence my work laptop, all this means is we have to reset a couple of times a day.

The most common fault/indiction/error message seems to be a with IP address's being "self assigned"  (which I looked up as I am not an IT engineer), it seems that the hub is failing to allocate IP addresses. Would this be the case?

Would doing a factory reset solve this or is it something more fundamental? 

I would change ISP provider but no one else does high speed fibre by me.

[Z92]

I would definitely start by doing a full pin hole reset of the hub, and if you are using static IPs, then make sure to stay outside of the hubs IP allocation range, which is normally .10 to .255, or just use reserved addresses instead. 

[roblye]

Hi

Well I am going to try the pin reset next as I haven't done it yet.

As for IP addresses, I don't know enough about them to fiddle and as far as I am concerned they are all set by the router as I wouldn't understand appointing static addresses.

One thing I have noticed, that if I go into the VM admin settings, it shows everything that is connected except the PS4 and a couple of the wireless connections.

Fingers crossed the pinhole reset does the trick.

Ta

[jbrennand]

Can you clarify a bit - which device is the router? I assume the SH2 is in modem mode so not that. So is it the TC upstairs or the first TP link Mesh unit? You dont have more than one doing it by any chance?

[roblye]

Hi jbrennand

OK, line comes in to a VM Hub 2, in router mode (ie standard as installed by VM), from here there is a cable (lower port of router), to a TP link 8 port switch, plugged into the switch (hardwired) are:-

TV, PS4, Apple TV, VM V6 box, Sonos Beam, TP link homeplug extender. So one line in from the bottom socket of the SH2 and 6 lines out.

Upstairs is the remote TP Link home plug extender with a cable out to an Apple Timecapsule, from this my iMac and work Windows laptop are hardwired via two of the ports in the back of the Time capsule.

There is also the other equipment connected via wifi although not all of them at the same time.

This has been working with no interruption in service for years, even after I introduced  the switch due to the amount of hardwired items accumulated.

After trying out the mesh system during which I followed the instructions to disable the SH2 as a router and plugged the switch into the mesh module, all was working ok but wifi kept dropping out.

Therefore I removed all the mesh stuff (3 node TP Deco 5) and connected the switch back to the SH2, I also re-enabled wifi on the SH2.

So now the SH2 is in full router/wifi mode, the switch connected to the SH2, 6 items connected to switch direct, 2 items via the home plug upstairs, plus 11/12 devices connected via wifi. (2 iPhones, 2 iPad pros, 3 MacBooks, Blink CCTV, 3 printers). Basically back how it was working without any problems prior to the installation of the, now removed, Mesh system.

Does that clarify things?

[jbrennand]

Kind of 🙂

So the original problem you had (still have?) is weak Wifi in the Study upstairs - where the TC is? Is that not set in "extend wireless network" mode and thus broadcasting wifi signal directly into the study?

I use a couple of Airport Expresses around the house in bridge mode to extend the wifi signal from my Airport Extreme (routing) downstairs. I get excellent wifi signal from them to connect x2 V6's.

[roblye]

Hi

Nope its nothing to do with wifi now. . .its after disconnecting the mesh as I didn't find it any good, its the fact that we are now continually getting various bits of kit that will not connect, both wired and wifi.

For instance, I spend 9/10 in the study working from hoe, go downstairs of an evening, check social media, news, emails etc on iPad, also my iPhone. . .wife will spend a hour or two browsing on her iPad (buying rubbish as normal). . but if I then decide to have a quick CoD game on the PS4, I find that it says "connect to the internet". . . . . then the only way to do that is reboot the SH2 as the PS4 wont connect via ethernet or wifi!

[roblye]

Right, did a pinhole reset.

Plugged everything back into the switch and turned it on.

Now the tv, VM V6 box, Sonos beam, PS4, apple tv, all hardwired to switch are working.

Two iPhones, two iPad pros, MacBook air and MacBook pro working over wifi.

upstairs neither the iMac, 2nd MacBook air or windows laptop can connect either via the hardwired home plug connection or via wifi, however the three printers (in the same room) are all connected via wifi ! ! ! ! ! !

All the network tabs show is "self assigned IP address cannot connect to internet". . .tried all the tricks I can see with no luck. . . beginning to think that moving too a slower but more reliable provider may be the answer.

[Beth_G]

Hi roblye,

I'm sorry to hear that some of your devices are still struggling to connect to the internet. Can you please try renewing the DHCP on your Macs? 

Please ensure that you're either connected via Ethernet or WiFi before you start. You'll need to click the Apple Menu > System preferences > Network, select your home network > Advanced > 'Renew DHCP lease'

If that doesn't work, I'd advise forgetting the network settings and then connecting again.

Let me know if that helps

Beth

[roblye]

Hi Beth

tried that already on the Macs not sure how to do it on the windows laptop. 

it’s a self assigned IP address problem I think although I’m not techy 

as I’ve said all the wired and WiFi stuff works downstairs but in the study the laptop iMac and MacBook Air won’t connect either wired or WiFi but three printers have all connected via WiFi in the same room!

will try forgetting the school and also doing a factory reset via the command screen later.