Virgin Media Community

[AnthonyW1]

Please help. I'm getting drops quite frequently for a few mins at a time 4 or 5 times each work day.

Reading on forum - I correlate the drops at my end user level with 'No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out' in the Superhub 2 logs.

Its running in modem mode. 

Here are all the diagnostics.

Please can an engineer go and boost my signal at the local comms cabinet?

Time Not Established	Time Not Established	Notice (6)	84000510	Downstream Locked Successfully
16/04/2020 12:26:31 GMT	16/04/2020 12:26:31 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
16/04/2020 12:26:30 GMT	16/04/2020 12:26:30 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
16/04/2020 12:26:29 GMT	16/04/2020 12:26:29 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
16/04/2020 12:22:50 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:50 GMT	Error (4)	68000407	TOD established
16/04/2020 12:22:39 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:39 GMT	Notice (6)	84000510	Downstream Locked Successfully
16/04/2020 12:22:31 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:31 GMT	Critical (3)	82000600	Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted
16/04/2020 12:22:31 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:31 GMT	Critical (3)	82000300	Ranging Request Retries exhausted
16/04/2020 12:22:29 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:29 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
16/04/2020 12:22:28 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:28 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
16/04/2020 12:22:27 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:27 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
16/04/2020 12:22:26 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:26 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
16/04/2020 12:22:24 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:24 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
16/04/2020 12:22:23 GMT	16/04/2020 12:22:23 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out

I had a great week following "Your speed boost is complete! Your connection speed is now up to 100Mbps.'

But now its dropped down to 13Meg!!!

Area reference 31

[AnthonyW1]

Additional diagnostics

Upstream

US-1US-2US-3US-4

Channel Type	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Channel ID	1	2	3	4
Frequency (Hz)	46200000	39400000	32600000	25800000
Ranging Status	Success	Success	Success	Success
Modulation	64QAM	64QAM	64QAM	64QAM
Symbol Rate (Sym/sec)	5120000	5120000	5120000	5120000
Mini-Slot Size	2	2	2	2
Power Level (dBmV)	40.25	40.00	40.25	39.50
T1 Timeouts	0	0	0	0
T2 Timeouts	0	0	0	0
T3 Timeouts	0	0	0	0
T4 Timeouts	0	0	0	0

Downstream

DS-1DS-2DS-3DS-4DS-5DS-6DS-7DS-8

Frequency (Hz)	411000000	419000000	427000000	435000000	443000000	451000000	459000000	467000000
Lock Status(QAM Lock/FEC Sync/MPEG Lock)	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked
Channel ID	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Modulation	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM
Symbol Rate (Msym/sec)	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000
Interleave Depth	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17
Power Level (dBmV)	2.48	1.60	1.03	0.93	1.05	1.05	1.11	1.23
RxMER (dB)	36.39	36.39	36.17	36.17	36.39	36.39	36.39	36.61
Pre RS Errors	442	405	1071	1011	1026	930	324	983
Post RS Errors	325	317	1049	999	1021	922	303	975

[AnthonyW1]

Engineer swapped out Superhub2 to a Superhub3.

Another drop today. Logs show:

21/04/2020 11:25:26	critical	Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
21/04/2020 11:25:26	critical	Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
21/04/2020 11:25:13	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
21/04/2020 11:25:12	critical	Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
21/04/2020 11:25:12	critical	Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
21/04/2020 11:22:32	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

[AnthonyW1]

I had my cable modem power supply plugged into a 6 socket extension lead that runs a bunch of other devices that sit near the modem and my wifi hub.

I moved tat to plug directly into an outlet. Today no drops and no errors or warnings in the network log.

It may be co-incidence.

I watched this you tube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxarSx0rQ9M

Resolve Cable Modem Disconnects

I have also ordered a Motorola BDA-K1-RA signal amplifier that I plan to add to help out the cable modem.... Anyone tried this? 

[jem101]

That's a six and half year old video made in the US (where the standards for cable internet are subtly different from here by the way) and on the basis of what was said, you've bought some random piece of equipment with no idea of what it will do to the signal and noise levels. Actually if it does what it claims on the label, ie a 15dB increase in forward path power, it wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't blow your downstream power levels way over the upper bounds and what the VM Hub will make of that I wouldn't like to say?

What could possibly go wrong?

Get your money back if you can and if it arrives please put it straight in the recycling.

You either have a slight cable fault (which you would have hoped the engineer would have found) or possibly that six-way adapter you mention was particularly noisy and causing power issues.

[AnthonyW1]

Random? I did buy a signal amplifier having seen frequent several per day disconnects from the cable modem to wider Virgin network (t3 ranging blah blah) and having had an engineer out after an hour on hold and on troubleshooting with the virgin support team on the phone.

And the engineer visit  failed to resolve the reliability problem. Great.

But on the plus side,  the new superhub3 looks nice and has a pleasing purple LED when it is connected......

• No response on this forum to the copious diagnostic info I've uploaded. 

When the device arrives I will do A-B testing and alternate days with it ON and with it unplugged.

Scientific method and RF electronics haven't changed that much in 6 years. 

Either it helps of it makes things worse  - or has no effect. Lets see before we recycle...

if anyone has an expert opinion on the diagnostics I've uploaded please do tell.

[Maurice_s · Accepted solution]

Hi, Regarding your signal specs, to be honest they look reasonably good, all well within expected limits.

Maybe leave for a day or so and check again.

[Adduxi · Accepted solution]

Your DS levels are already at +6 or so, adding a further +15 from that amplifier will push that to +21, well over the upper limit of +10 for cable. I really can't see why you would want to do that?
Have you considered a BQM monitor which will show the incoming signal 24 x 7 and you will have a record of any problems. www.thinkbroadband.com/ping

[AnthonyW1]

Tried setting that monitor up but unfortunately there is no way to respond to ICMP echo (pings) that are used by the monitor dashboard.

Superhub3 is in modem mode hooked into TP-Link DecoM9 that acts as router to the mesh Wifi in my home.

I do have an always on Ubuntu box on my network so could run something that verifies the outbound - any recommendations for a Linux service I can run in the background that will gather data on uptime & etc. Something that will run 24-7 rather than as a command line troubleshoot when things are already broken...

[AnthonyW1]

What are the causes of "No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out" ?