Virgin Media Community

[Langley123]

I understand this issue has been posted on here more times than I have had hot dinners although my 2 year long journey of complaints with virgin media hasn't really gotten me anywhere. 

So just so there is no confusion, every time the critical error occurs, I lose internet connection on both wired and wireless connections, momentarily, which results in work call disconnections sadly. I also lose connection to the router itself although it doesn't completely reboot.

I work as a network engineer and I ran out of possible fixes very early on. Things I've tried - 

1. I had another hub 3.0 sent out for me to replace it over a year ago, errors still occurred.

2. had an engineer attend, he admitted he didn't understand the logs, and that all he does is use his device to connect to the network, the device then gives him green ticks next to all the services that are currently functioning as expected, then red crosses next to services with issues. Then he clicks the red crosses and it tells him what to do to fix the issues. I really appreciated his honesty in all fairness. 

3. I've placed the router in modem mode and used another "gaming router" as my primary, the virgin media router was still producing the same warning and critical logs when I checked a few days later. So I disconnected it after a few weeks as it didn't help or solve the specific issue.

I've read the puma chipset issue was resolved in the past with a firmware update, so I'm assuming the cause is less likely to be that specific chipset issue. 

On all of the other posts about this issue I've seen people state upstream and downstream power levels are an indication of the cause. 

"Good Downstream power levels are within -7 to +7 dBmV. Good Upstream power levels are within 38-48 dBmV" 

Downstream bonded channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) SNR (dB) Modulation Channel ID

1	202750000	-18.2	31	256 qam	9
2	138750000	-20.5	29	256 qam	1
3	146750000	-19.8	29	256 qam	2
4	154750000	-19.4	30	256 qam	3
5	162750000	-19.2	30	256 qam	4
6	170750000	-18.8	31	256 qam	5
7	178750000	-18.5	31	256 qam	6
8	186750000	-18.3	31	256 qam	7
9	194750000	-18.2	31	256 qam	8
10	210750000	-17.9	31	256 qam	10
11	218750000	-17.5	31	256 qam	11
12	226750000	-17.5	31	256 qam	12
13	234750000	-17.5	32	256 qam	13
14	242750000	-17.5	32	256 qam	14
15	250750000	-17.5	32	256 qam	15
16	258750000	-17.5	32	256 qam	16
17	266750000	-17.2	32	256 qam	17
18	274750000	-17	32	256 qam	18
19	282750000	-16.8	32	256 qam	19
20	290750000	-16.5	32	256 qam	20
21	298750000	-16	32	256 qam	21
22	306750000	-15.9	32	256 qam	22
23	314750000	-15.8	33	256 qam	23
24	322750000	-15.5	33	256 qam	24

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) Symbol Rate (ksps) Modulation Channel ID

1	39400000	49.3	5120	64 qam	6
2	46200000	49	5120	64 qam	5
3	25799955	50	5120	64 qam	8
4	32600000	49.8	5120	64 qam	7

So downstream power levels are way too low, upstream power levels are a little too high. When the engineer attended, he didn't understand the logs. 

Could probably use an attenuator for the upstream power levels, was hoping an engineer would adjust the power output for the downstream power levels from the box outside although he didn't know how. 

I should state these power levels are not always like this, some times I can go a few days without the errors and the power levels are within normal range, since I've been seeing the power levels and errors for 2 years now. If an engineer does attend and increases the power output from the box outside then at some point the levels will change again and the power levels will instead be too high. 

Has anyone ended up genuinely fixing this issue? from the error logs point of view I mean. I dropped off a work call 3 times this morning, somewhat annoying. I recently upgraded to 350Mbps because there was a deal. My complaint ticket is still open, although the only feed back I got was they wasn't sure if the mac addresses in the errors were a wireless device that I owned...I don't have much faith in that specific complaint team because the mac addresses are owned by Arris, the organization responsible for mas producing the NIC's for virgin media devices.

[Andruser]

AT the moment you took those stats your downstream power levels were appalling low, and consequently SNR was too low.  That should normally be an easy spot and an easy fix for a field tech.  I'll flag that for the forum staff to comment and perhaps book another technician.  But given the histroy you report, what are you even still with, or willing ton stay with VM?  High speeds are worthless without reliability and competent customer support.

[Langley123]

I do wish that the last engineer I had was able to assist me with the logs or at least the power level issues, or even the complaint team in the last 2 years. I've been with virgin media for about 7 years now, I stay for the speeds and the possibility of the issue being fixed, but I completely agree with your point. This forum is the last option I have to try and get the issue fixed as its the only thing I haven't tried as of yet.

[Lee_R]

Hi @Langley123

I am sorry to hear your issues are ongoing. I am going to send you a quick PM

Regards

Lee

[jem101]

@Langley123 among the things you have tried, did you include systematically tracing back the cables from the hub to the omnibox on the outside wall and checking that every joint was nice and tight (doesn’t need to be too tight) and no signs of obvious damage to the cable?

What you have described is a classic case of a dodgy cable joint somewhere between the hub and the street cabinet - as it is intermittent, I suspect something has worked a bit loose, sometimes makes a good connection and other times doesn’t. When the connection is bad, it acts as a big attenuator (hence the low DS power and also a source of noise ingress (hence the low S/N ratio) - fixing that will sort out the US power too (somewhat counterintuitively, to reduce the US power you need to lower the attenuation).

Absolutely, you need another engineer to come out and check the connections all the way back to the cabinet if you can’t find anything obviously wrong in the house (or in the outside box).

John

[Langley123]

John,

Thanks for the reply. I have indeed, I've replaced the coaxial cables last year and then the engineer I had also replaced the cables afterwards as the issue was still occurring. I've made sure the connections are tight, I also was hoping it was an easy cable replacement or router replacement, although luck didn't seem to be in my favor in that regard. The last time the errors occurred 3 hours ago , hopefully the next engineer has an idea of what to do because the complaint team were not able to tell me what the sync timing synchronization and RCS partial service errors meant.

I kept seeing posts stating that the mac addresses should be somewhat censored, so voila. The most recent router logs.

03/02/2021 01:04:44	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/02/2021 01:04:43	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XXXX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/02/2021 01:04:33	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/02/2021 01:04:33	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XXXX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/02/2021 01:03:13	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/02/2021 01:03:13	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XXXX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 19:20:33	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 19:20:33	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XXXX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 15:40:22	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 15:36:44	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XXXX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 15:23:2	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 15:23:1	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XXXX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 15:08:52	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 13:39:30	Warning!	Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 13:39:30	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 13:39:30	Warning!	Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 13:29:58	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 13:29:58	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XXXX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 10:50:29	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/02/2021 10:50:29	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XXXX:XX;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

[Ayjayy66]

I too am having the same issues, never seen it before but my log has warnings popping up every 20_30 seconds similar you yours, infuriating 

[Langley123]

Are your downstream or upstream power levels low? I've got an engineer popping over on wednesday to increase the power to the port. 

[Lee_R]

Hi @Ayjayy66 , thanks for posting.

I am sorry to hear that you're having power level issues which is causing issues with your internet connection.  I would like to take a closer look on your behalf.  To enable me to do so I am going to send you a private message.  Please look out for the purple envelope in top right of your screen.

Regards

Lee

[Ayjayy66]

Thanks to Lee at VM who sorted an engineer who located and fixed the issue which was no more than a bad connector, replaced and now all in the green 

Thanks Lee