Incompetence

[Buckshot002]

Here we go......all the details of my issue......Working on In-laws New Wired Laptop. 

Currently  using an old 'wired' IBM thinkpad that I took in to replace one they had that died to allow them to check emails.  Works fine!  Went shopping for a new PC.

Bought an HP Pavillion from Staples that has both wireless and wired capable, Win 7 home edition

In-Laws have only  wired 1 port modem.  The original Westell E90-610015-06 from 2007. Says DSL2 + Router on the bottom.

I have reloaded the PC from backup on D drive and HP sent me restore cd's to try that reload.  Made no difference.

One of the Verizon techs I spoke with was able to take control of my IBM laptop and verify the modem and old pc settings.

They cannot take control of the NEW laptop. 

Varius techs stepped me through verifying all settings on the new Laptop they could think of.

Powered the Westell off/on, tried reset button, tried leaving modem/laptop powered off 24 hrs-overnight.

Eventually a Verizon level 3 tech that was supposed to be a paid service(they didn't charge) told me, it must be an HP pc problem, since my old laptop works fine with the old modem.  and washed his hands of the matter.

I take the laptop to MY house, where I am using Verizon DSL Westell D90-327W15 with both wired and wireless pc's working. (working using both) Plugged this laptop into the ethernet wired port....

and it does not work on the internet/web, fails the same was as below. 

Thinking maybe I have a bad ethernet card???

So...

I took the Laptop to Staples and it connects via wired ethernet port and am able to visit all web sites and they work as they should. (had done so previously as well)  Did not have to change any settings. WoW!

I then took the laptop to a friends house, he's using isp penteledata.net  cable modem and laptop works great, wired into the router and then the modem directly. All websites communicate both ways, no delays or problems.  Can access everthing I tried.  Did not have to change any settings.  Wow WoW! Not the ethernet port/card

Problem seems only to occurr on Verizon Networks/modems!!!!!

I am at the point where I plug cat5 cable in and laptop gets Wired lan connected message.

I click on Explorer and the home page takes me to MSN page.

If I click on any of the items available to click on,  the wheel/clock just spins and nothing ever comes back.  That is my  problem!!!

I can also get to the Google home page, click on news and news items display, but if I click on any of those,  they won't/don't respond as above.

Many Other sites I try don't even bring up their initial page, such as AOL and Verizon, Yahoo, Amazon to name a few. 

Is their some Verizon security relative to web ip addresses being blocked......or what

This is a Verizon specific problem........and I don't know where to turn next!

One of the Verizon LiveChat techs confirmed to me that this should be a plug and play event of a wired PC working on Verizon modems......it ain't.     

ps  Also see my original post that you asked me to verify ping response addresses. 

[smith6612]

OK. Seems to be one of those oddball/interesting problems that shouldn't have happened but did. Visit the Device Manager on the new PC and look under "Network Adapters" for the NIC name. Tell me what the name of it is. From there, double check the device to open the Properties Window. Choose the Driver Tab, and tell me the date and version of the installed Driver. Lastly, visit the Advanced tab, if one exists, and look for options involving Offloading. Tell me what options are available, and what they are set to. Also for the heck of it, if you have Wireless in your home see if the Wireless will work properly. I didn't see mention of that in any of your posts other than you pointing out you attempted to use a newer VersaLink router.

Yes, I realize pinging is working fine though I have seen and heard of a few oddball situations where Offloading on the NIC actually causes more problems than it does help the NIC perform (such as the case of the FiOS routers and those Killer Gaming NICs). It happens between certain switches, but since you claim it is only happening with Verizon gear, which is mostly Westell these days, there might be a common link. Even then, still a strange issue to me. If it isn't an issue with the NIC, it might be a Juniper issue, but that doesn't explain how you can open web addresses and fail to follow links.

[Buckshot002]

When I go to IE  and enter seansite.dyndns.org.     the wheel/clock just keep on spinning. get nothing back

Display where any data sould be is white and blank

when I ping seansite.dyndns.org   it pings 69.175.6.67

nslookup Seansite.dyndns.org

server dslrouter

address 192.168.1.1

non auth

seansite.dyndns.org

  69.175.6.67

Under Network adapters

RAlink rt539 802.11 b/g/n wifi adapter

Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller   (devic type: Network Adapter,  Mfg: Realtek,   Location PCI bus 2, device 0, function 0)

    Statu is "this device is working properly)

for the Realtek

revision Date

3/4/2011

7.422.304.2011      (believe this is the current one when check at the PTE location that this Laptop works at.)

Under Advance Tab........for the ones that have options

ARP Offliad   -                      enabled

IPv4 Checksum Offload -  Rx & Tx enabled

Large send offload v2 (IPv4) - enabled

Network Adress   has the Not Preset click and the value is blank

NS Offload  -   enabled

Priority & Lan ---Priority & VLAN Enabled

Receiv Buffers   -  512

Receive side scaling  -  Enabled

Speed & Deplex  - Auto Negotiation 

This HP Laptop is new out of the box!  Nothing is loaded on it SW wise that did not come with it!  I did not enable the Norton trial that came with it.  One other thing I tried on the Verizon router at my house was  to temporarily DISABLE  the firewall, thinking something might be being blocked but it had no effect and I set it back.   I did not try the wireless anywhere, since the 'home' location with the Westell 6100 is only a wired one port modem and where it should work. I did not want to 'muddy the waters' even further.

I know that you are running me thru ALL the things commonly screwed up on the PC, but since this is a known good working laptop on other ISP's other then Verizon, Westell and whatever security functions they use are 'hosed'.

I lean heavily towards the modem being the problem, or a setting within that shows one way and is reacting another.

[smith6612]

For the Realtek NIC, disable IPv4 Checksum Offload and also disable Large Send Offload v2 to see if the problem is improved. There shouldn't be a need to disable this since I use Checksum offloading on my NICs here, and have not had any issue with Westell equipment, but like I said, it is one of those odd problems.

The IP did return correctly for my webserver. The server has been online for several weeks (from when I last upgraded the hardware on it) without downtime so it should have replied.

[Buckshot002]

Disabling per above, didn't make any difference. Problem remained the same.

One thing I did notice, that I hadn't before, an msn news page is the default load when you click on IE.  Verbage comes back , but the pictures don't load for the articles or the ads.  If you click any article on this page or try most any other page, you get NO reply.

Wheel keeps spinning.

Out of desperation, (since I had time to kill today)

I called Peggy at level 1,  and she ran me thru EVERYTHING once again, even though I insisted she read the problem log as to what was already done, explained some of the things WE have tried looking at, grasping at straws.  After 2 hrs, She tried to get me off the phone by blaming IE and HP Laptop, and each time I insisted that was not the case as it works on other ISP's at other locations.  She went away a couple times, to get new things to try, I told her to explain to whoever she was talking with, that this PC works at other non-Verizon locations.  Not, I believe DSL loactions.   I would not go away.  

Another thing I noticed while changing, verifying settings.  I believe it said  PPP for internet and the Laptop is DHCP.

Powering off modem, holding the reset button and also leaving the modem powered  off 24+ hrs thoughout this ordeal should have overcome this????   BTW, I am located in Reading, Pa area,,,,you are or were close by?

Eventually, she connected me with Level 3 paid support with a gratius call.   Tech wanted to know if he could take control of my Laptop, and I said sure, but  since they could not talk with it , pgm wouldn't load.  Was tried before.

Explained the modem settings were checked previously with the old IBM laptop connected and were found to be as expected.  Explained that NEW Laptop works at other Sites/ISP's.

He didn't bother going thru anything else,  suggested it MAY BE TIME to try a new modem!!!! Supposedly one will be shipped via UPS and arrive tomorrow?  I got a confirm #.  (this was promised before though, so time will tell)

It may not be bad, but it may force something we are missing to get reset?

And, It may not turn out to be the problem, but it is well past the time it gets eliminated as a possibility.

That being the case,  this laptop doesn't work wired at my house, using Verizon DSL, Westell 327w.

I am loathe to consider buying a new laptop for myself!!!  Total phone time today, 3hr 15 min.

[arockstory]

Looks like Smith6612 is trying hard to help. I haven't experienced that so far dealing with Verizon. We had solid internet access for months until a week ago when it went out and then came back but only periodically for brief periods of time. We have a solid DSL light and a good wireless network but can not pull up any webpages. During a ping, 2-3 of the packets get lost coming back.

My calls to India have resulted in it being blamed on 1) my laptop (even thought the sudden problem was on all five computers in my house), 2) lines under repair in my area, 3) a router problem (I did get sent a new router), 4) more maintenance problems in my area.

What do I do to get accurate information? Is there really line maintenance going on in the 77573 area code? How can I verify this without talking to someone in India with no clue? 

[Buckshot002]

New Westell 6100 arrived next day as promised.  Modern revision!

As a precaution,  since we had played with and checked every setting we could think of,  I decided to reload the laptop back to factory settings, and set back up again to ensure we were back to stock settings where it had worked at other sites.

After the reload,  I checked to see if the laptop acted the same before swapping out the modem,(for the 4th time)  and it did!  Didn't Work. Got the LAN connected msg, but would not pass internet data in both directions.

I made sure I followed the new modem setup instructions word for word. 

Disconnecting old modem and installed the new one.  Except,  I DID NOT use the new ethernet cable from the modem to the laptop nor did I replace the phone line (rj11 ends) from the phone jack.  Since I was sure both were good as they worked on the OLD IBM laptop.

Modem powered up and after a bit, got the correct indicator lites per instructions.  At the point the instructions said open the browser and the Verizon Activation screen would come up,  it didn't, instead got a 404 error!  After closing and opening IE a few times with the same 404 error,  I decided to try entering Verizon.com and low and behold, the activation screen came up and was sucessfully completed.  

After completion, It still didn't work.  I clicked around the network settings here and there for a bit, did a POR to the laptop, .......them NOTICED the Internet lite had turned red on the modem.   When it didn't go green after a bit....I powered off the modem,  waited about 30 seconds, powered back up and MY GOD....IT WORKS!   

Loaded Google Chrome so I have another browser to compare with if future problems,  and will probably add FireFox to the mix.  Went out to EBAY, AOL, GOOGLE NEWs sites,  got info back sucessfully......   Connected the printer and Win7 went out and brought back the drivers.  Left the in-laws to familiarize themselves with Win 7 and ensure any other sites the use work.

Will head back later to install Office and Virus protection and and MSN updates

If it wasn't the modem, getting a new one forced a reactivation thru Verizon setup and settings being reset, that allowed the new HP Laptop to be recognized and work???.

Special thanks to Smith6612 for working me through various attempts to repair and helping me keep my sanity.

Verizon phone helpdesk needs figure out a way so that each time you call on the same problem, you are not starting back at square 1 with level 1 support.  After a given time or # of calls, there should be auto escalation to the next level of support.  After all, this process stared Aug 4th.   If I hadn't been able to see this laptop work at 2 other non Verizon locations, Level 1 would have had me returning this laptop to the MFG 4 times!!!!!

Thanks again.

[Buckshot002]

I can sympathize,  I live in an area that has over the years had repetitive, intermittent problems with noise, hum, clipping etc, usually in just one direction, and often related to weather.  We have only copper lines on the street (no fiber) and talking with the line repair crews over the years, have learned they have few good pairs of copper left to switch to, and no plans to run new lines.   Back when I was just dialup, was hard to convince Verizon they had a problem if the noise wasn't on the transmit, or cleared when the rain stopped etc.  Were famous for blaming my in-house wires and or other equipment such as modems, pc's, answering machines etc.

I took the drastic measure of running my phone line out the window, directly into the grey demarc that eliminates all my wires and 'stuff'    When I upgraded to DSL, I made sure I bought the Verizon modem/router so they could not blame a 3rd party. 

About a year ago, they eventually replaced the demarc and my problems disappeared until two months ago...Coincidentally? a tree trimming road crew spent 2 weeks doing major tree trimming along the highway,  'deviling'  the lines. Actually saw a couple spots where a limb had grown around the wires and they cut the tree limb off, leaving a 8-12 inch piece of limb dangle with the line running thru it.  

Around the same time, my voice line 'acquired' hum on my receive, and later saw telco service working on the lines, hoped they would fix my line while repairing someone elses service call.  But it wasn't till I lost the DLS internet at various times of day for weeks, before I could bring myself to call 'Peggy' and put myself  thru problem determination. I was prepard when I did. 

I did some testing before calling,  ran my line back out the window to the demarc again,  and did repetitive broadband speed tests of the line, at various times.   ( Google 'verizon broadband speed test',  since I can't link it)  and printed them for ammunition when calling for service.

When the test comes back with upload and download speeds,   click on review test details, it will look something like this....(more info then a ping test)

Broadband Speed Test

Analysis information:

Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
SendBufferSize set to [130680]
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 483.32Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 997.69kb/s

------ Client System Details ------
OS data: Name = Windows XP, Architecture = x86, Version = 5.1
Java data: Vendor = Sun Microsystems Inc., Version = 1.6.0_26

------ Web100 Detailed Analysis ------
Client Receive Window detected at 1045440 bytes.
Cable modem/DSL/T1 link found.
Link set to Full Duplex mode
Information: throughput is limited by other network traffic.
Good network cable(s) found
Normal duplex operation found.

Web100 reports the Round trip time = 1141.07 msec; the Packet size = 1444 Bytes; and
No packet loss - but packets arrived out-of-order 0.19% of the time
This connection is sender limited 93.71% of the time.
This connection is network limited 6.29% of the time.

Web100 reports TCP negotiated the optional Performance Settings to:
RFC 2018 Selective Acknowledgment: ON
RFC 896 Nagle Algorithm: ON
RFC 3168 Explicit Congestion Notification: OFF
RFC 1323 Time Stamping: OFF
RFC 1323 Window Scaling: ON
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End

My problem was twofold.  I was paying for 3meg service,  but the best I was getting was a little over two, with lots of errors and retrys.

Tech tested at the demarc,  got high packet loss and high percent out of order.  Per repair tech, I never should have been sold the 3meg, as I was at the max distance for 3meg  and there was hum on the line.  He manually lowered my speed at the pole to 1.5 and showed me on the test set that the errors and retransmitts cleared due to the lower speed.  

AND the PC was faster at the lower speed of 1.5.   He said to call Verizon and tell them to lower my speed to 1.5, AS his temp pole fix wouldn't  hold.    He was also going to talk to his supervisor to try have a wire tech to come out and try to find a good copper pair to switch me to.     Then came the strike!

Now my problem is....when I called Verizon, they said the don't HAVE a 1.5 speed and lowered me back to the 1 meg speed, which is usually around .75.    This is slow and takes awhile to get downloads back.  Do I call again......or wait till the cable co has a sale?      File all but the line testing under too much info! 

[smith6612]

I'm glad to hear all is solved 🙂 Hope it doesn't give you any more trouble and I certainly hope you enjoy the new laptop.

By the way, a quick way to disable that activation screen on the Westell 6100 is to visit http://192.168.1.1/verizon/redirect.htm after changing the modem's password by visiting http://192.168.1.1/ (User and password of admin/password respectively). That bypasses the Activation screen/walled garden, and allows you to configure the modem manually OR leave it as is. Both options after the redirection is disabled should provide the connectivity the way you have it now. The activator basically does what I outlined above, so just for future reference.

To the post above, the 1.5Mbps speed is simply a midpoint between the old 768kbps and 3Mbps packages if you consider how they used to do their pages. These days, it falls in line with the 1.1Mbps-15Mbps package, so it's unadvertised, but is advertised in a range of speeds you could get. SInce you have already done the NID tests with little change from the sounds of things, it seems you have already done the first step into troubleshooting. The next question is, do you experience the same humming and static on the phone line out at the same NID as you do inside? Humming is often a sign of cabling damage, mainly to the jackets/sheiding that keeps the noise caused from electrical wiring (60Hz) and radio transmitters out of the line. If your humming returned around the time the tree trimming was occurring, it's possible a part of the trunk line was damaged from falling limbs or simply from growth/weather. It's also possible that there is excess wiring existing in the loop has had an intermittent connection with your copper pair but leads to nowhere. Either way, if there is humming or other noise at the NID, you need to get a voice repair tech out to inspect the line. A bad copper pair can be made "good" again if it isn't to the point of being beyond repair. Bad splices can be repaired, intermittent connections can be repaired, along with bridge taps being removed (which can cause similar issues). Bad shielding on cabling can be patched to lessen the effects, however the best solution to that is to replace the entire section of cabling affected.

If you wish to provide your modem Transceiver Statistics as a reference, that would be appreciated. Telling us what modem you have, if you don't know how to get those stats is a start.

@arockstory: Have you created your own thread in this forum? If you can do so, we can see what the problem might be.

[Buckshot002]

Just to be clear,   the location  with the new Laptop that we couldn't get working.  It is working fine now and I am not about to mess with anything.   Happy to be away from that problem.

Separate issue.  my house,  Westell 327W modem, I use both a wired desktop and a wireless laptop

As I mentioned to the 'rock' , my problems are intermittant but reoccur periodically thoughout the year, and often seemingly 'wet' related, prior to the tree crew.

I was suggesting to him ways to get ammunition when trying to report problems.  Intermittant problems are the worst, you can only hope at some point someone hears or sees the problem so they don't think your crazy or a PITA making things up. Once you have a 'witness' half the battle is won!

When the hum was in my 'ear'. It was there inside AND plugged into the customer jack at the NID. (Currently I am still plugged directly into the NID thru the window.  No inhouse wiring. )  Currently, the line is crystal clear. No hum or static. Best it's been in awhile.    I put up with the noise till it kept knocking down the internet.  

I have regularly talked to the telco crews working various problems, as one of the points they often check is at the bottom of my driveway.   They have told me,  that I guess it is the trunk line,  is old and has assorted problems and they have trouble finding spare pairs that are good or available.  AND they are not spending money running new copper.

All the ways you mentioned to actually FIX a bad pair or line are true, but unless they have no other choice are forsaken to save time and money.   Houses are spread out pretty good around here (not urban) so not cost effective.

When the repair tech was here, he heard the problem,  lowered my speed to the 1.5 to improve the bit error rate (my verbage)  and ultimitley reliability.  Did SAY,  I was at the extreme end of acceptabily distance wise for the 3 meg and with the noise, was causing the failures. 

He was going to report the problem and try to get someone out to work on the nosie or get me a better line.  2 hrs latter I got a msg on my phone telling me my problem was resolved, but no call back name or  #.

Wasn't sure whether was really on the 'list' for further work, but then within a day or two they went on strike, with the other PC problem, got too busy.  

ANYWAY......as a reference,  currently (compare this with the info I gave earlier-they are diffferent) 

I fished on the web to figure out how to get the...

Transceiver Statistics

Transceiver Revision:	7.2.3.0
Vendor ID Code:	4
Line Mode:	ADSL2+ Mode
Data Path:	Interleaved
Transceiver Information	Downstream Path	Upstream Path
DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec)	1179	446
Margin (dB)	29.5	22.0
Line Attenuation (dB)	45.0	28.0
Transmit Power (dBm)	15.6	12.1

AND

Ran the Speedtest, shortly after above

Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
SendBufferSize set to [130680]
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 479.02Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 971.37kb/s
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
Server says [96.227.11.234] but Client says [192.168.1.44]

These are truly the best speedtest results I have gotten since the repair tech was out some weeks ago. 

Can you determine from this how far I am from the co. or mux??