Constant DSL loss of connectivity with Westell modem 7500

[hiro19821]

My problem has been getting worse over the past several months.

The modem apparently loses the connection - as frequently as every 20 minutes. Sometimes it comes back within a few minutes, sometimes it takes up to an hour. It now happens at any time of day.

It is recovered when I reboot the router. But I don't want to reboot the router every 20 min.

I called verizon support. But the support guy was not enough knowledgeable and didn't try to understand my situation.

He kept saying please reboot the router when it happens.

Whenever the issue happens, I can connect to the router from my PC.

And I can see the connection log. It always says PPP down. And I can see the log below.

Does anyone have any idea about what is happening and how I can fix it?

Thank you very much!

Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.warn	pppd[1764]:	pppd[1764] EXIT_PPPOE_TIMEOUT_PADO caused InternetFail light to be lit
Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.notice	pppd[1764]:	PPPD Exit Status changed EXIT_OK->EXIT_PPPOE_TIMEOUT_PADO during phase PHASE_SERIALCONN->PHASE_HOLDOFF
Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.notice	pppd[1764]:	Westell phase_hook PHASE=PHASE_HOLDOFF(11)
Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.notice	pppd[1764]:	Westell Random Holdoff returning 71 seconds
Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.warn	pppd[1764]:	Leaving destroy_pppoesessionfile
Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.err	pppd[1764]:	Unlinking PPPoE session file:/WFIO/ppp-config0
Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.warn	pppd[1764]:	Enter destroy_pppoesessionfile
Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.err	pppd[1764]:	Unable to complete PPPoE Discovery
Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.warn	pppd[1764]:	Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Dec 29 12:06:53	daemon.warn	pppd[1764]:	waitForPADO: timed out
Dec 29 12:06:43	daemon.warn	pppd[1764]:	waitForPADO: timed out
Dec 29 12:06:38	daemon.warn	pppd[1764]:	waitForPADO: timed out

[dslr595148]

Step one: Visit http://www.giganews.com/line_info.html and post up the Traceroute the page shows, if you wish. Be aware that your non-bogan public IP Address will show up.  It might shown up as the final hop (bottom-most line of the trace)  might contain a hop with your IP address in it. Either remove that line or show only the first two octets. What I'm looking for is a line that mentions "ERX" in it's name towards the end. If for some reason the trace does not complete (two lines full of Stars), keep the trace route intact.

For example this what I saw when I was using Verizon

---

news.giganews.com

    traceroute to 71.242.*.* (71.242.*.*), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
    1 gw1-g-vlan201.dca.giganews.com (216.196.98.4) 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms
    2 ash-bb1-link.telia.net (213.248.70.241) 39 ms 7 ms 7 ms
    3 TenGigE0-2-0-0.GW1.IAD8.ALTER.NET (63.125.125.41) 4 ms 4 ms GigabitEthernet2-0-0.GW8.IAD8.ALTER.NET (63.65.76.189) 4 ms
    4 so-7-1-0-0.PHIL-CORE-RTR1.verizon-gni.net (130.81.20.137) 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms
    5 P3-0-0.PHIL-DSL-RTR11.verizon-gni.net (130.81.13.170) 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms
    6 static-71-242-*-*.phlapa.east.verizon.net (71.242.*.*) 32 ms 32 ms 33 ms

---

Step two: Can you provide the Transceiver Statistics from your modem?

a) If you see a Blue and White Westell page, mouse over Troubleshooting, go to DSL, and choose Transceiver Statistics. Copy and paste the information on that page.

b) If using the Red and Black Firmware: Go to System Monitoring > Advanced Monitors > Transceiver Statistics. Copy and paste the information on that page.

c) Try visiting http://192.168.1.1/transtat.htm which is a direct link to the Stats on older modems.

[hiro19821]

Hello dslr595148,

Thank you for your reply.

Re: Step1

As you know, I cannot connect to Internet when the issue happens.

So I tried to access news.giganews.com when the connection was alive.

==========================================================================

news.giganews.com

traceroute to 71.190.*.* (71.190.*.*), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 gw1-g-vlan201.dca.giganews.com (216.196.98.4) 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms
2 ash-bb1-link.telia.net (213.248.70.241) 43 ms 43 ms 5 ms
3 ash-b2-link.telia.net (213.155.130.37) 0 ms ash-b2-link.telia.net (213.155.130.157) 0 ms 0 ms
4 TenGigE0-0-0-10.GW1.IAD8.ALTER.NET (152.179.50.233) 11 ms 11 ms 2 ms
5 0.xe-3-1-2.XL3.IAD8.ALTER.NET (152.63.35.146) 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms
6 P1-8-0-0.NYCMNY-LCR-21.verizon-gni.net (130.81.199.11) 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms
7 P1-0.NYCMNY-GRCYNYGC-ERXG03.verizon-gni.net (130.81.45.31) 10 ms 11 ms 10 ms
8 * * *
9 * * *
10 * * *
11 * * *
12 * * *
13 * Max number of unresponsive hops reached (firewall or filter?)

==========================================================================

Re: Step2

My router was case b).

Please find the stats below.

==========================================================================

Transceiver Statistics

Transceiver Revision A2pB020b3.d20h Vendor ID Code 4D54 Line Mode ADSL_2plus Data Path FAST

Transceiver Information Down Stream Path Up Stream Path DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 9224 839 Margin (dB) 6.2 9.9 Line Attenuation (dB) 36.0 19.4 Transmit Power (dBm) 22.0 12.4

==========================================================================

Hope the information helps you to find something.

If you need any other information, please let me know.

Thanks in advance,

Hiro

[smith6612]

It looks like you're having a problem with your downstream sync. The noise margin is very low and the downstream isn't synchronized properly. The upstream looks to be okay, despite the noise margin of ~10dB, but it looks like your upload isn't set as high as it should be due to noise. If the transmit power is any indication, there is some additional headroom, but not much, for more upload too.

Try testing your modem out at the NID If at all possible. See this FAQ for information on what a NID is, and how to perform a test. It is for telephone service, but for DSL modems the concent is the same. Just ignore the part about dial tone, and pay attention to the DSL light. If it goes solid, you've found the active wire pair. You'll need to then pull the statistics from your modem after you've allowed it to stay connected for a few minutes.

http://www.verizon.com/Support/Residential/phone/homephone/general+support/phone+troubleshooting/cal...

If you don't have a NID that allows you to easily check the line, consider asking Verizon to come out and install what is known as a "Home Run" in the field. This is in essence, a setup where a dedicated phone wire pair is plugged into your DSL modem, and the rest of your home is filtered from the DSL signal. This helps to avoid problems with DSL caused by unintentionally unfiltered devices (Alarm systems, Satellite receivers, Intercom systems), and additional attenuation/resistance caused by having a ton of phones with Microfilters attached. In my home for example, the capacity of my line went up by 2Mbps by simply installing a Home Run.

[hiro19821]

Hi Smith6612,

Thank you for taking your time to look into this issue.

I called Verizon Support again and told him your comment.

Finally Verizon Support decided to send a tech guy to my home 1/3.

I'll keep you posted.

Regards,

Hiro

[hiro19821 · Accepted solution]

Hi All,

Thank you for your great support.

Finally, it was solved.

A tech came and told me that something was wrong in my house and changed something.

It seemed solved at that time, but the same issue happened repeatedly from the next day.

I called Verizon Support again.

And another tech came. And he said something was wrong from Verizon to my house.

And he fixed.

I haven't seen the same issue since then.

Now, the downstream margin(dB) shows around 15.0.

Regards,

Hiro