Need help with (near) consistent packet loss. Netgraph attached - 1 attachment

[Daniel Damouth]

I've been noticing a weird trend lately with my connection so I
decided to try and see if there's anything visually wrong with a
netgraph on it.
I know the netgraph I posted only shows a relatively small
timeframe, but the pattern of the red packet loss does continue
almost like clockwork.

What's the horizontal scale? (What is the span of time graphed?)

I will check later today to see if my TV
signal artifacts at a similar rate as well, but would the cable
signal be at fault here or is it something else?

One possibility is some periodic thing that your computer is doing that
takes all the CPU.

-Dan Damouth

[Farinata]

Post by Daniel Damouth

I've been noticing a weird trend lately with my connection so I
decided to try and see if there's anything visually wrong with a
netgraph on it.
I know the netgraph I posted only shows a relatively small
timeframe, but the pattern of the red packet loss does continue
almost like clockwork.

What's the horizontal scale? (What is the span of time graphed?)

The timeframe is about 5 minutes, but I assure you it does that
consistently. Sorry I couldn't post a different netgraph. I don't have
any connection monitoring programs, so I had to resort to the only game I
play that has a netgraph.

Post by Daniel Damouth

I will check later today to see if my TV
signal artifacts at a similar rate as well, but would the cable
signal be at fault here or is it something else?

One possibility is some periodic thing that your computer is doing that
takes all the CPU.
-Dan Damouth

I have thought about that for a bit, but didn't really check up on that.
I will check on my other computer if the same thing happens.

[Scott Lindner]

Is netgraph a free tool? I've been having troubles with complete drop outs
of service for short periods of time for several weeks. I know in my case
it is a cable modem or issue outside of my house. I can see the indicators
on the modem drop out with the servce outtage. For the past two weeks it'll
drop out for about 5 seconds and then recover. Just enough to kill off any
connection based things I might be doing over the Net.

I'd like to run such a thing to monitor my connection to see if there are
any patterns like you noted. That could help debug this thing.

Scott

[Farinata]

Post by Scott Lindner
Is netgraph a free tool? I've been having troubles with complete drop
outs of service for short periods of time for several weeks. I know
in my case it is a cable modem or issue outside of my house. I can
see the indicators on the modem drop out with the servce outtage. For
the past two weeks it'll drop out for about 5 seconds and then
recover. Just enough to kill off any connection based things I might
be doing over the Net.
I'd like to run such a thing to monitor my connection to see if there
are any patterns like you noted. That could help debug this thing.
Scott

I don't know why, but I completely forgot dslreports.com's packetloss
monitor. If you're looking to see if your connection is doing fine, run
that test on their site.

And as for my problem, apparently it wasn't the connection. I tried
almost everything I can think of, but when I switched out my wireless
card with a different one, everything went back to normal. I guess I'm
going to do more testing to see what was going wrong with the card.

[Scott Lindner]

Post by Farinata
I don't know why, but I completely forgot dslreports.com's packetloss
monitor. If you're looking to see if your connection is doing fine, run
that test on their site.

Thanks. I will try this to see if there is a pattern in my situation.
Today I've experienced over 100 disconnects. The service is nearly useless.
Dial up is by far better. But of course.. I can't get through to anyone.
It's so funny that the only thing that seems to be operating properly is
their billing department.

Yeah.. this is a free market.

[DirtyRAT]

I had a bad packetloss problem a few years ago, and it turned out to be a
corroded coaxial cable connector under my house. The ocean air ( i am 8
blocks from beach) corroded the connector. The RR tech swapped the connector
and applied an anti-corrosive paste to the coaxcable-to-connector switch to
retard deterioration. Perhaps this story is a help.

- Weeeeeee!

Post by Scott Lindner

Post by Farinata
I don't know why, but I completely forgot dslreports.com's packetloss
monitor. If you're looking to see if your connection is doing fine, run
that test on their site.

Thanks. I will try this to see if there is a pattern in my situation.
Today I've experienced over 100 disconnects. The service is nearly useless.
Dial up is by far better. But of course.. I can't get through to anyone.
It's so funny that the only thing that seems to be operating properly is
their billing department.
Yeah.. this is a free market.

[Scott Lindner]

Post by DirtyRAT
I had a bad packetloss problem a few years ago, and it turned out to be a
corroded coaxial cable connector under my house. The ocean air ( i am 8
blocks from beach) corroded the connector. The RR tech swapped the connector
and applied an anti-corrosive paste to the coaxcable-to-connector switch to
retard deterioration. Perhaps this story is a help.

Not applicable in my case but thanks for sharing. The tech measured my
cables and signal strength and said it was awesome. He couldn't find
anything wrong but gave me a new modem, problem solved. According to Edwin
my problems coincide perfectly with a modulation card change in RR's routers
for my area. He said some modems have troubles and the only solution is to
get a new modem. I'm convinced this is it since all other measures pointed
to perfect service, yet we didn't have perfect service. The status on my
old modem said all was great, the signal levels were impeccable, the logs
were filled with errors.

Scott

[DirtyRAT]

Yay!! I am glad you finally got service back!

Curious: did you have an older, non-docsis modem before the modem upgrade?

- Dirtyrat

Post by DirtyRAT

Post by DirtyRAT
I had a bad packetloss problem a few years ago, and it turned out to be a
corroded coaxial cable connector under my house. The ocean air ( i am 8
blocks from beach) corroded the connector. The RR tech swapped the

connector

Post by DirtyRAT
and applied an anti-corrosive paste to the coaxcable-to-connector switch

to

Post by DirtyRAT
retard deterioration. Perhaps this story is a help.

Not applicable in my case but thanks for sharing. The tech measured my
cables and signal strength and said it was awesome. He couldn't find
anything wrong but gave me a new modem, problem solved. According to Edwin
my problems coincide perfectly with a modulation card change in RR's routers
for my area. He said some modems have troubles and the only solution is to
get a new modem. I'm convinced this is it since all other measures pointed
to perfect service, yet we didn't have perfect service. The status on my
old modem said all was great, the signal levels were impeccable, the logs
were filled with errors.
Scott

[Scott Lindner]

Post by DirtyRAT
Yay!! I am glad you finally got service back!

28 days with subpar service

Post by DirtyRAT
Curious: did you have an older, non-docsis modem before the modem upgrade?

I think it was a Surfboard 4100. I don't know if that's even valid. It
looks identical to what they replaced it with. The config page for my
current modem says it is a Surfboard 5100.

Scott

[Kenyon Ralph]

Post by Scott Lindner
I think it was a Surfboard 4100. I don't know if that's even valid. It
looks identical to what they replaced it with. The config page for my
current modem says it is a Surfboard 5100.

I'm still on a SB4100, working just fine and at high speed.

[Scott Lindner]

Post by Kenyon Ralph
I'm still on a SB4100, working just fine and at high speed.

I got the impression from Edwin that some modems [of the same model] have
issues with the new modulator cards they installed. That was my problem. I
don't notice any better, or worse, performance with the SB5100 from before
the outtage a month ago. Maybe someone more knowledgeable could explain the
differences between the SB4100 and SB5100.

Scott