Power on Flashing Internet, recycle made no difference

[mjnaylor8]

Hi

I have a v3 Sure Signal which is not connecting to Vodafone but has a flashing white internet light which does not correspond to any of the light sequences indicated in the on line troubleshooting.  It has been like this for over 3 days.

The device has worked in the past - however I have found the reliability of the connection to be poor with the device needing restarting approx 2-3 times a week to re-establish the connection

Contacted Vodafone yesterday via live chat and my Sure Singal was "recycled" what ever that means.  This has made no difference.

Device serial # is 40131954949.

It is connected in the home network with a fixed IP address, connected behind a Airport Extreme router and a Gigabit switch.  Port forwarding for the fixed IP address for UDP 4500,500,123,50,8 is configured on the router.  I can see the device is assigned the correct IP address on the network.

I have checked broadband speeds and doen ping test - results as follows

Down speed 4.41, Up 0.38

Ping - packet loss 0, 28ms ping, jitter 1ms

External IP 82.69.124.10

 Tracert as follows to IP

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.2.9200]
(c) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>tracert 212.183.133.177

Tracing route to cluster4.vap.vodafone.co.uk [212.183.133.177]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2    28 ms    27 ms    27 ms  losubs.subs.dsl1.th-lon.zen.net.uk [62.3.84.17]

  3    28 ms    27 ms    27 ms  ge-0-0-0-113.cr2.th-lon.zen.net.uk [62.3.84.181]

  4    32 ms    31 ms    32 ms  lndgw2.arcor-ip.net [195.66.224.124]
  5    28 ms    28 ms    29 ms  85.205.116.2
  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 17     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 18     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 19     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 20     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 21     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 22     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 23     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 24     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 25     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 26     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 27     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 28     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 29     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 30     *        *        *     Request timed out.

Trace complete.

I have also tried a factory reset - this also makes no difference

Can you help sort this out please.

[Retired-Andy]

Hi mjnaylor8,

Your speed test, ping test and traceroute are fine and your IP address is on our whitelist so no problems there.

I’ve checked your serial number and can see that it connected to our servers last night at 19:03, are you still seeing the same lights?

To make sure it’s as up to date as possible, I’ve just resynced your Sure Signal.

So that the resync completes, can you do a factory reset for me:-

• Find the button on the base of the unit next to the Ethernet ports
• Press and hold the button for approximately 30 seconds
• Once the lights come back on, release the button
• The Sure Signal will come online in around one hour

Let me know how you go on.

Cheers,

Andrew

[mjnaylor8]

Andrew

Strangely enough started working about 3 hours after I posted the fault!

All OK now.

Thanks

[mjnaylor8]

Hi

It has done it again!

The unit is flashing trying to connect to servers but is not connecting.

I have tried resetting the unit and that also does not help.

Can you try and reset again from your end.

Why does this keep on happening - there seems to be great difficulty in keeping this working and without it we have no Vodafone signal at all at the back of the house.

Please help

[Retired-James]

Hi mjnaylor8,

It’s not connected to the server for 5 days so I’ve re-synced it again as requested.

We do need to look at why this is happening and it sounds like it could be to do with your broadband.

When it stops working, do you notice any drops in speed or quality of your internet connection?

Do you know if your internet provider causes any changes after a couple of days for items attached to the router?

It sounds like there may be a problem with the Sure Signal being reassigned an IP address which causes the connection to fail.

Is the Sure Signal setup on the router with a static IP address?

James

[mjnaylor8]

James

The SureSignal has a fixed IP at the top of the range of the DHCP server and reserved so nothing else will use it.  I have the DHCP lease time set for 24 hours.

NAT is set up to allow UDP ports  4500,500,123,50,8 to map to the IP address.  Nothing else is using those ports.

I use a IP redirect service and the external facing IP is pretty static as far as I am aware so I don't think the ISP (Zen Internet) is doing anything strange.  I have no problems accessing the NAS server in the home network from outside. It is the same as when I made the first post on 7th Sep so it has been stable for nearly a month.

As I said before the Sure Signal is attached to a gigabit switch which is in turn attached to the Router (an Apple AirPort Extreme).  The firmware on the router is up to date.

The broadband here is OK and the network in the house solid - I never have to reboot or restart anything.  I have not noticed any broadband issues - we notice the Sure Signal is not working as the mobiles at the back of the house where we have the SureSignal stop working (there is no Vodafone signal at the rear of the house) - the wi fi connection however is OK.  i.e. we can't make calls.

You say the issue maybe the SureSignal being reassigned an address but not where.  In the house the IP address is fixed.  How does it connect to servers at your end and what keeps the connection alive?  What does it transmit to say "hello" I am here and on this IP address? I would have expected the bandwith to keep the connection was very small but increases when the phone is actually transmitting data.  When it works it works fine - I have not noticed any latency when using the phone through the device. 

Happy to spend time trying to get this to work.  It might help someone else.

Michael

[Retired-Andy]

Hi Michael,

Can you try just the Sure Signal and the router with no other components attached?

If it then works, it would indicate that there’s something your set up that prevents the Sure Signal from keeping a stable connection to our servers.

Let me know how you go on.

Cheers,

Andrew

[mjnaylor8]

Andrew

That seems to have worked.  I unplugged everything from the router and after about 3 hours it was connected.

I have since replugged everything else into the router  and left the Sure Signal in one of the ethernet ports on the router and it works OK. 

I occassionally have to restart the Sure Signal or restart the phones to get connected but it is now connecting to your servers and seems to be holding the connection better.

Why?

What difference could the switches between the router and the wired outlets connected to the router make?  Any ideas what I can do to sniff out what is causing the local interference?

Thanks

M

What difference

[mjnaylor8]

Hi

The VSS has stopped connecting.

Tried hard reset and checked no changes to home network and speeds of broadband look fine.

Can you try a reset at your end please.

Thanks

[DaveCD]

Hi mjnaylor8

I have moved your post so we can keep all the information together.

I have resynced this for you, please let me know if there is any change.

If there is still no signal, please can you let me know what lights you're seeing.

DaveCD