VSS Version 3 - Power - solid, Internet - flashing

[steve0819]

Hi,

There seem to be numbers of threads citing this problem, but no generic one, & the troubleshooting guide doesn't include this light sequence, so I'm starting a new one.

Following a 2 months+ struggle, & with the help of the forum, I managed to get our VSS 3 going last week. It has now stopped working & shows the light pattern of Power - solid, Internet - flashing white. The other lights are off. As I understand it, this means that the VSS is negotiating with your servers, but can't complete the connection. I have made no changes since the set up was working perfectly. Here's what I've done to try & rectify matters.

1. Reset the VSS.

2. Rebooted our router.

3. Checked that the VSS has been allocated an IP address successfully.

4. Run the standard diagnostics. Results are very similar to what we got when we ran them during the earlier problem & are -

Speed Test

Ping - 35ms

Download - 17.83Mbps

Upload - 11.95Mbps

Ping Test

Ping 32ms

Jitter 7ms

Unable to test packet loss

VSS Serial No.

40131565596

Trace Output

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

  1    22 ms     1 ms     1 ms  my.router [192.168.1.1]
  2    16 ms    18 ms    19 ms  254-128-12-86.static.virginmedia.com [86.12.128.
254]
  3    11 ms    20 ms    22 ms  cdif-lam-4-tenge83-3489.network.virginmedia.net
[62.252.208.90]
  4    15 ms    20 ms    17 ms  cdif-core-2b-xe-110-0.network.virginmedia.net [1
95.182.172.49]
  5    59 ms    25 ms    26 ms  brnt-bb-1a-ae16-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.25
3.174.85]
  6    22 ms    31 ms    24 ms  brhm-bb-1b-et-700-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.
253.175.38]
  7    42 ms    34 ms    51 ms  brhm-bb-1c-ae7-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253
.174.102]
  8    32 ms    32 ms    33 ms  tcl5-ic-2-ae0-0.network.virginmedia.net [212.250
.15.210]
  9    37 ms    31 ms    32 ms  ldngw1.arcor-ip.net [195.66.224.209]
 10    36 ms    32 ms    30 ms  85.205.116.14
 

Everything looks fine this end. I reckon it's down to you. If you want to check out the previous problem, please refer to my earlier posts.

Many thanks,

Steve

[Retired-Andy]

Hi steve0819,

You are right, the sequence of lights shows that the Sure Signal is being configured. This can include receiving a profile update. The process can take up to 6 hours to complete.

If, during this time, you’ve reset the Sure Signal, the configuration process will start from scratch again.

I’ve checked your serial number and can see it connected to our servers at 03:24 this morning, 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 for you.

To make sure it 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

If this doesn’t solve things for you, are you able to try the unit on a different internet connection? If the Sure Signal works there, it indicates that there’s something in your current set up that’s preventing it from maintaining a stable connection to our servers.

If it doesn’t work in the other location, it may indicate that the unit is faulty and would need a repair.

Thanks,

Andrew

[steve0819]

Hi Andrew,

Without my doing anything & no more than an hour after your message, our VSS started working. It is at least 48 hours since I did a reset, so I conclude it was your resync that did the trick.

What we need now is reliability. I'll wait & see whether or not we get it, but, reading various posts on the forum, it seems this is a common problem, which recurs for many users. We know that our set up is correct & it's unlikely to change, so potentially we'll be asking you to resync regularly. A couple of queries -

1. Is there a method of requesting a resync without the delay inherent in using the forum?

2. Is there anything we can do to minimise recurrence of the problem?

3. Is there anything you can do to minimise recurrence of the problem?

Many thanks for your help.

Steve

[Retired-James]

Hi Steve,

I’m glad it’s all up and running again for you.

In regards to the re-sync, you can request this on the eForum, by calling 191 or through the live chat option online.

James

[steve0819]

Good afternoon,

It's not often I get angry on the telephone, but I have just finished talking to a quite extraordinarily obstructive & patronising member of Vodafone's tech support team. Calling 191 doesn't work, so I'm going back to the forum.

After 3 months + of successful running, I have the same symptoms I raised in this thread back in the summer. I rebooted everything this end & the problem has persisted for more than 48 hours. Last time the problem was solved by a resync at the server end. Please do so now; the techie I got annoyed with refused & seemed to think the problem was something to do with my router configuration. That's nonsense; if the resync doesn't work, I'll do the diagnostics & we can look elsewhere.

Many thanks,

Steve

[Retired-Dave]

Hi steve0819,

I can only apologise for any poor service you've received. That's not what we aim to provide at all.

I've done the resync for you now. Give it another reset and let us know if that clears it.

Dave

[steve0819]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for that. I reset the VSS yesterday afternoon, shortly after your message & left it overnight. Today, it's still acting up. The power light is solid & the internet light is flashing. You're now going to ask for diagnostics. I did the standard ones & results were as follows -

Speed Test

Ping - 15ms

Download - 21.56Mbps

Upload - 11.73Mbps

Ping Test

Ping 24ms

Jitter 5ms

Unable to test packet loss

VSS Serial No.

40131565596

Trace Output

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

  1     2 ms     1 ms     1 ms  my.router [192.168.1.1]
  2    11 ms    12 ms    12 ms  254-128-12-86.static.virginm.net [86.12.128.254]

  3    26 ms    14 ms    16 ms  cdif-lam-4-tenge83-3489.network.virginmedia.net
[62.252.208.90]
  4    21 ms    20 ms    26 ms  cdif-core-2b-xe-110-0.network.virginmedia.net [1
95.182.172.49]
  5    29 ms    26 ms    27 ms  brnt-bb-1a-ae16-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.25
3.174.85]
  6    18 ms    20 ms    18 ms  brhm-bb-1b-et-700-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.
253.175.38]
  7    17 ms    20 ms    20 ms  brhm-bb-1c-ae7-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253
.174.102]
  8    24 ms    24 ms    22 ms  tcl5-ic-2-ae0-0.network.virginmedia.net [212.250
.15.210]
  9    29 ms    26 ms    24 ms  lndgw2.arcor-ip.net [195.66.224.124]
 10    26 ms    25 ms    25 ms  85.205.116.2
 

I have done a soft reboot on all the devices on our network & pinged the VSS successfully. I have not made any changes to the network configuration here & all the data seems very similar to what we have seen when tried in the past. I have no evidence that there is a problem with the VSS, so I can only conclude the problem is down to system changes with -

1. My ISP who are a small, local outfit & buy bandwidth wholesale from -

2. Virgin.

3. Vodafone.

What do we do now?

Many thanks,

Steve

[Ben_H]

Thanks Steve,

Your speeds are good as is the traceroute. I couldn't see your IP address though.

Looking at your serial number, your unit hasn't 'touched base' with our servers since the 24th.

I've pushed another manual synchronisation through for you. As before, could you perform a reset and leave it for an hour to complete for me?

Who is it the wholesaler for your internet too?

Cheers, Ben

[steve0819]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for that. I'm afraid I didn't pick up your reply until this morning, so I've only just reset the VSS; I'll check back this afternoon & post the results here.

My apologies for forgetting the external IP address; it's 86.12.128.18 .

As regards your other query, our ISP is called TFL (www.tfl-group.com). They specialise in wireless broadband for rural Wales. As you can see from the speed stats, we don't do at all badly for what is a poor area for wired connections (0.5Mbps maximum here).

Best regards,

Steve

[steve0819]

Hi Ben,

Further to mine of this morning, I checked the VSS just now & it's still showing a solid power light with internet flashing. I reset it again, just in case I screwed up earlier & I'll have another look tomorrow.

As far as I understand things, the pattern means that the connection to the internet is fine, but for some reason we're not getting through to your servers. If that's true, I've proved the problem is not mine, it is probably yours, but there's an outside chance one of the two intermediaries is at fault. Is there anything else I can do?

Many thanks,

Steve