Sure signal V1 not connecting

[IainGI]

My V1 sure signal stopped working a couple of days ago. Most of the time only LED 1 is on, but ocassionally LEDs 2 comes on and LED 4 flashes a few times, then they all goe out again.  I have been right through the troubleshooting guide, including resetting the Sure signal then leaving it for 12 hours, but it still doesn't work.  I have provided below the information which seems to be commonly requested on this forum.  Many thanks for your help.

Speed test results (Speedtest.net):

  Ping 17ms

  Download 6.47Mbps

  Upload 0.37Mbps

Ping test results (Pingtest.net):

  Ping 30ms

  Jitter 4ms

  Line grade B*

External IP address: 88.145.171.112

Sure signal serial number: 21230513992

Traceroute output:

traceroute to 212.183.133.177 (212.183.133.177), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 3.701 ms 4.844 ms 7.109 ms
2 88-145-168-1.host.pobb.as13285.net (88.145.168.1) 13.448 ms 14.976 ms 17.165 ms
3 host-78-151-225-155.static.as13285.net (78.151.225.155) 19.681 ms 43.568 ms 44.810 ms
4 host-78-151-225-226.static.as13285.net (78.151.225.226) 46.682 ms host-78-151-228-27.as13285.net (78.151.228.27) 48.420 ms host-78-151-225-206.static.as13285.net (78.151.225.206) 50.609 ms
5 host-78-144-11-111.as13285.net (78.144.11.111) 73.847 ms host-78-144-11-95.as13285.net (78.144.11.95) 55.010 ms 56.771 ms
6 host-78-144-11-34.as13285.net (78.144.11.34) 58.867 ms host-78-144-11-30.as13285.net (78.144.11.30) 14.167 ms host-78-144-11-10.as13285.net (78.144.11.10) 21.551 ms
7 xe-10-0-1-xcr1.lsw.cw.net (166.63.217.37) 21.520 ms 21.501 ms 21.487 ms
8 ae12-xcr1.lns.cw.net (195.2.28.26) 22.359 ms 24.283 ms 26.048 ms
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[Retired-Dave]

Hi IainGI,

Those details are all OK, and the lights show it's trying to start a connection.

I can see the Sure Signal connected yesterday morning. Have you seen any difference since then?

If not, reset and resync the box for me:

• Unplug the ethernet cable from the Sure Signal
• Hold down the reset button until all the lights show (about 30 seconds)
• Keeping the reset button held down, remove then re-insert the power lead.
• Once all lights display release the reset button.
• Plug the cable back in
• Allow around one hour for the Sure Signal to come back online.

Dave

[IainGI]

Dear Dave,

Many thanks for your reply.  I did the re-syncing steps exactly as you described at 7am this morning.  It is now 5.45pm and unfortunately the Sure Signal has not yet come back on line.  The LEDs are doing the same as before, but it never gets to the stage where LEDs 1, 2 and 4 are all on and steady. Please let me know what I should do next. Thank you.

[Retired-Ian_]

Hi IainGl,

I can't see a resync showing on the system.

I've pushed a resync through for you. 

Please leave the Sure Signal switched on for the next 24 hours and let us know how you get on.

Thanks

Ian

[IainGI]

Hello, I have left it switched on for the last 24 hours, and unfortunately it hasn't made any difference. What should I try next? Many thanks.

[IainGI · Accepted solution]

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

It turns out the black plug-top power supply unit was faulty, but this certainly wasn't immediately obvious. Anyway, I happened to have a spare PSU with exactly same specification (12V 1.5A), so I connected that to my Sure Signal and within 5 minutes it was working again.  I wish I'd tried that sooner...

I hope that helps someone!

To all who have helped from Vodafone - Many thanks.

Technical details for anyone who's interested...

The plug-top power supply is rated 12V 1.5A.  I tested it separately from the Sure Signal box and found that with no load, it produced the correct voltage (12V) and so I initially thought all was well.  However, something made me suspicious so I tested it with a 12ohm resistive load as well, and it only produced about 7V (with significant AC noise) - Obviously faulty.  My guess is that the Sure Signal draws relatively little current from the PSU during the setup phase and only gets greedy when it turns on its 3G transmitter.  At that point, the supply voltage probably droops too far, causing the Sure Signal to reboot.

[harrybolton]

I can confirm that this fix worked for me - thanks IainGI - my VSS version 1 hasn't worked for a couple of months and I'd put it down to issues with BT Infinity and my HomeHub 5.

Within two minutes of trying it with a power supply with the same specification the VSS was working perfectly.

[wellfan]

Can't believe I just found this solution. My Sure Signal V1 has not worked for well over a year. Stuck in constant loop of green lights. Read this thread and went looking for a similar cable. Found one from an old external hard drive, 12V 2A. Plugged it in and hey presto, within two minutes box came back to life. So any of you with these symptoms, go get a new power supply.

I am amazed, just saved myself £100.

Thanks, thanks, thanks.

I posted this thanks elsewhere, but thought I should again to acknowledge you as the solution provider. Brilliant.

[Rdaley]

I was rather skeptical that a failing power adaptor was the cause of not connecting - but it was. Replaced power adaptor and it connected within a few minutes.

Tried again with original adaptor and no joy. Used new adaptor and connected again within minutes.

At the same time as these problems my broadband was playing up and I found that Vodafone had de-registered my box when my account was moved to a new platform. Vodafone said although de-registered it should still work. Seemed odd but I suspect the registration is on one platform where it was deregistered and operational on another platform where it still was known.

Of course I now have to add back all the numbers that were in my original registration - damn.

[wellfan]

Strange one. I did the PSU change earlier this year and it solved my problem. However, over past few days my SS has been sapping all of my useable BB. Reset it, changed cables, fiddled about with router settings, all to no avail. Changed the PSU from a old BT router with only 1 amp, and it solved the problem. The PSU I changed to earlier must have a problem, manifesting itself by causing the SS to strangle my broadband.