Telecom DNS broken Nth Shore Auckland since 11pm 5-Nov-12

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Telecom DNS broken Nth Shore Auckland since 11pm 5-Nov-12

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40 posts

Geek

#712978 6-Nov-2012 15:33

RunningMan:
Talkiet: Update - the crazy option I thought of has been checked and wasn't involved.

Personally, I think it was Solar Flares (*)

Cheers- N

* - No I don't think that really.

Right, on a more serious note, given that has been ruled out, I'd suggest right back to basics for troubleshooting.

1) Turn off your modem, router, switch and computer.

2) PLug the computer directly in to the modem (unplug it from the switch, and plug that cable straight in to the modem.

3) Turn the modem on, and wait several minutes for it to start up and log on properly.

4) Turn your computer back on.

THEN, check what IP address, router and DNS the computer is picking up - you don't have to post the whole address here if you don't want to, but tell us if it is an external addess, internal (192.168.x.x) or self assigned (169.x.x.x).

ok I'll try this before the factory reset. hang on....

(got my tin foil hat on though ;) )

RunningMan

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#712979 6-Nov-2012 15:37

virtuadude: [

On the AM300's Advanced Routing page I have operation mode dropdown set to gateway (as opposed to router) so that I could have the Netgear working. This chained setup seemed to work fine for my wired and wifi devices for several years. case.

I don't have an AM300 here to look at, and they all use slightly different terminology, but that sounds correct.

It should be something like:

Network Address Translation (NAT) on.
DHCP on
Is there a DNS relay or similar setting?

mjb

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#713010 6-Nov-2012 16:22

RunningMan: If it isn't the gateway already on your network, then what is? What is handing out DHCP addresses - the modem or your router?

Going by the screenshot in this post, it's the modem. DHCP is "OFF" in the LAN section of the netgear's config.

That was my initial suspicion too, that there were two DHCP servers. Note that the netgear has a LAN IP, but no WAN IP - so it's being used purely as a ethernet-wifi bridge, not a router (So no double NAT involved).

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virtuadude

40 posts

Geek

#713017 6-Nov-2012 16:27

RunningMan:
It should be something like:

Network Address Translation (NAT) on.
DHCP on
Is there a DNS relay or similar setting?

On the AM300 there is a NAT Enabled radio button that is On.

virtuadude

40 posts

Geek

#713018 6-Nov-2012 16:27

RunningMan:
1) Turn off your modem, router, switch and computer.

2) PLug the computer directly in to the modem (unplug it from the switch, and plug that cable straight in to the modem.

3) Turn the modem on, and wait several minutes for it to start up and log on properly.

4) Turn your computer back on.

THEN, check what IP address, router and DNS the computer is picking up - you don't have to post the whole address here if you don't want to, but tell us if it is an external addess, internal (192.168.x.x) or self assigned (169.x.x.x).

Ok, luckily had an extra long 10m new cable sitting around. So shut off everything, plugged PC directly into AM300, rebooted modem then PC.

ipconfig /all reports I am using 192.168.1.1 for DNS - AM300 Modem status page gives me an assigned public IP 122.x.x.x it doesn't say what DNS it thinks it is getting automatically from Telecom. Something wacky happened in the modem between yesterday and today (with no settings changing) where now the modem cannot seem to automatically get DNS configuration after authenticating with Telecom like it used to before yesterday.

Maybe it is one of those power supply issues that made some kind of a non-catastrophic failure...? I'll try factory reset now and see how that goes. :)

virtuadude

40 posts

Geek

#713065 6-Nov-2012 17:52

ok I'm completely confused now. Thanks again everyone for helping me with this.

Telecom called and said that at ~2:30pm "someone signed off on some changes to my line and the work is done" - I'm not sure what he meant and he didn't know other than that comment. He said to try again and reboot modem and I did and nothing worked as before. He gave me a linksys ph # which I havent been able to get through on so I tried the factory reset.

Before I did the factory reset -
* I backed up the AM300 settings to a file just in case
* I took screenshots of the settings screens on the AM300 since the backup file is binary - so I could tell what it was before (which should be what it was yesterday when it was working)

Did all this directly connected via ethernet to AM300

1) Tried Factory reset
2) changed username & password to the same as before (though they say anything blah.xadsl@xtra.co.nz works)
3) tried to connect - it wouldnt
4) checked screenshots and it had Virtual Circuit ID of 0/100 instead of 8/35 which was the factory defaults. Switched it to 0/100 and connection worked
5) connected like this made DNS work on automatic

So - I plugged everything back how it was:
AM300 --> switch uplink port
Powered on Netgear WNDR3700 and --> into switch port #8
PC --> wall --> switch port #4

tried again and DNS working fine. Checked Wifi connection to tablet and it works too

However, Now after factory resetting AM300 I cannot seem to access the NetGear on 192.168.1.2 - I can ping it, but the config page doesn't pop up in the browser. But Wifi does work.

Any ideas what I did wrong? Based on the screenshots I've got all the settings how they were before - So I restored the AM300 to the backed up BIN file I did before the factory reset and the DNS trouble is back. Something must have been corrupted (due to that power supply thing you guys mentioned?) in the config. SO I factory resetted again and it works again as I just said - but cannot access NetGear config anymore.

RouterLogin.net as in the manual doesn't work. 192.168.1.2 can be pinged and wifi works on the tablet connecting to my Netgear named wifi network so the Netgear hasn't lost its settings.

Any ideas how I can access my NetGear router (hopefully without factory resetting it too - I have a huge access list on it and would rather not manually enter all those mac addresses again)....

cheers for the help :)

Lenovo

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RunningMan

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#713076 6-Nov-2012 18:15

I suspect that with the factory reset, the AM300 will hand out IP addresses via DHCP from 192.168.1.2 upwards, so something else probably has the same address as your router.

Log in to the AM300 and change the DHCP address range so it starts at (say) 192.168.1.10, leaving x.x.x.2 available for the Netgear.

THEN, you'll have to restart all your computers / devices because one of them has probably picked up the .2 address and that is what is responding to the ping.

mjb

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#713077 6-Nov-2012 18:16

RunningMan: I suspect that with the factory reset, the AM300 will hand out IP addresses via DHCP from 192.168.1.2 upwards, so something else probably has the same address as your router.

Log in to the AM300 and change the DHCP address range so it starts at (say) 192.168.1.10, leaving x.x.x.2 available for the Netgear.

THEN, you'll have to restart all your computers / devices because one of them has probably picked up the .2 address and that is what is responding to the ping.

Oh, good catch - yes, I agree!

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virtuadude

40 posts

Geek

#713089 6-Nov-2012 19:02

RunningMan: I suspect that with the factory reset, the AM300 will hand out IP addresses via DHCP from 192.168.1.2 upwards, so something else probably has the same address as your router.

Log in to the AM300 and change the DHCP address range so it starts at (say) 192.168.1.10, leaving x.x.x.2 available for the Netgear.

THEN, you'll have to restart all your computers / devices because one of them has probably picked up the .2 address and that is what is responding to the ping.

Awesome. That was it. I am indebted to all of you here. Thanks so much for all your help and suggestions here today.

May I impose a little further and ask a recommendation then of what (hopefully faster) modem I can get to replace this aging AM300 - so I don't end up getting weird power supply issues corrupting the config internally (externally from the GUI, all settings were correct when it stopped working yesterday)?

Ideally I'd like VDSL, and I was with Orcon and Xnet when I was in the city some years ago, but I'm happy with Telecom's 160Gb plan I'm on and with the TV streaming I am doing I'd rather not move to another ISP if it requires contracts or lower caps or is significantly more expensive.

Is this AM300 giving me the best ADSL speed out of my line? The modem says it connects at 14485Kbps down and 771Kbps up - is that as good as it is going to get without switching providers for me or would another modem help me? Ideally I'd like to keep using my Netgear WNDR3700 for WiFi as well since it works so well for me range-wise.

Btw - again I must say this is one of the best communities in NZ I have come across and hope to give back to it myself in areas I might be of use, like emulators and gaming and video codecs, editing etc.

mjb

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#713093 6-Nov-2012 19:12

virtuadude: May I impose a little further and ask a recommendation then of what (hopefully faster) modem I can get to replace this aging AM300

Some of the others will have recommendations for you as well that will be better than mine - but given your liking of the Netgear, my suggestion would be a Draytek Vigor 120. If you weren't bothered by using another wifi access point, I'd suggest one of the TP-Link units.

virtuadude: Ideally I'd like VDSL

Unfortunately, with your attenuation at 16dB, you're over the threshold for getting VDSL (as I am, which annoys me!)

virtuadude: Is this AM300 giving me the best ADSL speed out of my line? The modem says it connects at 14485Kbps down and 771Kbps up - is that as good as it is going to get without switching providers for me or would another modem help me? Ideally I'd like to keep using my Netgear WNDR3700 for WiFi as well since it works so well for me range-wise.

Honestly, even with my suggestion of a Draytek above, I'd say 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. From what I understand, 14.4Mbps is about what you'll get at 16dB attenuation, so it's performing ok. (as a comparison, I have ~13dB, and I get just over 18Mbps).

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RunningMan

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#713104 6-Nov-2012 19:20

The AM300s are generally pretty well thought of. Looking at the pic you posted of your line stats earlier, your speed is pretty good. You might get fractionally more out of a newer unit, but there's very little in it.

Drop your address in to here to see if you can get VDSL.

If you want VDSL then you will obviously need a new modem that would handle that.

One of the common configurations of AM300 is using it in half bridge or IP extension mode. In this mode, all it does is the actual modem and authentication, then passes the external IP address through to the next device.

Your setup would then look like:

AM300 --> Netgear Router --> Switch / Computers / WiFi

Basically NAT gets disabled on the modem, and the router then does the NAT, DHCP etc. which is what it is really designed for. The advantage would be less work for the [slower] processor in the modem, offloading the harder work on to the more powerful router.

This requires no purchase of new gear, and should see you through the short-med term until you want to move to VDSL or UFB if/when they are available in your area. At that point, have an ask around to see what gear is in favour at the time.

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virtuadude

40 posts

Geek

#713106 6-Nov-2012 19:24

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate the suggestion. I think if I'm not going to get much faster than what I've got now, and if my line stats aren't good enough for VDSL regardless of ISP and plan available, then I might have to agree with you that - ~~if it ain't broke~~ only breaks once in 4yrs then don't fix it.

virtuadude

40 posts

Geek

#713111 6-Nov-2012 19:43

RunningMan:
Drop your address in to here to see if you can get VDSL.

Thanks for the link. It's a bit hard for me to decipher, but it looks like VDSL is available but UFB is not (I'm not even sure what that is) though mjb says my line attenuation at 16db is over the threshhold for it? Maybe I should call up Unleash (as I've read about here) or some other ISP and see what they say.

One of the common configurations of AM300 is using it in half bridge or IP extension mode. In this mode, all it does is the actual modem and authentication, then passes the external IP address through to the next device.

Your setup would then look like:

AM300 --> Netgear Router --> Switch / Computers / WiFi

Basically NAT gets disabled on the modem, and the router then does the NAT, DHCP etc. which is what it is really designed for. The advantage would be less work for the [slower] processor in the modem, offloading the harder work on to the more powerful router.

This requires no purchase of new gear, and should see you through the short-med term until you want to move to VDSL or UFB if/when they are available in your area. At that point, have an ask around to see what gear is in favour at the time.

Can you please elaborate a little on what settings I'd need to achieve this? I've googled a bit about bridging, but can't seem to find anyone with the same two bits of gear. I know very little about more detailed router settings and configurations. The AM300 is currently in the RFC 2364 PPPoA and there is a Half Bridge checkbox - but also has a RFC 1483 Bridged setting, and also a Bridged Mode Only setting in the dropdown.

I also have PPTP Passthrough currently enabled (IIRC I set that so my VPN would work on my WiFi devices too when I need to use it)? Is any of that affected by this new suggested configuration? Thanks again for taking the time to explain to those of us who are TCP-challenged like myself ;)

RunningMan

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#713124 6-Nov-2012 20:03

As fas as VDSL goes, mjb's correct - generally speaking 16dB isn't going to cut it for VDSL, but if you do flag up as being inside a VDSL area, it may pay to contact an ISP for a qualifying check just to see.

In your current setup, your modem is doing NAT (translating from the single external IP address assigned by your ISP, to the internal address range 192.168.x.x of your private network). It is also running the firewall, and assigning DHCP addresses etc. The idea is to remove the burden of most of these tasks and put them on to the router.

Physically, you'll need to connect the LAN port of the modem to the WAN port of the router, connect your switch (and other computers) to the LAN port(s) of the router.

You'd assign an address like 192.168.2.1 to your modem.

EDIT: Forgot to say, you'd click the half bridge box on the modem, leave it set to PPPoA with your username/password VPI/VCI as normal.

The router then has NAT and DHCP turned back on.

Set the router to get it's WAN address via DHCP (what will happen is the modem will use some black magic and pass through the external ISP assigned address to the router).

The router LAN side then can be set up with the 192.168.1.x subnet, with the DHCP server assigning addresses in this range.

Job done!

Note the address you earlier assigned to the modem (192.168.2.1) is in a different subnet to your internal network, so the router passes a request for that address back out the WAN port, which means you can still access the WebIF for admin.

plambrechtsen

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#713141 6-Nov-2012 20:38

The other option may be to ring up Telecom on 123 or chat via the telecom.co.nz web page and talk with someone there. They should be able to help you with getting a replacement modem via Telecom if that was a preferable option.

I had previously thought you could get a modem for free if you signed up to a 12 months contract. I've subsequently checked and found out it's actually a subsidy on a new modem for ~$50 depending on the plan you're on.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=111445&page_no=1#711509

Also... There is a broadband plan over and above on offer right now from employees to offer to friends / family if you're interested in that feel free to email me pl at telecom dot co dot nz and I could sort you out with that too. They have a mobile plan too.

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