[TelstraClear] SB5101 Ethernet Connection problem

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tr3v

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Topic # 29995 26-Jan-2009 09:00

My daughter recently joined Telstra, and was provided with a Motorola SB5101 cable modem. She was previously a Woosh customer, and had assumed (naively and wrongly) that she would get a router so she (and her flatmates) could all connect to the Internet.

I have since found the thread regarding router choice for the modem, but in the meantime I suggested she just plug her PC in to the Ethernet port with the cable provided by TCL.

She has never been able to get a connection. The lights on the modem appear to be OK, TCL support say they can connect to her modem, her IP settings (which all had to be entered manually) have been double-checked, and she has tried using another computer. She even disabled her firewall because TCL told her that she must have a "firewall problem". I am trying to help her over the phone (I live 4 hours drive away) and I am running out of ideas. Her computer is running Vista.

Any suggestions? Or should I just get a router and start there - I am concerned that if her computer wont connect, then a router wont work either.

Thanks, Trev

PS. I got her to try another cable too, but seem TCL supplied one I would expect that to be OK anyway. She has never had any connection problems before using other routers on the same NIC (It is a ~2 year old Dell notebook).

sbiddle

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Reply # 192067 26-Jan-2009 09:05

First thing to check would be to see if you can ping 192.168.100.1 or connect to this using your web browser. This is the IP of the cable modem and you should see this. If you don't then it's highly probable that it's a setup issue with the PC.

tr3v

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Reply # 192070 26-Jan-2009 09:18

sbiddle: First thing to check would be to see if you can ping 192.168.100.1 or connect to this using your web browser. This is the IP of the cable modem and you should see this. If you don't then it's highly probable that it's a setup issue with the PC.

Thanks - I will get her to check. From the instructions on TCL's website it semed very straight forward. Basically, it was just manually edit the TCP/IP settings for the NIC. As I said, she tried with another PC too. I did an Internet search for this issue, and there appear to be a few forums querying the same problem, with most either resorting to a USB connection or getting a router.

If she can get to the modem's IP address, is there any diagnostics or logging she can look at?

tr3v

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Reply # 192077 26-Jan-2009 09:48

Can't connect to 192.168.100.1 - I asked her to use the browser - I wasn't going to explain ping via a text message :-)

Spyware

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Reply # 192081 26-Jan-2009 09:57

You certainly won't be able to connect to 192.168.100.1 with TCL public IP address entered anyway so not a good thing to try. Ping would also fail.

Ross

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tr3v

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Reply # 192109 26-Jan-2009 12:30

Spyware: You certainly won't be able to connect to 192.168.100.1 with TCL public IP address entered anyway so not a good thing to try. Ping would also fail.

Ah yes, good point thanks - I don't think I am going to resolve this on my own without being there.

Belsamber

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Reply # 192125 26-Jan-2009 14:28

tr3v: Ah yes, good point thanks - I don't think I am going to resolve this on my own without being there.

Depends on how long you're willing to spend on the phone I guess :)

My process would be:

1. Change IP to 192.168.100.10/24
2. Try and connect to 192.168.100.1
Does it work? If no - the problem is probably in your ballpark (cabling or config)
If yes, change IP addressing back and go to 3.
3. Try and ping the .1 address of your subnet (your gateway in other words)
If this doesn't work, problem is probably TCL (config of modem) or your IP address is wrong
If this does work, go to 4.
4. Try to ping 74.125.19.99 (Google)
If this works, but web browsing still doesn't, it's probably in your ballpark again - check your DNS and gateway settings

Have fun :)

tr3v

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Reply # 192126 26-Jan-2009 14:40

Belsamber: Many thanks but I have enlisted some local help and get a router installed too. I don't think I could spend that long on the phone.

Belsamber

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Reply # 192128 26-Jan-2009 15:07

Haha. Fair enough.

ryanstev

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Reply # 192272 27-Jan-2009 14:39

Spyware: You certainly won't be able to connect to 192.168.100.1 with TCL public IP address entered anyway so not a good thing to try. Ping would also fail.

You can ping 192.168.100.1 when you've already got an IP set.

tr3v

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Reply # 192275 27-Jan-2009 14:46

ryanstev:
Spyware: You certainly won't be able to connect to 192.168.100.1 with TCL public IP address entered anyway so not a good thing to try. Ping would also fail.

You can ping 192.168.100.1 when you've already got an IP set.

The point Spyware was making was, that only works if the PC is also on 192.168.100.0/24
I have just heard (from my daughter) that the issue has now been resolved by a fellow 'geekzoner', but I have yet to hear what the problem was.

ryanstev

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Reply # 192283 27-Jan-2009 15:04

tr3v:
ryanstev:
Spyware: You certainly won't be able to connect to 192.168.100.1 with TCL public IP address entered anyway so not a good thing to try. Ping would also fail.

You can ping 192.168.100.1 when you've already got an IP set.

The point Spyware was making was, that only works if the PC is also on 192.168.100.0/24
I have just heard (from my daughter) that the issue has now been resolved by a fellow 'geekzoner', but I have yet to hear what the problem was.

I know, but that's not right. You can ping that IP with another IP set.

Good to hear the fault is fixed.

cyril7

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Reply # 192427 28-Jan-2009 09:29

Hi, just to report back on the problem, in short it was finger trouble at TCL end, it appears their customer database noted a certain IP address against the account, which was the detail left with the modem by the TCL installer (sic), however the BRAS appears to have been loaded with a different address, simple mistake the last byte was a transposition of 233 and 223.

What intruiged me is that each time I rebooted the modem (which I could access on 192.168.100.1 at all times) I could ping the gateway and browse the web, but after approx 30-40sec it would all stop, but 100.1 was still active, so I had little choice but to get in the que to TCL, or should that be the wrong que, maybe the far que! after been told I would be attended to by a representative in 20min about 6x, hellomoto soon flatmoto. Anyway when I described the problem with the CSR he quickly realised what might have happened, and after a few minutes of tapping keyboards at his end all worked. Presumably something in the authenticaion took 30-40sec to determine that this new connection at each reboot was not an active/allowed IP and pulled the plug.

Cyril

tr3v

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Reply # 192430 28-Jan-2009 09:48

Many thanks to cyril7 for sorting this out.

No points to TCL Customer Support though. They were initially called and could only suggest that it was a PC firewall issue, even when it was disabled! I enlisted local help as I could not confirm if it was a PC config issue or not. With hindsight, I am assuming that TCL would have eventually fixed it free of charge as it was their own fault.