DNS problem with Vodafone supplied HG556

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Beavis

171 posts

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+1 received by user: 37

#90373 20-Sep-2011 22:33

Hi. Had been using this HG556 for about 3 months, good as gold. Then suddenly developed this extremely annoying intermittant problem. When browsing the internet, sometimes (about once every 15 minutes) won't go to a URL (e.g. Geekzone, stuff.co.nz, facebook etc.) Will go to a different URL OK. Reload offending page about 3 or 4 times and will then work. Error message depends on web browser being used. Chrome says DNS problem, IE just say check settings etc. Sorry being vague about exact error message, but chucked the thing in the junk cupboard in fustration about a month ago. Does this on 3 different computers, wireless and wired. Did a firmware upgrade, put everything back to factory default etc, still erratic.
Pinging the URL in dos also makes it go eventually. Starting to think it is a hardware problem as web interface starts to slow down, eventually becomes unresponsive. Have to reboot it.
Only way to keep the family happy was to use my old Thomson ADSL and use the HG556 as a wireless access point only.
Getting sync of 7.7meg down, 700k up (exchange is not ADSL 2, third world country!)
Anyone else had this sort of problem with the HG556? (and yes have even tried isolation testing)

Peter.

Beware of FUD...

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#528123 1-Oct-2011 23:58

Let me tell you that you are not alone, I am also having similar issues with the device.

trig42

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#528418 3-Oct-2011 09:48

At a clients at the moment and they have one of these.
DNS has stopped - cannot ping or get any webpages. Rebooting router sorts it but very annoying.
Have put manual DNS entries in for their network cards and internet works fine.

Is this a fault with these modems? (It's the second one they have had for Internet connectivity issues - this is the first time I have been onsite to see them).

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#528444 3-Oct-2011 11:02

There are no newer firmware upgrades, so unfortunately there is not a lot that we can do at this point except for complain to Vodafone. Hopefully this month I will be changing to some other ISP..

Edit: I'm also curious what browser and OS you we're using when this occurs? I've noticed that it only seems to occur when using Safari, Chrome does not exhibit this behavior.

trig42

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#528477 3-Oct-2011 12:28

This was on 4 PCs and an iPhone (win7 and XP PCs - Internet Explorer). Happened to all of them.

It happened at about the same time that wireless was enabled on the device (by pushing the button to turn it on on the actual router - not through the web interface). Internet stayed connected fine (could ping/browse by ip address, just not host name). Turning WiFi off again did not solve the issue.

As I said, putting manual DNS entries into the machines fixed the issue but there is still obviously a problem with these routers.

benneg

47 posts

Geek

#534591 18-Oct-2011 10:07

I am also having a weird problem with one of these routers; whenever I check my e-mail I lose access to the Internet. I can get around this by turning Avast Internet security off; but if the problem occurs then I have to reboot the router to fix.

I have tried several e-mail programs to no avail; when I diagnosed the problem it appeared to be a DNS problem as well. Other than checking e-mail, everything else works fine without a problem.

My current DNS server is 203.109.129.67; I have tried manually loading these in the past but am unsure whether this has gone back to the default?

Any suggestions?

webwat

2036 posts

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+1 received by user: 145

Trusted

#534847 18-Oct-2011 17:16

Perhaps if you get an ethernet router/accesspoint you could switch the modem to bridge mode and use it to just convert the routers "WAN" uplink to ADSL. This would bypass DNS functions of the ADSL modem without needing to replace it.

Time to find a new industry!

Lenovo

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shk292

2915 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#544169 11-Nov-2011 10:32

Is it very difficult to set up this box just as a wireless access point? I'd like to do this at a friend's house - ie acess his ADSL connection via wifi without tampering with his existing modem.

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#544171 11-Nov-2011 10:35

shk292: Is it very difficult to set up this box just as a wireless access point? I'd like to do this at a friend's house - ie acess his ADSL connection via wifi without tampering with his existing modem.

Its pretty easy: http://192.168.1.1/ username: vodafone password: on the back of the device.

shk292

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#544182 11-Nov-2011 10:48

Thanks, I'm happy with how to log in, but unsure if there are any settings I need to tweak in order to tell the device that the wan is on one of the ethernet Ports, instead of the more usual adsl connection

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#544199 11-Nov-2011 11:11

shk292: Thanks, I'm happy with how to log in, but unsure if there are any settings I need to tweak in order to tell the device that the wan is on one of the ethernet Ports, instead of the more usual adsl connection

That could be more difficult, bump!

Rumo

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#551412 29-Nov-2011 12:40

I seem to be having the same issue. It appears to occur when I open many sites at the same time (such as when I restart my browser to a previous session). It happens regardless of the connection mode (wireless / wired) and I have VOIP switched on (which is not supported afair?).

I have just been on the phone with Vodafone who kindly advised that if nothing is wrong with the modem and I return it I'll be charged for the pleasure...

So I asked how they test it (so that I can prepare my case

) and CS said they don't know. Fair enough.

Anyone who managed to solve this by any chance?

Thanks

Mighty Ape

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djbutt

16 posts

Geek

#585756 23-Feb-2012 15:30

I found the solution from KinOE in a comment here:

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz/topic/7351-hg556a-bizarre-dns-behaviour-and-inflexible-dnsdhcp-options/

Basically, telnet into the router as user: admin pw: VF-NZhg556

'type without quotes "dns show" to display current DNS pointing info'

then dns config static 8.8.8.8 8.8.8.4

(to use Google's DNS for example, but obviously substitute your own).

This device is a tough one though!

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#585763 23-Feb-2012 15:38

djbutt: I found the solution from KinOE in a comment here:

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz/topic/7351-hg556a-bizarre-dns-behaviour-and-inflexible-dnsdhcp-options/

Basically, telnet into the router as user: admin pw: VF-NZhg556

'type without quotes "dns show" to display current DNS pointing info'

then dns config static 8.8.8.8 8.8.8.4

(to use Google's DNS for example, but obviously substitute your own).

This device is a tough one though!

Caution: This will cause you're internet to slow down as Google DNS does not work correctly with local CDNs.

djbutt

16 posts

Geek

#585780 23-Feb-2012 16:08

codyc1515:
Caution: This will cause you're internet to slow down as Google DNS does not work correctly with local CDNs.

yeah, unfortunately there are a number of CDNs that don't yet support the edns0 extension to pass the client's subnet. Nevertheless, I figure anyone going to telnet into their router probably understands that there are pros and cons of customisation. For me using an alternate DNS resolved some persistent errors connecting to some websites.

stevenz

2802 posts

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+1 received by user: 125

#585812 23-Feb-2012 17:08

Last I checked, TCL's old 203.96.152.4 and 203.96.152.12 DNS servers were still open to the world.

Edit:

Heh, this thread full of DNS addresses just coincidentally got updated:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=95560

@KnightNZ