Netgear DG834Gv3 freezes up

Hi All

I have had this router since 15th April and for the second time I have had a very odd 'freeze' on it.

The router appears to be working AOK (web browsing etc works OK) but you just cannot login ~ I use the IP (so to speak) but the login dialogue box will not appear. The only way to get it "working" again is to hard boot it i.e. power down/power up.

Very annoying!!!! Has anyone else experienced this oddity because as I say this is the second time and is random/unpredictable so I am unsure whether getting it RMA'ed back to the supplier will yield anything???

Oh in case it is relevent I am using Routerstats and its failure to start/telnet is the clue that tells me the router has frozen.

TIA for insight

I've seen similar with the v3. I hadn't noticed it with the v2 nor with the v4. I found the v3 stopped routing across the LAN as well. I'd be inclined to try and swap it for the v4 - in my experience its chipset is much better.

John.

Hi John

Thanks for your informed feedback. I see from your online stats that the v4 is extremely stable i.e. very little fluctuation.

I will have to talk to BBB store and see whether they can help with a straight swap over for the v4.

I am on a long line with a 54db attentuation so wanted the best I could afford to maintain stable sync and at the time I researched it v3 was "advised" but if this is giving me trouble and I do have issues with BT at the moment anything that will help maintain stablity to 'show' them I have done everything possible from my end the better.

My line's the same at 53dB attenuation. You may have seen this comparison between the v3 and v4, which I've posted previously. It was only after swapping to the v4 that I could actually see that BT have stuck me on 9dB Noise Margin.

The v4 does sync at a slightly lower speed than the v3 but, as the graphs show, has virtually no chance of dropping out at night.

Edit: The v4 also has the advantage of being able to tweak the noise margin.

John.

Edited by deleted (Sun 01-Jun-08 13:54:31)

Yes my v3 graphs looks rather like yours.

My problems began back in March with my old Westell 2400 - replaced with the v3 because my ISP suggested that it was worth a try ! - basically my sync up to that point was solid at over 3500 with and SNR of the 6 level and it did fluctuate but the Westell held the line like a leech and it reported 57db stt.

However, I was starting to get too many discons -- Note prior to this I had solid connections exceeding 60 days.

Well BT immediately turned interleaving ON and my sync plummeted with an SNR of 15. Since then I have been in continued 'discussion' with my ISP (PlueNet) to get me back to the good old connection ~ most recently they got BT to drop the SNR to 6 but for whatever reason over the past few days the DLM has progessively taken me back to 15 SNR and a sync now of 2528. The sort of range of fluctuation the v3 reports is the same at all SNR levels so I have no idea what critetia the DLM is using that is different to what it was before the 16th March

BT as far as I am concerned are just messing me about as the one possible thing wrong is an underground fault and so far "they" have not tried putting me on a new pair to see if that helps.

Oh I did have the BT guy come and do line tests and he told me the line should be capable of max 4000 and his kit also reported the line att as 54db i.e. I had a good line so he must have tested me on a good day?

Agh!!!!!



PS Edit - can you explain a little how as an end user tweaking the margin actually makes the system behave better???

Edited by deleted (Sun 01-Jun-08 14:12:18)

Your situation is similar to mine. My ISP managed to persuade BT to put my SNR back to 6dB but, within 2 days, the DLM had put it back to 9dB. Presumably there are "too many" errors on the line but it's anyone's guess what "too many" actually means.

There are two reasons why you might want to tweak your SNR. If, like me, you swap to a router which better suits the line (or appears to) and BT won't reduce your SNR, you can do it at your end instead. Conversely, you may be getting too many disconnections despite the DLM settings, so you can increase your SNR albeit at the expense of some connection speed.

I think there are two disadvantages with tweaking at the user end: It may be possible to get into a tug-of-war with the DLM and any tweak you do is lost when the router reboots.

John.

The difference in the graphs between the v3 and v4 is similar to the difference between my v3 and 585v6 (which also syncs a bit lower). I'm also having an SNR issue with BT, 6dB up to 9dB, set back to 6dB with the help of Plusnet, but 4 days later back up to 9dB again...It can't be a disconnect issue, so must be errors on the connection.
I think I might be interested in giving a v4 a try, have to check out prices.

Is the GT a boosted v4, or v3? And can it be dmt'd?

Edited by dieselglider (Sun 01-Jun-08 18:42:14)

dsl source seem to be good value.

I've no experience of the GT but I think it's always been the Broadcom chipset. It's odd that the other variants of the DG834 have taken so long to switch to using it.

As far as I know the GT works with DMT. The DG834(G) v4 works with it.

John.

So it seems similar issues to mine are happening.

But for me it is a case of what changed in mid March. Prior to that date I had a good robust connection that had its 'normal' amount of SNR fluctuation and the odd disconnect over very long(ish) periods.

I do wonder if BT have introduced some new DLM protocols that are frankly designed to more evenly spread the bandwidth in some arcane manner by dropping the sync speeds of those on longer lines.

Still other than swapping out my v3 for a v4 (must talk to BBB about that) and to keep pushing PlusNet for a resolution with BT I know not what else to do?



PS Edit - ref dmt tool. So though the website does not list the v4 it will work with it OK??? And can it be used in combination with Routerstats?

Edited by deleted (Sun 01-Jun-08 19:34:08)

In reply to:

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I do wonder if BT have introduced some new DLM protocols that are frankly designed to more evenly spread the bandwidth in some arcane manner by dropping the sync speeds of those on longer lines.

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Funny you should say that, the same thought has been in the back of my mind, and also, my exchange has been 'red' since mid April with a fix only due on 8th June...