IPv6 problem

Current situation is IDNet FTTC connection, Billion 8800AXL r2 modem.router, Dell Inspiron laptop with Qualcomm QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Adapter. All drivers are up to date. IPv6 configuration is enabled in the LAN page of the router GUI and in the configuration tab for the Adapter.

The router has IPv6 connectivity which seems to be permanent as the BQM for the IPv6 connection shows no packet loss or latency issues. When the laptop is connected there is an IPv6 link to the router. After a random interval the IPv6 link drops and trying to visit test sites like http://v6.testmyipv6.com/ shows the site as unreachable. Dropping and re-connecting the internal LAN link by disabling and re-enabling the WiFi or going into aeroplane mode then cancelling restores the IPv6 link for a random time after which it drops again.

If I disable the Qualcomm Adapter and use a Realtek WiFi dongle the IPv6 connection does not drop. None of the above interferes with the IPv4 connection which is maintained for both WAN and LAN. We have a second identical Inspiron in the house and it shows the same behaviour.

That seems to indicate to me that there is some problem with the configuration of the Qualcomm Adapter although I do not have any significant expertise in this sort of area so may be wrong. Has anyone any idea what might be causing the problem and what steps I might take to address it?

Have you checked for any driver updates for the network card.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Have you checked for any driver updates for the network card.

According to the Dell Support Assist app all drivers are up to date.

Edited by GonePostal (Tue 27-Oct-20 23:15:01)

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Have you checked for any driver updates for the network card.

According to the Dell Support Assist app all drivers are up to date.

Dell don't always have the latest drivers, it's always best to check the manufacturer of the specific parts website.

I couldn't make sense of the Qualcomm website to find the driver I might need. If anyone can point me to the right place I'd be very grateful.

The driver I currently have came via Dell and is v12.0.0.953 dated 14/06/2020. I rolled back to the previous version but that didn't solve the problem so I am now back on the "current" version.

One possibility is your system is not receiving (or is filtering out) Router Advertisements, meaning that it forgets the default gateway.

I'm not a Windows user, but some variation of "route print" may show you the routing table, perhaps with an extra flag for IPv6. The default route is ::/0. If this vanishes after a while, then at least you understand what's going on.

This would be some sort of Windows and/or driver issue that would need fixing, or possibly a problem with firewall software (although you said a different adapter was unaffected).

In reply to a post by candlerb:

I'm not a Windows user, but some variation of "route print" may show you the routing table, perhaps with an extra flag for IPv6. The default route is ::/0. If this vanishes after a while, then at least you understand what's going on.

route print works on Windows, and if you want to filter v6 only the -6 switch applies.

I'm following this thread with interest, although my ISP doesn't support v6 yet

Edited by jchamier (Wed 28-Oct-20 12:34:11)

Even more confused. The Qualcomm card and Realtek dongle route produce the output below using route print -6. There were no other active routes listed.

1) For Qualcomm with access to http://v6.testmyipv6.com/

C:\Users\john>route print -6
===========================================================================
Interface List
3...1c bf c0 8a 55 67 ......Qualcomm QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Adapter
1...........................Software Loopback Interface 1
===========================================================================

IPv6 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
If Metric Network Destination Gateway
3 4131 ::/0 fe80::6203:47ff:fe49:5767
1 331 ::1/128 On-link
3 4131 XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:/64 On-link
3 291 XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:1830:390f:22d2:7c6/128
On-link
3 291 XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:a0c8:9def:8707:f27d/128
On-link
3 291 fe80::/64 On-link
3 291 fe80::1830:390f:22d2:7c6/128
On-link
1 331 ff00::/8 On-link
3 291 ff00::/8 On-link
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None

2) For the Qualcomm card after trying to access http://v6.testmyipv6.com/ brings up a "We can’t connect to the server at v6.testmyipv6.com" screen:

C:\Users\john>route print -6
===========================================================================
Interface List
3...1c bf c0 8a 55 67 ......Qualcomm QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Adapter
1...........................Software Loopback Interface 1
===========================================================================

IPv6 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
If Metric Network Destination Gateway
3 4131 ::/0 fe80::6203:47ff:fe49:5767
1 331 ::1/128 On-link
3 4131 XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:/64 On-link
3 291 XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:1830:390f:22d2:7c6/128
On-link
3 291 XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:a0c8:9def:8707:f27d/128
On-link
3 291 fe80::/64 On-link
3 291 fe80::1830:390f:22d2:7c6/128
On-link
1 331 ff00::/8 On-link
3 291 ff00::/8 On-link
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None

3) For comparison, the Realtek dongle with connection to http://v6.testmyipv6.com/

C:\Users\john>route print -6
===========================================================================
Interface List
13...1c bf ce b5 8a 74 ......Realtek 8811CU Wireless LAN 802.11ac USB NIC
1...........................Software Loopback Interface 1
===========================================================================

IPv6 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
If Metric Network Destination Gateway
13 4131 ::/0 fe80::6203:47ff:fe49:5767
1 331 ::1/128 On-link
13 4131 XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:/64 On-link
13 291 XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:4d6:45be:e1ed:7210/128
On-link
13 291 XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:c5c6:cf47:87a7:ac91/128
On-link
13 291 fe80::/64 On-link
13 291 fe80::4d6:45be:e1ed:7210/128
On-link
1 331 ff00::/8 On-link
13 291 ff00::/8 On-link
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None

Does that offer any clues to anyone?

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

Current situation is IDNet FTTC connection, Billion 8800AXL r2 modem.router, Dell Inspiron laptop with Qualcomm QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Adapter. All drivers are up to date. IPv6 configuration is enabled in the LAN page of the router GUI and in the configuration tab for the Adapter.

IPv6 dropped randomly with my Billion but that was on the WAN side. When I talked to Support they said it wasn't renewing the IPv6 lease very often (like maybe once a day) whereas other routers renew hourly.

I switched to a Draytek 2762 and it's been fine ever since. I don't think my local machines were affected though.

Edited by Andrue (Wed 28-Oct-20 18:39:57)

Unexpectedly I bumped into the owner of the holiday let next door this afternoon and got his permission to connect to his WiFi network. His ISP is BT and he has HH6 router. I connected to his 2.4GHz network and had connection to http://v6.testmyipv6.com/. Within 10 minutes this had dropped with the "We can’t connect to the server at v6.testmyipv6.com" message.

I raised the problem with Dell Technical Support a couple of days ago and got a long script about Hard Reset, Dell Diagnostic Test, reinstallation of W10 etc. etc. and the comment that it looked like my router (despite the WiFi dongle connecting with no problems). They also asked if I could try on another network so we'll see what comes back after they read my report about the connection dropping on the other network.