Odd Sync Issue

Hope someone can offer any advice.
I have been maxed now for approx a month or so, and everything seemed stable enough. Recently over the past week, when I log into my desktop system, my router immediately loses sync. and becomes quite unstable for around 10-15 mins, losing sync, and the PPP connection, and the internet slowing down. After 10-15 mins this appears to settle down. Sync sometimes goes up as well. The Downstream Attn is 45dB, and SNR margin is around 2-3dB, but sometimes does up to 6dB. Even when its settled down at night SNR can go down to 2dB. I have tried the router in the master socket,( Front not taken off, as I have no wired extensions in the master socket), connected wired and wirelessley to my laptop, and everything seemed stable, and sync went up to 6818kbps. The router did not once resync, and appeared to be rock solid, even though the SNR was at 2dB, and speeds were constantly at around 4Meg. ( IP Profile is 4000kbps).I therefore moved the router back upstairs, to the room with the extension, and connected again with the laptop, wired via LAN. Again things were stable with no drops in sync, although sync speed dropped from 6818kbps to 4818kbps. I then turned off the laptop, and tried the desktop. As soon as I logged in to the desktop, the router lost sync, and things were again unstable for around 15mins, losing sync, PPP connection etc. Can anyone offer any advice on what this may be. I suspect one problem is a dodgy phone extension to upstairs, but I am stumped why the router resyncs as soon as I login via the desktop. Could it be a networking protocol corruption, or faulty LAN cable. I think a clean install of XP may be called for!!

Router is a Netgear DG834G V2 with 2.10.10 firmware, which I have heard is notorious for giving false SNR readings. Is there any software tools out there that can measure SNR?

You've lost me.... first you said "I have tried the router in the master socket,( Front not taken off, as I have no wired extensions in the master socket)", then later you say "I suspect one problem is a dodgy phone extension to upstairs".


Any extension cabling will make the problem worse, because extension wiring above ground picks up noise. So you need to keep the wiring from the master socket to the modem as short as possible, and ideally fit a filtered faceplate like the XTE-2005 from ADSL Nation.

Sorry I wasnt clear, I have no hardwired extensions into the NTE5 faceplate, it is a plug in extension to upstairs where the router is. Any ideas on the loss of sync??

To monitor your stats you might try Routerstats

http://vwlowen.co.uk/internet/files.htm

it was written for the Netgear DG834.

Some suggest the Netgear's reporting is inaccurate whilst others argue these Routers are able to hang on to sync extremely well at low values of SNR. From my experience I am inclined to think the latter is certainly true although the indicated SNR values may well be pessimistic.

Good Luck

Looking at the Netgear website, the current firmware is 3.01.25, so it might be worth upgrading that.

You say when you 'log into' your desktop. Do you mean that literally, or do you mean when you switch it on? If the latter, it may be that the PSU, or possibly the monitor, is triggering enough noise to cause you to lose sync. Check that the power cables for the desktop are well away from the routers and its cables. It might be worth watching the line stats on the notebook as you power up the desktop, you may get immediate evidence of the cause from that.

Its actually when I log in. I can leave it on the login screen for ages and its OK.

That's weird. I wonder if the NIC is causing problems? Can you try watching, or getting some else to watch, the noise figures as you login? Might also be worth trying a different ethernet cable.

Ric

The NIC is on the Mobo, and the board is only a few months old. I am going to try moving the router back downstairs to the Master socket, and use a wireless card in the system to connect. See if that cures it, if it does then its obviously an RF or something like it. The router is next to the PC, and the phone cable does run next to some of the power cables for the PC.

Might be worth doing a little re-routing of the cables before going to the expense of a wireless card, unless you already have one.

Rickbean

Thanks for your advice. I have rerouted the phone extension in the room. I noted that it ran over a speaker cable, that runs to the SubWoofer I have, and also ran very close to the transformer, that powers my scanner. I also rerouted other cabling in the room, including the extension socket cable. Everything seems much much better now. The sync spped have gone up to over 7000kbs, its never been this high!!!!, and SNR varies between 4 and 6 dB. Uptime has now been over an hour with not 1 resync. I will keep an eye, but fingers crossed. I wonder if the music playing when logging in, was causing some issue, as the phone cable went over the speaker cables. Think im clutching at straws to explain it, but its about all I can think of.

Cheers

Glad you're getting some results. ADSL is susceptible to electrical noise, so always avoid running the signal cable alongside power cables or other potential sources. Right angles if you can't keep them well separated is best. The music shouldn't be the cause, but I've seen stranger triggers for odd behaviour in computer systems. I always argue that if I spent the time maintaining my house that I do my PCs, it would be immaculate!