ADSL connection problems with D-Link DSL-300T

Hello again!

Two days ago my ADSL was connected, provided by Eclipse. I got a USB
modem from them which works fine, but as I prefer having a router with
NAT and firewall between me and the rest of the internet I bought a
secondhand DSL-300T modem to complement my DI-604 router.

First issue was that I couldn't connect via browser to the modem, that
was easily fixed by resetting it to factory defaults. But then I could
not get any working internet connection. As I didn't buy the modem as
new I am trying to figure out whether the line has a problem or rather
the modem.

Please note that the following description is what I remember as I don't
have the modem here currently (given it away to get it tested on a
different ADSL line).

The status light of the modem blinks slowly, but regularly; the ADSL
light is off, and then usually switches between blinking and steady. The
log shows different states between these three:
DSL carrier is up (light off)
DSL carrier is down (light steady)
DSL carrier is training (light blinking)

If need be I can provide you with detailed logs.

Sometimes the modem gets assigned an IP, a gateway and DNS servers by
Eclipse, but exactly after ten seconds the connection goes down again.


What I have done so far:
- Even though the modem had the latest firmware I updated it, to
make sure the former owner hadn't screwed something up. After I had
done that the built-in web server providing the user interface
rebooted every few minutes, so I updated the firmware a second time.
- I reset the modem to factory defaults.
- I called Eclipse and went through the modem settings with them.
Modulation: MMODE
Encapsulation: VC
VPI: 0
VCI: 38
QoS: UBR
MTU: 1458 (and 1430 for testing)
MRU: 1492 (default value)
Set route: checked (default value)
On demand: unchecked (default value)
- I tried out the 'Modem test', it gives four options:
F4 end to end
F4 seg to seg
F5 end to end
F5 seg to seg
All options fail currently. After my first firmware update one of the
F5 tests passed, I can't remember which one though.
- I tried two different RJ-11 cables: the one that came with the D-Link
modem and the one that came with the Speedtouch USB modem. I didn't
notice any difference.
- I called D-Link, unfortunately the guy answering the call was not
really able to tell me what the "training" or the modem tests mean
and do. He claims it is a line fault. He also claims the MTU should
be set to 1500 regardless of what the provider says.


And now my questions:

I can ping the LAN IP, but not the WAN IP when it has been assigned. Is
there anybody here who knows whether this is normal behaviour for this
model?

Currently I am using the phone socket I have in my bedroom, and as I
said, the USB modem works fine, so I guess the wiring is ok. Is it
possible the D-Link modem is more sensitive to some kind of problems
than the USB modems thus making it necessary to use the master socket?

How do I find out which of the eight sockets around the house is
actually the master socket?

Do you think the errors point rather towards a line problem than towards
a modem problem?


Thanks for your patience reading through all this!
Gunde

I got one of these. Unfortunately with my injury, Im not about to wonder
upstairs anytime soon to check out my modem lights. I know for certain
though that one of the lights does flash, even when everything's fine. I
think it's the ADSL light.

You should be able to access the web server of the modem by the local IP
address.

I believe it also comes setup in a Half Bridge mode, so, it should
actually be transferring the external IP address (that provided by
Eclipse), to your network card.

My Settings include:

PPPoA
Encapsulation VC
MTU 1400 (Hrm)
MRU 1492
VPI 0
VCI 38
QoS UBR


My modem is connected by ethernet to the spare ethernet connection on
my router.

I have two ethernet ports on my router, one for the local network, and
one for the ethernet modem. You can't just plug into your hub.

Hope that gives you something to chew on.

Good luck.

Simon

Also take a look at this site, second post down:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...ilite=dgl-4300

On Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:37:34 +0100, Simon Dean wrote:

> I got one of these. Unfortunately with my injury, Im not about to wonder
> upstairs anytime soon to check out my modem lights. I know for certain
> though that one of the lights does flash, even when everything's fine. I
> think it's the ADSL light.
>

Status light flashes

> You should be able to access the web server of the modem by the local IP
> address.
>
> I believe it also comes setup in a Half Bridge mode, so, it should
> actually be transferring the external IP address (that provided by
> Eclipse), to your network card.
>

yep my public address was sent by DHCP (not that I use DHCP anymore).
I also assigned an address from 192.168.x.x to my connected machine as a
secondary[your os may vary].

Adam

Mr. Adam ALLEN wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:37:34 +0100, Simon Dean wrote:
>
>
>>I got one of these. Unfortunately with my injury, Im not about to wonder
>>upstairs anytime soon to check out my modem lights. I know for certain
>>though that one of the lights does flash, even when everything's fine. I
>>think it's the ADSL light.
>>
>
>
> Status light flashes
>
>
>>You should be able to access the web server of the modem by the local IP
>>address.
>>
>>I believe it also comes setup in a Half Bridge mode, so, it should
>>actually be transferring the external IP address (that provided by
>>Eclipse), to your network card.
>>
>
>
> yep my public address was sent by DHCP (not that I use DHCP anymore).
> I also assigned an address from 192.168.x.x to my connected machine as a
> secondary[your os may vary].
>
> Adam

Which reminds me, I hear a story that the subnet for the router has to
be different to the subnet of the modem...

so modem could be 192.168.0.1 / 255.255.255.0 while the rest of the
network including router could be 192.168.1.1 / 255.255.255.0

Cya
Simon

Simon Dean wrote:
> I got one of these. Unfortunately with my injury, Im not about to
> wonder upstairs anytime soon to check out my modem lights. I know for
> certain though that one of the lights does flash, even when
> everything's fine. I think it's the ADSL light.
>
> You should be able to access the web server of the modem by the local
> IP address.

Which is what I did. The DSL-300T is by default also a DHCP server and
hands out IP addresses in the 192.168.1.0/24 network. If I connect a PC
to the router the PC usually gets an IP address automatically assigned.


> I believe it also comes setup in a Half Bridge mode, so, it should
> actually be transferring the external IP address (that provided by
> Eclipse), to your network card.

Hmm, not in the default setting. Anyway I prefer a NATted network.

> MTU 1400 (Hrm)

That might depend on the provider.

> My modem is connected by ethernet to the spare ethernet connection on
> my router.
>
> I have two ethernet ports on my router, one for the local network, and
> one for the ethernet modem. You can't just plug into your hub.

Actually you could, as the modem also is a router (whereas the DI-604
that I want to use behind it is a router with an integrated switch).

> Hope that gives you something to chew on.

Yes, it is interesting, but unfortunately it doesn't help me a lot in
regard to the question whether the line quality is suboptimal thus
giving the modem a hiccough, or whether the modem is broken.

Regards,
Gunde

Simon Dean wrote:
> Which reminds me, I hear a story that the subnet for the router has to
> be different to the subnet of the modem...
>
> so modem could be 192.168.0.1 / 255.255.255.0 while the rest of the
> network including router could be 192.168.1.1 / 255.255.255.0

There is an instruction on the D-Link website specifically mentioning
the construction of using a router behind the DSL-300T. Basically it
says you have to set that router to accept a dynamic IP that it gets
handed by the DHCP server in the modem. The DSL-300T by default has the
IP 192.168.1.1/24, the DI-604 by default has the IP 192.168.0.1/24.

Regards,
Gunde

Gundemarie Scholz wrote:
> Simon Dean wrote:
> > I have two ethernet ports on my router, one for the local network,
> > and one for the ethernet modem. You can't just plug into your hub.
>
> Actually you could, as the modem also is a router (whereas the DI-604
> that I want to use behind it is a router with an integrated switch).

I stand corrected, just found the relevant information on the D-Link
site, it emphasizes you cannot just connect a hub or switch to the
DSL-300T.

Simon Dean wrote:
> Also take a look at this site, second post down:
>
> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...ilite=dgl-4300

Thanks for the instruction, it is more or less the same as the D-Link
one I found as PDF, but unfortunately does not help me troubleshoot the
modem.

Regards,
Gunde

Gundemarie Scholz wrote:
> Simon Dean wrote:
>
>> I got one of these. Unfortunately with my injury, Im not about to
>> wonder upstairs anytime soon to check out my modem lights. I know
>> for certain though that one of the lights does flash, even when
>> everything's fine. I think it's the ADSL light.
>>
>> You should be able to access the web server of the modem by the
>> local IP address.
>
>
> Which is what I did. The DSL-300T is by default also a DHCP server
> and hands out IP addresses in the 192.168.1.0/24 network. If I
> connect a PC to the router the PC usually gets an IP address
> automatically assigned.

What should happen, is that the DI-604 will assign local IP addresses to
your network. Your network will see the DI-604 as the router/gateway and
the DI-604 will provide the NAT.


>> I believe it also comes setup in a Half Bridge mode, so, it should
>> actually be transferring the external IP address (that provided by
>> Eclipse), to your network card.
>
> Hmm, not in the default setting. Anyway I prefer a NATted network.

Which is what you get with the DI-604.

Think of the DSL-300T as nothing more than a glorified modem, but the
benefit you have, is that the DSL-300T does the authentication. You
can't use the DSL-300T as a router because you can't do any port
forwarding etc on it and in its default mode, will only pass the one ip
address to your DI-604 - the external ip address.

I myself use a "Smoothwall" box, so I have two ethernet network cards,
one connecting to my local network providing the natting functionality,
and the other one connected to my DSL-300T which is given my external ip
address by dhcp


>
> Yes, it is interesting, but unfortunately it doesn't help me a lot in
> regard to the question whether the line quality is suboptimal thus
> giving the modem a hiccough, or whether the modem is broken.

So if we assume your modem is setup correctly, what information is
giving in the logs?

Does it forever say DSL Carrier is Training, or DSL Carrier is down?

Might suspect in that case that your modem just cannot connect.

If so, I had a couple of ADSL2MUE modems that just would not connect.
But my current DSL-300T is fantastic.

It's also much better to have a modem like this than a USB modem because
you do get more throughput.

What does your modem logs say? Does it indiciate that it's at least
trying to authenticate? Have you at least entered your ISP login
information into the modem?

Thanks
Simon