intermittent dsl hangs

SBC Yahoo DSL works perfectly on the Windows 2000 side of my machine.

It's about 95% perfect on Red Hat 7.3 Linux. The problems are
that from time to time you click a URL (in Mozilla) and the
browser just hangs there waiting for the site. And waiting and
waiting. You can stop it and try again. Double clicking the
link often gets you through. Some sessions are worse than others.
This is really annoying when trying to buy something or pay a bill
and it says "click the button once". Sometimes a click will
produce a not found result even though it is a well-known site and
when you try one or two more times you get through. Getting a
news article often hangs the process as well.

A telnet operation through the shell will almost always freeze up
after a few minutes or less of idle time as will an ftp connection.

I'm using the 2.4.28-3 kernel and I upgraded to pppoe 3.5.

Does anyone have any idea what to do?

Thanks,

Don Tveter, (E-Mail Removed)

On Tue, 31 May 2005 17:19:52 GMT, Don Tveter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> SBC Yahoo DSL works perfectly on the Windows 2000 side of my machine.
>
> It's about 95% perfect on Red Hat 7.3 Linux. The problems are
> that from time to time you click a URL (in Mozilla) and the
> browser just hangs there waiting for the site. And waiting and
> waiting. You can stop it and try again. Double clicking the
> link often gets you through. Some sessions are worse than others.
> This is really annoying when trying to buy something or pay a bill
> and it says "click the button once". Sometimes a click will
> produce a not found result even though it is a well-known site and
> when you try one or two more times you get through. Getting a
> news article often hangs the process as well.
>
> A telnet operation through the shell will almost always freeze up
> after a few minutes or less of idle time as will an ftp connection.
>
> I'm using the 2.4.28-3 kernel and I upgraded to pppoe 3.5.

What modem do you have. If it is a 5100b (5-LEDs), how is it configured?
By default, that model is a modem/router that does PPPoE and gives out one
private DHCP IP on its LAN side.

I have been using Linux as pppoe/firewall/router for years with SBC Yahoo
(since before Yahoo merger) without any problems. Originally I tried
rp-pppoe and kernel pppoe in SuSE 7.3 Pro, and kernel pppoe seemed to work
more efficiently (tkpppoe GUI for rp-pppoe seemed to use about 30% cpu
time of a K6-2/400, kernel pppoe didn't seem to use any noticeable cpu).
I am currently using kernel pppoe in SuSE 8.2 Pro on 5360 modem.

Your distro is getting quite old. What do your logs say when you have
trouble (is pppoe being dropped or reconnecting)? What are settings in
however you connect pppoe (or /etc/ppp/options) for idle (zero would
remain connected), demand (which I do use) or persist (which I don't).

One thing I noticed when I first got SBC adsl in Jan. 2002 is that DNS did
not always seem responsive (seconds before a page would start loading).
So I have been doing my own caching DNS (bind9) with forward/reverse zones
added for my LAN. I have sometimes forgotten to disconnect ssh from my
old Unix ISP overnight, and it still worked in the morning. Of course
that does not work when connected with PuTTY in XP from my LAN with the PC
set to suspend when idle.

Which brings up something else to look at. Do you have anything set
(especially in BIOS) on that machine to automatically suspend when idle?
Using powersave settings for the monitor or spinning down unused hard
drives would have no adverse effects, but other powersave settings might.

David Efflandt wrote:
> On Tue, 31 May 2005 17:19:52 GMT, Don Tveter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>SBC Yahoo DSL works perfectly on the Windows 2000 side of my machine.
>>
>>It's about 95% perfect on Red Hat 7.3 Linux. The problems are
>>that from time to time you click a URL (in Mozilla) and the
>>browser just hangs there waiting for the site. And waiting and
>>waiting. You can stop it and try again. Double clicking the
>>link often gets you through. Some sessions are worse than others.
>>This is really annoying when trying to buy something or pay a bill
>>and it says "click the button once". Sometimes a click will
>>produce a not found result even though it is a well-known site and
>>when you try one or two more times you get through. Getting a
>>news article often hangs the process as well.
>>
>>A telnet operation through the shell will almost always freeze up
>>after a few minutes or less of idle time as will an ftp connection.
>>
>>I'm using the 2.4.28-3 kernel and I upgraded to pppoe 3.5.
>
>
> What modem do you have. If it is a 5100b (5-LEDs), how is it configured?
> By default, that model is a modem/router that does PPPoE and gives out one
> private DHCP IP on its LAN side.

Thanks David, here's what I know:

Yes, the 5100b, 5 lights, for Linux the Internet light is never on
and the activity light flashes. I think that is normal.


> Your distro is getting quite old. What do your logs say when you have
> trouble (is pppoe being dropped or reconnecting)? What are settings in
> however you connect pppoe (or /etc/ppp/options) for idle (zero would
> remain connected), demand (which I do use) or persist (which I don't).

I hate upgrades, something always goes wrong :-) The logs say this,
and while these do not represent the hangs methinks it is not
normal for the system to constantly reconnect and report that
something wicked happened. Using adsl-setup I specify no for
activate on demand, firewalling is STANDALONE, User control is
yes, /etc/ppp/options simply contains a line with the word LOCK
dated from before I got the machine.

Jun 1 16:00:02 localhost pppd[5157]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 1 16:00:02 localhost pppd[5157]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 1 16:00:02 localhost pppoe[5158]: PPP session is 61674
Jun 1 16:00:05 localhost pppd[5157]: local IP address 68.23.180.22
Jun 1 16:00:05 localhost pppd[5157]: remote IP address 68.23.181.254
Jun 1 16:00:05 localhost pppd[5157]: primary DNS address
206.141.192.60
Jun 1 16:00:05 localhost pppd[5157]: secondary DNS address
206.141.193.55
Jun 1 16:00:05 localhost logger: punching nameserver 206.141.192.60
through the firewall
Jun 1 16:00:05 localhost logger: punching nameserver 206.141.193.55
through the firewall
Jun 1 16:00:05 localhost su(pam_unix)[5223]: session opened for
user don by (uid=0)
Jun 1 16:00:05 localhost su(pam_unix)[5223]: session closed for
user don
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost pppoe[5158]: Inactivity timeout...
something wicked happened on session 61674
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost pppoe[5158]: Sent PADT
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost pppd[5157]: Modem hangup
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost pppd[5157]: Connection terminated.
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost pppd[5157]: Connect time 1.1 minutes.
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost pppd[5157]: Sent 523 bytes, received 935
bytes.
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister
event not supported
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost su(pam_unix)[5269]: session opened for
user don by (uid=0)
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost su(pam_unix)[5269]: session closed for
user don
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost pppd[5157]: Exit.
Jun 1 16:01:03 localhost adsl-connect: ADSL connection lost;
attempting re-connection.
Jun 1 16:01:08 localhost pppd[5273]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 1 16:01:08 localhost pppd[5273]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 1 16:01:08 localhost pppd[5273]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 1 16:01:08 localhost /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is
already up
Jun 1 16:01:08 localhost pppoe[5274]: PPP session is 61740
Jun 1 16:01:10 localhost pppd[5273]: local IP address 68.23.179.61
Jun 1 16:01:10 localhost pppd[5273]: remote IP address 68.23.179.254
Jun 1 16:01:10 localhost pppd[5273]: primary DNS address
206.141.192.60
Jun 1 16:01:10 localhost pppd[5273]: secondary DNS address
206.141.193.55
Jun 1 16:01:10 localhost su(pam_unix)[5335]: session opened for
user don by (uid=0)
Jun 1 16:01:10 localhost su(pam_unix)[5335]: session closed for
user don
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost pppoe[5274]: Inactivity timeout...
something wicked happened on session 61740
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost pppoe[5274]: Sent PADT
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost pppd[5273]: Modem hangup
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost pppd[5273]: Connection terminated.
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost pppd[5273]: Connect time 2.7 minutes.
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost pppd[5273]: Sent 46066 bytes, received
544300 bytes.
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister
event not supported
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost su(pam_unix)[5386]: session opened for
user don by (uid=0)
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost su(pam_unix)[5386]: session closed for
user don
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost pppd[5273]: Exit.
Jun 1 16:03:48 localhost adsl-connect: ADSL connection lost;
attempting re-connection.
Jun 1 16:03:53 localhost pppd[5390]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 1 16:03:53 localhost pppd[5390]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 1 16:03:53 localhost pppd[5390]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 1 16:03:53 localhost /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is
already up
Jun 1 16:03:53 localhost pppoe[5391]: PPP session is 61941
Jun 1 16:03:55 localhost pppd[5390]: local IP address 68.23.169.42
Jun 1 16:03:55 localhost pppd[5390]: remote IP address 68.23.175.254
Jun 1 16:03:55 localhost pppd[5390]: primary DNS address
206.141.192.60
Jun 1 16:03:55 localhost pppd[5390]: secondary DNS address
206.141.193.55
Jun 1 16:03:55 localhost su(pam_unix)[5452]: session opened for
user don by (uid=0)
Jun 1 16:03:55 localhost su(pam_unix)[5452]: session closed for
user don
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost pppoe[5391]: Inactivity timeout...
something wicked happened on session 61941
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost pppoe[5391]: Sent PADT
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost pppd[5390]: Modem hangup
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost pppd[5390]: Connection terminated.
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost pppd[5390]: Connect time 0.7 minutes.
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost pppd[5390]: Sent 54 bytes, received 54 bytes.
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister
event not supported
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost su(pam_unix)[5480]: session opened for
user don by (uid=0)
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost su(pam_unix)[5480]: session closed for
user don
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost pppd[5390]: Exit.
Jun 1 16:04:33 localhost adsl-connect: ADSL connection lost;
attempting re-connection.
Jun 1 16:04:38 localhost pppd[5484]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 1 16:04:38 localhost pppd[5484]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 1 16:04:38 localhost pppd[5484]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 1 16:04:38 localhost /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is
already up
Jun 1 16:04:38 localhost pppoe[5485]: PPP session is 61991
Jun 1 16:04:41 localhost pppd[5484]: local IP address 68.72.110.24
Jun 1 16:04:41 localhost pppd[5484]: remote IP address 68.72.111.254
Jun 1 16:04:41 localhost pppd[5484]: primary DNS address
206.141.192.60
Jun 1 16:04:41 localhost pppd[5484]: secondary DNS address
206.141.193.55
Jun 1 16:04:41 localhost su(pam_unix)[5546]: session opened for
user don by (uid=0)
Jun 1 16:04:41 localhost su(pam_unix)[5546]: session closed for
user don

> Which brings up something else to look at. Do you have anything set
> (especially in BIOS) on that machine to automatically suspend when idle?
> Using powersave settings for the monitor or spinning down unused hard
> drives would have no adverse effects, but other powersave settings might.

Linux blanks the screen after 20 minutes, there is no other power
saving going on under Linux.

Thanks,

Don

Don Tveter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> SBC Yahoo DSL works perfectly on the Windows 2000 side of my machine.

> It's about 95% perfect on Red Hat 7.3 Linux. The problems are
> that from time to time you click a URL (in Mozilla) and the
> browser just hangs there waiting for the site. And waiting and
> waiting. You can stop it and try again. Double clicking the
> link often gets you through. Some sessions are worse than others.
> This is really annoying when trying to buy something or pay a bill
> and it says "click the button once". Sometimes a click will
> produce a not found result even though it is a well-known site and
> when you try one or two more times you get through. Getting a
> news article often hangs the process as well.

This reply is so late it likely won't be of value, but this reminds me
of an ECN problem. From Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt:

tcp_ecn [CK: /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn]
-------

This file controls the use of the ECN bit in the IPv4 headers, this
is a new feature about Explicit Congestion Notification, but some
routers and firewalls block trafic that has this bit set, so it could
be necessary to echo 0 to /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn, if you want to
talk to this sites. For more info you could read RFC2481.

If "cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn" shows a "1" then do
"echo -n 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn" and see if that helps.

> A telnet operation through the shell will almost always freeze up
> after a few minutes or less of idle time as will an ftp connection.

Not sure what "freeze up" means but the servers may timeout. I know
the ftp server has an idle timeout. Check "man ftp" and search
for "idle". And pppoe itself has a timeout ("Inactivity timeout")
related to the "something wicked" in your next post. See pppoe.c in
the rp-pppoe source, search for "wicked" .

> I'm using the 2.4.28-3 kernel and I upgraded to pppoe 3.5.

> Does anyone have any idea what to do?

My best shots are given above. :-}

> Thanks,

> Don Tveter, (E-Mail Removed)

--
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