Bloody NTL tossers

Gh0st Face Killah · March 10, 2003, 08:54:17 AM

The unthinkable horror has happened. My cable modem has locked up and refuses to pass any traffic at all. Where on the modem is the reset button I ask myself? Handily enough there isn't one! So I ring the no help desk and get connected to a plank. I explain who I work for and have probably carried out every test that he can think of and then some, but he has to stick to his script and asks me all the usual dumb questions, are the lights on? Can you connect to the internet? Have you tried it connected to the pc without the router? etc etc!!! After about 10 mins he finally realises that its fubared and says an engineer will be in contact within the next 48 hrs! So no cs for me for a couple of days :cry: :cry:

And yes I know I shouldn't be with ntl but currently they are charging me the 128k price for my 600k connection which is good enough for me.

Benny · March 10, 2003, 09:17:20 AM

Have you got a surfboard?

Gh0st Face Killah · March 10, 2003, 09:36:01 AM

No its one of the standard ntlhome modems

Anonymous · March 10, 2003, 10:36:42 AM

Have you tried power cycling it by pulling the plug? (Obvious question but you didn't say in your post, only that there was not a reset switch)

Gh0st Face Killah · March 10, 2003, 10:58:30 AM

Errmmm yes, tried that and leaving it unplugged for a length of time in case that helped, just had a thought might try using the usb connection and see if I can get in that way. Hopefully I can reset it from the menus once I have connectivity.

Anonymous · March 10, 2003, 11:22:55 AM

OK Since I'm full of stupid questions this morning here's another:

In case something has changed with your modem, do you have your NIC set to use DHCP or does it have a statically assigned IP? May be worth resetting DHCP if you are currently on static IP.

Just a thought

Gh0st Face Killah · March 10, 2003, 11:47:35 AM

Setup is as follows

---cable modem-----router/switch------local lan

I can't get into the modem at all at the moment to change any settings and its not passing any traffic. I can get all round my network and into the router (which is also my dhcp server). The modem is locked up. It has the 2 right hand lights on constantly and the 3rd blinking. The muppet ant NTL ran a diagnostic and apparently that came back fine. Shows how good their diagnostic software is. It then took me about 10 mins of arguing with him to convince him it was fubared. I even went down the I work for cisco road so I think I know what I'm talking about road only to watch the tumbleweed drift across my desk as he didn't have a clue who cisco were. And I know for a fact that they use cisco kit coz they have an account with us. Anyway the upshot of all that was that an engineer will ring me in the next 48 hrs to arrange an appointment. So looks like i'll be with out all week. Going to try connecting via the usb port nad see if I can get into the modem that way. Long shot I know but it might be the fe port thats locked and causing the problem. I have a spare motorola modem at home but that wouldn't recognise the cable network.

Gh0st Face Killah · March 10, 2003, 11:49:48 AM

Oh and I should add Thanks for all suggestions, much appreciated. :thumbsup:

smilodon · March 10, 2003, 01:20:06 PM

One day someone will start up an ISP and rather than save money on their salary bill by employing idiots, they will employ quality professionals on their help desks. These skilled people will quickly and efficiently solve customer problems using the power of their minds rather than a pre-written script.

And this company will obviously make millions.

It will then get bought up by a large comglomerate who will cut back on costs by sacking all the skilled customer service helpers and employ muppets again......

There was such a company once and it was called Demon Internet

Gh0st Face Killah · March 10, 2003, 01:24:00 PM

One of my friends was asked to come in at the start up of demon but turned it down coz at the time he thought it'll never take off. Doh!

Anonymous · March 10, 2003, 02:28:29 PM

Have you had a look at the Cable Modem troubleshooting site - some excellent stuff here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/

Gh0st Face Killah · March 10, 2003, 02:31:52 PM

I have, and printed out a load of stuff to try tonight. So i'll hopefully see you on the hook later on. Assuming all goes to plan and I can get the bloody thing up and running again.

Gh0st Face Killah · March 10, 2003, 05:28:47 PM

RESULT!!

Got the bugger working again. Thanks to all who asked questions and pointed me at info. See you on the hook or balders later on.

A good tip I picked up from all this is if you are having problems disconnect your modem from the cable/ dsl and this forces it into diagnostic mode. You should then be able to get into it via your browser/telnet and reset it. Power it off reconnect it, power off any routers and switches, pcs etc and power them back up to enable them to pick up the ip addresses again.

phew normal service has been resumed.

Anonymous · March 10, 2003, 06:56:13 PM

Yeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!

JB · March 10, 2003, 08:20:59 PM

Yeeeeeehhhaaaaaaaa... More easy kills the merrier