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[meeotch]

My venerable old D-Link DGL-4100 seems to be in some sort of a pissing match with the Arris CM820 foisted on me by The Cable Company that Shall Not Be Named. (It's Time Warner. Ugh.)

Basically, if I try to reboot my router while leaving the cable modem on, it goes into some sort of reboot loop. It will do the normal asynchronous rapid-blinky-light "there's traffic on the ports" bit for a few seconds, and then all of the lights blink four or five times in unison, then it goes dark. Repeat.

The only solution to this I've found is power-cycling the modem simultaneously with the router. There's nothing in the router logs that seems to explain what's going on. And this was not a problem with my pre-Arris cable modem.

It's a pain in the ass, because it makes the whole system less resilient when the internet breaks then fixes itself (which is all the damn time, thanks to TCCtSNBN), power outages, etc.

Any idea what could be happening, and how I could avoid it? This DGL-4100 has been a trusty friend for many years, and I hate to s***can it just to take a gamble on some newer model, when the old one works fine in every other respect.

[FurryNutz]

Link>Welcome!

• What Hardware version is your router? Look at sticker under router.
• Link>What Firmware version is currently loaded? Found on the routers web page under status.
• What region are you located?
• Has a Factory Reset been performed?

Internet Service Provider and Modem Configurations

• Is ISP Modem/Service using Dynamic or Static WAN IP addressing?
• What ISP Modem service link speeds UP and Down do you have?
• Check cable between Modem and Router, swap out to be sure. Link> Cat6 is recommended.
• Check ISP MTU requirements, Cable is usually 1500, DSL is around 1492 down to 1472. Call the ISP and ask. Link>Checking MTU Values

I recommend that you have your ISP check the cabling going to the ISP modem, check signal levels going to the ISP modem. For DSL or Fiber service lines, ensure that the ISP is using good working phone or cable lines to the DSL modem and that the phone lines are filtered correctly. For cable Internet, RG-6 coaxial cable is needed, not RG-59. Check for t.v. line splitters and remove them as they can introduce noise on the line and lower the signal going to the ISP modem. I recommend having the ISP service physically check the lines going from the out side to the ISP modem. Connecting to the ISP modem could result in a false positive as the signal to the modem could be just enough to that point then adding on a router, could see problems. The router operation is dependent upon getting good data flow from the ISP modem and the modem is dependent upon getting good signal from the ISP Service.

Also please disable the Auto FW update check feature as well. This router is no longer being supported by the FW update servers so the auto update check should be disabled.
 Arris Cable Modems and External Routers

[FurryNutz]

Any chance you can get into a different modem? TWC supports other brands. I recommend a Motorola SB 6 series, i.e. 6141 or newer...

[meeotch]

TWC's been out on multiple occasions to check the line, so I assume signal strength is good.  As for the modem, they've given me the same one a couple times in a row - not sure if I could request a different one.  I tried testing with the cable disconnected, and it did seem to break the boot loop. In detail:

1) both modem & router are on
2) power-cycle router
3) router comes up & then goes into reboot loop
4) pull cable from modem
5) router stops rebooting
6) power-cycle router
7) router comes up, and does not reboot
reattach cable
9) router continues to function normally

This sort of agrees with my initial wholly-intuitive, non-data-based diagnosis: That the modem was generating / passing some sort of heavy traffic that caused the router to choke on boot. Unfortunately, there's no way to connect the router directly to the internet, to see if it's just heavy P2P connection attempts or whatever, or actually something specific to the modem.

I can say that this was not a problem pre-Arris. The router worked fine with the previous modem on the same cable. Also, this Arris modem has been replaced once or twice, with the same results.

Anyway, I'm moving to an Optimum Online area later this year, so I guess that will be a whole 'nother experiment.

[FurryNutz]

If the problem was not happening before Arris, then we can presume that there maybe an issue with these Arris modems. I recommend getting into Motorola SB 6141 now or if your new ISP is still cable, ask them about the SB 6141. They are good modems and work well with D-Link routers.

As a test you could take the router to a friend or families place to see if the problem follows. I presume it may not.

You can directly connect your PC to the Arris modem and check connections there.

This issue seem isolated to your area as others have not reported this however this router is legacy now and so others may have moved on.

Just be sure to disable the auto FW update feature on the router as it's not being supported anymore on the FW update Servers.


Good Luck.