How do I trouble-shoot intermitent issues

[ozone77]

Hi all, I need some help trouble-shooting a disconnect issue.

The main problem is that wifi devices lose internet connection. They are still connected to wifi but no internet.
Now, i checked the logs in to my devices (I will explain in a minute) and they don't show any disconnects (or maybe I am looking in the wrong place).

Here is my network:
Devices are in square brackets [ ] and media in parenthesis ( )

(Frontier fiber) ---[ONT]---(coax)---[Zyxel HLA3105 media converter]---(cat5e)---[Actiontec (edit: FIOS G1100)]---(cat5e)---[Netgear WAC 104]

Now, the Zyxel and the Actiontec are both inside a wall panel in a closet (made out of metal), so the Actiontec has the wifi disabled, and I am using the Netgear as a switch/AP (connected to a LAN port, not the WAN). The Netgear has a static IP and DHCP disabled.

I have a Samsung smarthing hub connected to another Netgear port and this guy also looses internet sometimes, so I guess that means this is not a wifi issue.

I think that Maybe the Zyxel/Actiontec is getting too hot in the closet. What do you suggest I look for in the logs?

Thanks,

edit: I got the router make/model wrong. It was never an Actiontec. It is a FIOS-G1100. I wrote Actiontec all over the thread, please remember as you read.

 

[degrub]

why don't you leave the closet door open for a week and see if the issue goes away ?
If it is heat, you likely won't see it in the logs unless there is a thermal monitoring alert (doubtful on the gear as they assume adequate ventilation). The system will just freeze. If the system is rebooting after a period of cooling down, you would see that.

 

[ozone77]

Done, I opened the panel and the closet door.

 

[ozone77]

Lol, not 5 minutes after I opened the door, internet dropped

 

[degrub]

if you have any "green" ethernet ports (they go to reduced power state) try forcing them to stay at full power.
Check the DHCP address lease time. Set it as long as you can for the hardwired devices or give them static addresses either in the device or by IP address assignment by MAC address.

leave the doors open. Those devices were designed assuming they are sitting in free air on a shelf. They are not designed to be hidden in a closed up panel inside a closet.

it is possible that there has been thermal stress damage and you may have to replace with different equipment.

 

[ozone77]

Ok, the door/panel are open. The hardware was very warm, but not scalding hot. I am fairly certain there is no damage.

I did call Frontier support and they "reset things on their side" and they had me reboot both router and ONT. We'll see if that helps.

I also noticed my router firmware is outdated (from 2 years ago and the latest version is about 6 months old). That is a red flag. I downloaded the frontier and Verizon firmware files, and learned how to reach the firmware update screen.

Here's the link to the files:
Verizon »www.verizon.com/support/ ··· software
Frontier https://frontier.com/helpcenter/categories/internet/other-services/open-source-software-portal

Here's the link to the hidden menu:
»192.168.1.1/#/advanced/fwupgrade

However, all my attempts result in a "invalid firmware" error.

So, the technician told me to do a factory reset, that the router is programmed to download the latest firmware.. hmm nope, did not happen.

I will give it some time see how things work for now, but the issues remain, I will have Frontier send a tech to crimp RJ45's on the existing ethernet wire and remove the coax bridge between the ONT and the router..

 

[Easy Rhino]

What's the distance between the ONT and the gateway? I'm wondering why it was using coax in the first place.

Which of the devices have management IP address that you can access? When you have an outage. You can work your way up through the ladder of devices in reverse to try to find the culprit (accesst point -> gateway -> media converter -> ONT (probably not).

When you lose connection, can you plug a laptop into the gateway via ethernet and see if it has access?

In theory, could you replace both the FIOS gateway and the WAP with a standalone wireless router?

 

[ozone77]

Thanks for your questions Rhino. The ONT is muuuch less than 300 ft away, so there is no reason it could not be Cat5. They did Coax because I told them to (don't know what I was thinking, I guess I thought Moca was great, only the ONT does not use Moca, it uses HPNA, but that's another story).

I can enter the AP and the Router, I never thought of trying the Media converter.. I will have to research that. I pretty much narrowed it down to the Router losing connection (I cleared the WAN DHCP logs, so I cannot specify what the error was). So the media converter could still be the culprit..

The good news is that the WAN DHCP log is still clear, so from the time Frontier "reset things on their end", things are going smoothly (knock on wood).