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    Internet Occasionally Drops for No Apparent Reason

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    44 Posts 3 Posters 5.8k Views
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      The WAN gateway stopped responding or the WAN went down entriely Then dpinger restarted. Are those logs filtered? It looks like there should be more if dpinger restarted like that.
      https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/troubleshooting/gateway-errors.html#sendto-error-65

      Steve

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        stevencavanagh @stephenw10
        last edited by stevencavanagh

        @stephenw10 Yes, the logs were filtered.

        Is there something else I should be looking for?

        It looks to me that the internet is going down and the issue is at the ISP level but they are adamant that it is fine!

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          What do the system logs actually show when this happens?

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            stevencavanagh @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 I can post the logs but there are a lot of them around the time of the issue. Shall I post the lot or filter some stuff out and if so which

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Start with the main system log covering that time if you can.

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                stevencavanagh @stephenw10
                last edited by stevencavanagh

                @stephenw10

                System log attached as requested and covers the time period in question.System Log 191023.txt

                Note : Changed WAN address to XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

                Thanks
                Steve

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Ok so looking at the logs there the first thing that happened is igb0 lost link:

                  Oct 19 16:46:21	kernel		igb0.101: link state changed to DOWN
                  Oct 19 16:46:21	kernel		igb0: link state changed to DOWN
                  

                  I assume VLAN 101 on that is what the PPPoE link is using?

                  Then it relinks 2 seconds later:

                  Oct 19 16:46:23	check_reload_status	420	Linkup starting igb0.101
                  Oct 19 16:46:23	kernel		igb0.101: link state changed to UP
                  Oct 19 16:46:23	kernel		igb0: link state changed to UP
                  

                  1s after that PPP is restarted:

                  Oct 19 16:46:24	ppp	12095	waiting for process 54114 to die...
                  Oct 19 16:46:24	ppp	12095	process 12095 started, version 5.9
                  Oct 19 16:46:24	ppp	12095	Multi-link PPP daemon for FreeBSD
                  

                  1s later it completes the PPPoE connection:

                  Oct 19 16:46:25	ppp	12095	[wan] IFACE: Add description "WAN"
                  Oct 19 16:46:25	ppp	12095	[wan] IFACE: Rename interface ng0 to pppoe2
                  Oct 19 16:46:25	ppp	12095	[wan] IFACE: Up event
                  

                  Everything after that it logs from other processes triggered by the new WAN IP.

                  So what I see here is what I'd expect if, for example, you unplugged the cable from igb0 to the DSL modem and immediately plugged it back in. I assume you didn't do that! So if there was no user action to trigger this then it looks like the interface lost link for some other reason like a bad cable or bad NIC, failing modem maybe.

                  Steve

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                    stevencavanagh @stephenw10
                    last edited by stevencavanagh

                    @stephenw10

                    VLAN 101 is what PPPoE is using.

                    I had to buy a new modem and NIC so doubt it is those. However, I have a short new Cat6 cable from ISP box to an RJ45 connection then Cat6 up to a patch panel then to the modem. Could be one of them I suppose.

                    The ISP is sure it isn't them!

                    I will check / change the cables and go from there.

                    Thanks for taking the time to check the logs.

                    Steve

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Mmm, the fact it lost link between the NIC and modem means it probably isn't the ISP. And the fact it came back up so quickly implies it probably wasn't the modem rebooting.
                      Do you have access to the modem to check anything it might have logged?

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                        stevencavanagh @stephenw10
                        last edited by

                        @stephenw10

                        As the modem is a Draytek 130 modem then I assume I can plug into the LAN port and go from there.

                        However, this would kill the internet for the house and I wouldn't be popular, so presumably I'll need to check in the middle of the night!

                        I assume there is no other way to access the modem?

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                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          You should be able to connect to it anyway without interrupting the PPPoE on VLAN 101. Just assign igb0 separately and put it in the same subnet as the modem. I do that here to access the HG612 I use with BT.
                          https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/recipes/modem-access.html

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                            stevencavanagh @stephenw10
                            last edited by

                            @stephenw10 Cheers, I will give it a go

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                              stevencavanagh @stevencavanagh
                              last edited by stevencavanagh

                              My WAN interface is:-

                              8b0aaea2-c440-4b0e-80dc-2332045272f4-image.png

                              However, when I look at "available network ports" there is no igb0, because it is already assigned as :-

                              97769a5d-5bfd-4b63-a750-a2987699eccd-image.png

                              No idea why, but I seem to remember that last time I deleted it (thought it wasn't required), everything stopped working!!

                              It is set up as:-

                              cc6f8e26-9d3d-4ff1-a313-5ec2f146bd52-image.png

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                              • stephenw10S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                Does it have a lease from the modem? Do you know what IP the modem interface is using? You can just set the interface statically to an IP in the modem subnet.

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                                  stevencavanagh @stephenw10
                                  last edited by stevencavanagh

                                  @stephenw10 If I remember right, it was set to default and just worked so I left well alone. If that is the case then the ip would be 192.168.1.1

                                  No idea about the lease though

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                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    Check Status > Interfaces to see if it has a lease.

                                    If not try setting it to something in the modem subnet, assuming you're not using 192.168.1.X on any other interface already.

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                                      stevencavanagh @stephenw10
                                      last edited by

                                      @stephenw10 Doesn't look like it!

                                      faf1308d-4aa9-4803-9bea-060f3f330162-image.png

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                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        Try setting it statically then. Perhaps 192.168.1.10/24. See if the firewall itself can then ping 192.168.1.1.

                                        Still assuming you're not using that subnet anywhere else!

                                        Steve

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                                          stevencavanagh @stephenw10
                                          last edited by

                                          @stephenw10 Assuming I am pinging correctly via "diagnostics / ping" with the hostname set as 192.168.1.1 then it isn't successful

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                                          • stephenw10S
                                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                            last edited by

                                            That's after setting that interface to something in the same subnet?

                                            Check Diag > Routes to make sure it sees that subnet on igb0.

                                            If so perhaps the modem isnt using that IP any longer...

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