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    Can’t get WAN IP from FiOS

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
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    • luckman212L
      luckman212 LAYER 8
      last edited by

      @NOYB:

      When I first detailed this out years ago on Verizon FiOS.  Simply cloning the MAC was not enough.  Packet capture revealed option-125 was being used (Actiontec WR424 others may use different options).  Soon as that was added it worked.

      Hmm interesting!  Could you point me to some more info on using that DHCP OPT 125? Never needed it myself, but I am in NYC (not Frontier country) and have an older Alcatel I211MK ONT (still GPON, but I don't think they use these much anymore…)

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      • D
        DominikHoffmann
        last edited by

        @luckman212:

        Which ONT is it?

        How do I find out?

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        • luckman212L
          luckman212 LAYER 8
          last edited by

          @DominikHoffmann:

          @luckman212:

          Which ONT is it?

          How do I find out?

          Look at the sticker on the back?

          Google it and try to find the one that looks like yours?
          https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=676&q=fios+ont

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          • N
            NOYB
            last edited by

            @luckman212:

            @NOYB:

            When I first detailed this out years ago on Verizon FiOS.  Simply cloning the MAC was not enough.  Packet capture revealed option-125 was being used (Actiontec WR424 others may use different options).  Soon as that was added it worked.

            Hmm interesting!  Could you point me to some more info on using that DHCP OPT 125? Never needed it myself, but I am in NYC (not Frontier country) and have an older Alcatel I211MK ONT (still GPON, but I don't think they use these much anymore…)

            The two links in the second post of this thread.
            Also advanced search for impersonate or Actiontec for user NOYB.

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            • w0wW
              w0w
              last edited by

              Have you looked at system logs? Are there anything regarding this issue?
              I have had some issues connecting FIOS (not verizon) and this was pure hardware issue, ex realtek NIC on pfsense side that incorrectly established link with FIOS. Manually changed link speed on realtek to 100mbit and it's got an IP, but this can be related only to Realtek.

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              • D
                DominikHoffmann
                last edited by

                @NOYB:

                For pfSense
                Diagnostics / Packet Capture
                Interface: WAN
                Port: 67
                Level of detail: Full

                Download the capture and view in Wireshark.

                For DD-WRT
                Don't know.  Not familiar with it.
                If it doesn't have any menu driven capture, maybe it has tcpdump.
                If it doesn't have internal capture capability then maybe capture live with Wireshark by plugging PC into it's WAN port and then turn it on.

                I employed an old Netgear 100BaseT hub. I plugged the FiOS feed into the uplink port and both my LinkSys router running DD-WRT and my Mac into one of the other four ports.

                Being a Mac guy, I used an app called CocoaPacketAnalyzer. I think, I managed to capture at least one of the DHCP packets:

                58:6D:8F:30:6A:58 is the WAN MAC address of the router.

                Am I on the right track?

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                • D
                  DominikHoffmann
                  last edited by

                  @luckman212:

                  Ok if you already did that, then yeah - tcpdump/Wireshark is your next move.

                  Here's a starting point-

                  1. pull out the cat5 cable from your FIOS ONT

                  2. ssh to your pfsense, go to opt 8 and run the following:

                  tcpdump -i <wan_interface_name>-w dhcplog.pcap -s 0 port 67 or port 68

                  3. plug the cable back in and wait about a minute for some packets to be captured

                  4. hit CTRL+C and then copy that .pcap file to your desktop computer (use scp)

                  5. open that pcap in Wireshark and take a look… happy hunting ;)</wan_interface_name>

                  I followed your instructions. Here is my command line output:

                  [2.3.2-RELEASE][xxx@xxx.com]/root: tcpdump -i re0 -w dhcplog.pcap -s 0 port 67 or port 68
                  tcpdump: WARNING: re0: no IPv4 address assigned
                  tcpdump: listening on re0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes
                  ^C0 packets captured
                  0 packets received by filter
                  0 packets dropped by kernel

                  Why would it say, “0 packets captured?” Doesn’t that point to something else being wrong, i.e., that re0 (my WAN interface) is incorrectly configured, somehow?

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                  • luckman212L
                    luckman212 LAYER 8
                    last edited by

                    post output of

                    ifconfig
                    

                    go simpler… try

                    tcpdump -i re0
                    tcpdump -i re1
                    tcpdump -i re2
                    
                    

                    make sure you are capturing on the right interface … you should see packets flying by

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                    • D
                      DominikHoffmann
                      last edited by

                      @luckman212:

                      Ok if you already did that, then yeah - tcpdump/Wireshark is your next move.

                      Here's a starting point-

                      1. pull out the cat5 cable from your FIOS ONT

                      2. ssh to your pfsense, go to opt 8 and run the following:

                      tcpdump -i <wan_interface_name>-w dhcplog.pcap -s 0 port 67 or port 68

                      3. plug the cable back in and wait about a minute for some packets to be captured

                      4. hit CTRL+C and then copy that .pcap file to your desktop computer (use scp)

                      5. open that pcap in Wireshark and take a look… happy hunting ;)</wan_interface_name>

                      @luckman212:

                      post output of

                      ifconfig
                      

                      go simpler… try

                      tcpdump -i re0
                      tcpdump -i re1
                      tcpdump -i re2
                      
                      

                      make sure you are capturing on the right interface … you should see packets flying by

                      It turns out that while troubleshooting I had inadvertently changed the NIC speed to something incorrect. So, I have been able to capture DHCP packets:

                      It looks to me like the one shown here is either a DHCPOFFER or a DHCPACK message. The DHCP server is at 72.86.40.1 (= 0x48562801) and offers the IP address 72.86.40.140 (= 0x4856288C). I haven’t figured out, yet, which of the two it is.

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                      • luckman212L
                        luckman212 LAYER 8
                        last edited by

                        Still not enough info. Seems like pfSense is acquiring a valid WAN IP 72.86.40.140 from the ONT. You don't have anything nonstandard in your WAN DHCP config do you? Might be able to tell more if you PM me a pcap file.  If you're worried about leaking any private info, just disconnect your LAN first so only traffic between pfsense <-> ONT is in the capture. Try a packet capture without any filters- need to see other traffic in addition to the BOOTP.

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                        • D
                          DominikHoffmann
                          last edited by

                          Well, it turns out that that one of the NICs in my Zotac ZBOX-CI321NANO-U-W2B was bad.

                          I found out by swapping the WAN and LAN cables. While before the box failed to get an IP address from my ISP, after the swap it couldn’t be pinged by the LAN. After the swap the router did just fine setting up connectivity with the ISP.

                          I have now filed an RMA for replacement under warranty with Zotac. It had been an open-box unit purchased from Amazon for a real steal. Very possibly the previous owner had found the problem and returned it for credit without reporting the issue.

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                          • B
                            bonymattw @luckman212
                            last edited by

                            @luckman212 seems like you have a solid background with WAN IP issues on devices. My FiOS connection keeps dropping on the WAN interface and comes back when I reset the interface. Is there any way to solve this ?

                            I posted in detail here what is happening:
                            https://forum.netgate.com/topic/133896/wan-drops-connection-3-4-times-a-day-to-r210-ii-verizon-fios

                            Thank you!

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