An unsettling outage
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My usually reliable internet went down at 1am. At 6am I noticed and began troubleshooting.
Reset modem no joy.
Reset router no joy.
Checked Comcast outage map no joy.
Then I unplugged the modem cable and re-inserted it. Problem solved.
I will replace the modem cable because - why not. But does anyone have a theory why this happened?
Thanks
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I can't comment specifically on Comcast, but I do know that providers will update the firmware in their cable modems from time to time, and I have seen exactly this issue where the cable modem doesn't come alive again after the update.
Rebooting it generally solves the issue. -
Mmm, rebooting the modem and pfSense I would have expected to solve most things that might happen like that. Could have been actual bad hardware like a failing port or cable. You see any errors on the connection in Status > Interfaces?
Steve
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@stephenw10 - No errors showing now on the interface. Inspecting the failing cable closely I do see a thin dark line on the inside edge of the connector pads. Could the modem port have been arcing and oxidizing the copper?
Thanks
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If there's arcing, you've got power where it isn't supposed to be. The signal levels on the coax are on the order of millivolts.
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@JKnott - Thanks. I will check to be sure the coax is still grounded and that my modem power supply hasn't gone wonky.