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    WAN fails to keep DHCP address on cable modem reboot

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • B
      BlankSpace @stephenw10
      last edited by

      @stephenw10

      Ah, yes I forgot about that option. Any reason it only happens if the interface is disabled or loses the link with the cable modem when the modem reboots? When I restart pfs there are no issues.

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Hmm, well that might imply it negotiates differently when the modem comes up.

        If your modem really is just a modem and doesn't have a switch IC then I would expect to see a speed/duplex mismatch if you set pfSense to fixed. That usually kills throughput as you get loads or errors on the interface.

        Adding a switch in between would be a better test in that situation.

        Steve

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        • B
          BlankSpace @stephenw10
          last edited by BlankSpace

          @stephenw10

          I had two modems that did this, the first was the cable company provided Arris CM8200. The Arris modems would actually go into a boot loop everytime pfs dropped the IP and tried to renegotiate. They would actually lose signal on the cable end and just keep looping until pfs was restarted.

          Then I purchased my own Netgear Nighthawk CM1200. The Netgear has 4 ports but it is not a switch per se, it is for link aggregation and multiple IP address.

          I just tested speed this morning when manually forcing 1000/full and it did indeed go down, by alot, each time I did the speedtest.

          I do have some spare switches laying around that I will try. It's not really too big of an issue because I can always restart pfs and in 60 seconds its back up anyway. But sometimes I want to quickly bounce the cable modem to clear the logs and not have to restart pfs.

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            It would confirm it's a link problem of some type though. Adding a switch is a good test a least.

            Steve

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            • DaddyGoD
              DaddyGo @BlankSpace
              last edited by

              @BlankSpace said in WAN fails to keep DHCP address on cable modem reboot:

              This may be the solution...

              Due to the plenty of "noname" chip (PHY, eth. magnetics, PCB. etc.) manufacturers, unfortunately we encounter more and more of this problem.(Free after... @chpalmer https://www.badmodems.com/)

              (the bad principle lately is that the modem should be cheap and not really the function is the point)

              It's good if your test was successful. 😉

              you may still be able to refine your settings with these parameters (Protocol timing)

              91db0bc8-1720-4dc5-b8d5-584caa080157-image.png

              Cats bury it so they can't see it!
              (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

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              • B
                BlankSpace @DaddyGo
                last edited by

                @DaddyGo

                Thanks, I will need to read up on those settings, I have never messed with them before and do not know what each does.

                DaddyGoD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • DaddyGoD
                  DaddyGo @BlankSpace
                  last edited by

                  @BlankSpace said in WAN fails to keep DHCP address on cable modem reboot:

                  Thanks, I will need to read up on those settings,

                  Okéééé:
                  https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/book/interfaces/ipv4-wan-types.html

                  Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                  (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

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                  • B
                    BlankSpace @stephenw10
                    last edited by BlankSpace

                    @stephenw10

                    So I put a new cheap unmanaged gigabit switch (Netgear GS205) in between pfs and the modem. And it does the same thing, pfs can't get a stable link, keeps dropping and connecting in a loop. If I restart pfs, no issues.

                    During this time, this is being displayed on the console: "config_aqm Unable to configure flowset, flowset busy!"

                    Can it be related to the limiters I have created?

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Yes. It could be.
                      Though that could also just be a symptom of the limiter queues filling when the link goes down.

                      Try removing them.

                      You might also disabling flow control on igb3 if it is enabled.

                      Steve

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                      • B
                        BlankSpace @stephenw10
                        last edited by

                        @stephenw10

                        I'm basically running upload and download limiters using FQ_CODEL for bufferbloat. I just followed the documentation in a video I found.

                        igb3 is my WAN interface.

                        DaddyGoD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • DaddyGoD
                          DaddyGo @BlankSpace
                          last edited by

                          @BlankSpace

                          @stephenw10 "You might also disabling flow control on igb3 if it is enabled."

                          in addition I would even disable EEE (in loader.conf.local)

                          0275a0ef-ebfc-4010-a856-cc66b6459890-image.png

                          Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                          (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

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                          • B
                            BlankSpace @DaddyGo
                            last edited by

                            @DaddyGo

                            Thanks, I created loader.conf.local in /boot and added those lines. Safe to assume if I only have igb0 through igb3, that's all I need?

                            DaddyGoD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by stephenw10

                              Yes. It won't hurt adding more but it won't do anything except maybe log an error since you only have 4 NICs, those further OIDs don't exist.

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                              • DaddyGoD
                                DaddyGo @BlankSpace
                                last edited by

                                @BlankSpace said in WAN fails to keep DHCP address on cable modem reboot:

                                only have igb0 through igb3, that's all I need?

                                As @stephenw10 says too

                                "prtsc" shows in my example one I350-T4 and one I350-F4 are configured so it shows 0 to 7.

                                Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                                (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

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