pfSense not connecting to charter (spectrum) internet modem, calmed not docsis 3.1 compatible.
-
To set the stage, back in November 2021 spectrum replaced our modem because our existing unit was not going to be compatible with their docsis 3.1 network they were upgrading too. From the start they had issues. The modem showed a link with the pfsense box, but it would not get any DHCP data from it. After a month of trying things with charter and trying 2 different modems we got the network to work. Fast forward 1 1/2 months to mid-January, we lost internet one day for some reason. I restarted the modem and router and as expected it started working again. A week later it happened again, and this time it took 4 restart cycles to get it working right. After this I hoped it would be the last time, I had to do this again about 5 days later. I am a curious person and before restarting anything i tried connecting a computer directly to the modem and it had no issues getting internet. I was puzzled and followed my restart procedure to get our internet working. Again, it went but I could get internet by directly connecting. So, I decided to try my spare Wi-Fi routers from 2014 to 2018. 3 different units reported no connection on the wan from the modem, but in-between changeovers before restarting the modems I plugged a computer directly into the modem and got a working connection. I decided to reach out to spectrum, and they say that the hardware may be faulty, so I took it to a different location and it worked fine including my pfsense box. I then reached out to spectrum again and they claimed that our router is probably not docsis 3.1 compatible and will no longer work. To my understanding once the internet leaves the rj45 port on the modem it is not using the docsis protocol but using ipv4. The cable representative eventually was willing to send a tech out after 3 multiple hour-long phone calls with them, but requested I validate that a pfsense dedicated PC is compatible with a doksas 3.1 cable modem. So, my question is, is pfsense docsis 3.1 compatible (as requested by spectrum) and does anyone have any other troubleshooting things I can try if they cannot get anything working in the near future?
Thanks!Modem: hitron en2251 (with external battery)
PFSense box info
pc engines pc: apu4c4 (4Gb ram, AMD GX-412TC CPU)
PFsense community edition version 2.4.4-release-p3other devices tested to check for modem internet connection
AMD fx desktop (successful internet connection)
HP ProBook laptop (successful internet connection)
ASUS rt-acrh13 (no network cable attached error)
ASUS rt-ac86u (no network cable attached error)
Netgear prosafe VPN firewall fvs338 (no network cable attached error) -
@pwrobot said in pfSense not connecting to charter (spectrum) internet modem, calmed not docsis 3.1 compatible.:
To my understanding once the internet leaves the rj45 port on the modem it is not using the docsis protocol but using ipv4
I had to look up what 'docsis' is.
IMHO : your right, docsis is a modem thing : converting 'whatever' (coaxial ? fibre ? etc) to plain RJ45 compatible IP traffic.The word docsis is used a lot the last 10 years on this forum : reading them all confirms my thoughts : it's a modem thing. I never bought a PC (camera, doorbell, printer, NAS, switch, access point) that said it was docsis completable.
Something should works always :
Connect modem to upstream ISP 'cable'.
Power it up - and wait. Let it take it's time to do it's thing.
Now, hook up the RJ45 cable up between the modem, it's LAN port - and the pfSense WAN port.
Power up fSense.The link-on and transmission leds on both sides ('modem LAN and pfSense WAN) should light up pretty quickly, and show the same transmission speed, for example 1Gbits/sec
As soon as the pfSense nears the end of the boot process (you were following on the console access, right ?!?), the DHCPclient should kick in, and it will send out a DHCPDISCOVER request, A DHCPREQUEST, and the answers coming back from where ever the DHCP server is.
The negotiation of the DHCP process (WAN side of pfSense) can be found in the ...... DHCP log ! (the DHCP client lines). Note : the pfSense DHCP server(s) also log in this file.
What happens when you put a small simple switch device between pfSense WAN and the mode's LAN port ?
I tend to think that modems these days 'do someting' with the DHCP IP packets (UDP, over port 69) : upon receiving they 'rest' the cable connection ... or they capture them, add 'stuff' or modify them, before sending it over the coax (whatever) wire. This interception, and uplink and downlink signals on both devices, pfSense and the modem, the DHCP client on the pfSense side : all these can create a 'timing' issue.
True, if pfSEnse senses a UPLINK on the WAN, it wil send out a first DHCPDISCOVER, and waits. It will re send a DHCPDISCOVER and waits again. If no answer ... it will shutdown eventually and say "sorry".
On this forum you can see a lot of these situations : the DHCP traffic of pfSense doesn't get an answer, or all the connections are 'ok' ....@pwrobot said in pfSense not connecting to charter (spectrum) internet modem, calmed not docsis 3.1 compatible.:
PFsense community edition version 2.4.4-release-p3
No one members possible pfSense DHCP client issues from several years ago. Switch to 2.6.0.
-
@pwrobot said in pfSense not connecting to charter (spectrum) internet modem, calmed not docsis 3.1 compatible.:
I then reached out to spectrum again and they claimed that our router is probably not docsis 3.1 compatible and will no longer work.
That is nonsense. DOCSIS is strictly a cable modem thing and the compatibility has to be between the modem and the head end. It has absolutely nothing to do with a router or anything else. This guy is, to use technical jargon, full of it. Your router has to connect to standard Gb Ethernet & DHCP. If a computer works, but pfsense doesn't then you have to determine why. What do you see on the WAN side of pfsense?
One thing, you may have to reboot the modem, when you change devices connected to it. -
Thanks all for your response, and confirming my suspicions that the support staff did not know what they are talking about.
After posting this question I tried some more troubleshooting steps. First I took one of my known working routers and plugged the wan port of the pfsense box into it and it recognized and connected with no problems. This makes me think it is some communication issue between modem and router.
When looking at the pfsense home screen, when connected to the modem, it shows that the WAN is connected with a 1000 link and the lights on the modem and router are solid on. Where it would normally show our external IP, the field is blank. Logs show DHCP requests on WAN, but no response.
Anyone have any ideas what else I can check to toss at their support people next? -
Just to be sure, you are powering down the cable modem every time you swap connected devices (router/pfsense/computer), right? Many cable modems will not hot-swap consistently. My Arris SB8200 must be power-cycled if I change the downstream device.
Peter
-
@pwrobot
Your ISP may have 'bonded' the MAC address from your old router to your account. Try changing the WAN MAC address on your pfSense box to match your old router and see if that does the trick. -
To confirm, after attaching a new device I always power cycle the modem and wait for the online light to turn on before restarting the router or other devices.
On my phonecalls with them I have asked about Mac latching and they claim they don't because this is a home survive not a business account. In the past I have been able to swap routers on the fly as long as I restart the modem and we connect without any issues.
I am trying to get a service technician out to look at the modem since in the past when we got it working stable for over a month they tried a new modem and that fixed it. At that time, they still thought it was a router issue, and since it was not name brand they were not willing to work with me to figure it out. Hence why I am here now.
Thanks again to all trying to help! -
our router is probably not docsis 3.1 compatible and will no longer work.
Excuse me while I clean the coffee I just tried to drink out of my keyboard..
Spectrum rented modems are generally junk! What model do you have?
-
@pwrobot said in pfSense not connecting to charter (spectrum) internet modem, calmed not docsis 3.1 compatible.:
PFSense box info
pc engines pc: apu4c4 (4Gb ram, AMD GX-412TC CPU)
PFsense community edition version 2.4.4-release-p3Any reason you're still on 2.4.4p3?
It should still work fine for this but there have many, many bugs fixed since then.Steve
-
@chpalmer @stephenw10
Our modem is a hitron technologies EN2251
The only reason I have not updated was because I was not having any issues with our setup until now. I will investigate how to upgrade the system without having to do a fresh install since that was a pain the first time to get things to work right.
I had spectrum come out, they did not find anything wrong at the time they were here, but I was able to convince them to replace the modem. It took them over a half hour to get the modem captured and configured but it immediately hooked up to the pfsense box and we had internet again.
I hope this fix holds but I am assuming that there might be something else going on too. -
@pwrobot security devices are not washing machines. As long as it washes is ok
They are more like abs or brakes in a car.
Not needed until you need to stop in an emergency.
Consider upgrading to latest at your earliest convenience.
Now that it works ok make a note of the wan setting and keep them for reference.
You could also capture initial negotiation in Wireshark and keep it for reference.( this does have a steep learning curve though) -
Installing clean on an APU should not be difficult. You can restore your existing config into it afterwards.
Steve
-
Update, spectrum came and got our internet working. About 5 hours after they left out internet went back out again.
-
@pwrobot What did they do to "fix" it for 5hours?
-
@netblues
They checked the lines, everything had an extremely strong signal since we have a direct dedicated tap off the main line. They decided to replace the modem after multiple restarting attempts of modem and router. The new moden they installed would not latch onto there network; eventually they remade the account, like it was a new service since they could not get the new modem to latch onto our account, and it connected a few minutes later.
After it went out I reached out to a contact the tech gave me but have not heard back from them. In an attempt to get some sort of internet, I tried the recommendation of applying the information for a working computer (MAC, IPv4 address, IPv4 gateway...) to the router, but this solution would not last for long. Sometimes we get a hour sometimes half a day then we would have to copy a new computers information over since the old computer would be blocked like the router previously from getting new information from there system. please help, I am running out of network interfaces I can use to get addresses from.
BTW, static address settings and MAC spoofing is against charter spectrums residential usage policies, and could be the issue why my solution does not last long; since everything is statically set and there system is probably noticing. -
@pwrobot
What you are facing isnt pfsense related.
once a mac address is changed there is no other way to distinguish a network device at the ethernet level.The fact that they had to resort into account deletion to make it "work" is indicative.
Apart from the docsys modem, do they supply a router? Does this work always?
-
I know this is going to sound weird. I too have Spectrum internet, with one of those Hitron modems. It has a 2.5gig ethernet port. With two different PFSense boxes (a Qotom mini pc and a miniITX build with a 4 port Intel ethernet card) it would continuously drop and renegotiate the speed and duplex of the port. I could just sit there and watch the link lights go out for like 8 seconds, then blink a bit, then go out again. Eventually, the computer side would 'link up' at 100 half, which of course would not work at all as the Hitron was at either gig or 2.5gig and my service is 400 down anyway so why would I want to link at 100 half. I ended up putting a small switch between the modem and my Qotom and have had no issues since. If I had a way to log into that dang modem I would try to manually set it to gigabit but they don't provide login info. So I would suggest that when it is down, take a look at the link lights.
-
@netblues
We have never been offered a router from them. In my initial conversation with tech support where they claimed that our router must be docsis 3.1 compatible they tried to get me to buy a new netgear or Cisco router that is listed as compatible. I know some people who have set up a new accounts recently with them and they did not provide a router but only a modem.
That was exactly my thought with everything that was going on that there was something wrong with there system not our router. -
@tzvia
The lights on the modem are quite were compared to the initial unit we had that was acting quite weird. The original modem before they replaced it most recently, had bright light's for power, online, voice, and battery. All lights would be on normally, but if I were watching the modem when our internet would go out the online light would go out briefly then return on and we would have no internet. The new modem (same model) has all the same lights but the power and online lights are only faintly on, like they are glowing due to other light sources but the functionality still works. It seems like when we lose internet the light on the online will dimm briefly then return like the other unit. -
@pwrobot There is no such think as docsys compliant at the router level.
And Netgear is plain vanilla routers too.
So, this switch idea might do the trick.
I would go with a managed 5 port little box.
netgear, or dlink web smart is fine.
About $30-$40 tops.
Via web management you should put the docsys facing port to gigabit full duplex and connect pf box to any other, left at auto negotiation.Now, as far as online led is concerned, it could mean many things.
Does it light up with nothing else connected on dicsys modem, just poweiring it up and wait for a few minutes?
