Poor Whole Home networking

6429 Views 66 Replies 5 Participants Last post by KSbugeater, Aug 31, 2012

KSbugeater

Discussion Starter · Aug 20, 2012

All of my HRs are popping on and off the WH network. This used to be a stable system. (See chart) First the HR24 started resetting every 30 min (put in a eSATA HDD for that, which has since stopped working. HR24 not resetting anymore). Then the HDD went kaput on a HR20-100 (not shown, but paired with HR20-700 in basement). My son had covered the DECA that connects to the router with his dresser, which I thought was causing the problem. I'm using static IPs for all boxes. Where should I start, VOS?

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veryoldschool

· #2 · Aug 20, 2012

While an interesting drawing, omissions in another drawing yesterday caused a few wasted hours troubleshooting.

You're not showing a splitter and DVR, at least.

"Things to check", what do the LEDs on the DECA show when a receiver has dropped?
What does the coax networking test show from the HR24?
This is found by pressing the guide & right arrow on the front panel, and then selecting coax from the left menu.

KSbugeater

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 20, 2012

I'm not at home right now to do the networking test. I did notice while watching the DECA connected to the router that it will drop (turn yellow) then come back (green lights eventually light back up).

veryoldschool

· #4 · Aug 20, 2012

KSbugeater said:
I'm not at home right now to do the networking test. I did notice while watching the DECA connected to the router that it will drop (turn yellow) then come back (green lights eventually light back up).

That's a sign of a not very healthy DECA network, so running the tests from the 24 should help to locate it [we hope].

KSbugeater

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 20, 2012

While I'm waiting for an HR to drop off the network, I noticed that my diagram is wrong. The PI for the SWM is on the same line as the HR24, and between those 2 is where the DECA for the router is switched in. However, there is 6' of cable between the SWM PI and the DECA.

KSbugeater

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 22, 2012

Here are the stats when only 2 are on the network: Right after I took this the HR24 rebooted!

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veryoldschool

· #7 · Aug 22, 2012

|0|1|2|3|4
0|| 191 | 137 |253|251
1| 192 || 162 | 187 | 197
2| 93 | 99 || 117 | 127
3|252|220| 162 ||252
4|248|233| 73 |251|

The blanks are those that don't count.
The reds are bad and are causing the system test error [one of your three].
The two coax runs that you need to look at are from nodes 1 & 2, which the test before this matrix list loss and either the name of the receiver, or the MAC address of it.

KSbugeater

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 22, 2012

Also, the far left LED on the DECA attached to the router was orange while the other two were green. Bad DECA on the router could explain a lot, right?

veryoldschool

· #9 · Aug 22, 2012

KSbugeater said:
Also, the far left LED on the DECA attached to the router was orange while the other two were green. Bad DECA on the router could explain a lot, right?

Nope, the DECA is reporting what you've just shown in the MESH test.
"Bad coax".

KSbugeater

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 22, 2012

Ugh. The two that were missing we're the two longest runs, in the basement and the living room. But for years up until lately and even sometimes now
they are fine, and I don't think anything has compromised them since they are mostly in walls.

KSbugeater

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 22, 2012

The downstairs HR20 is on a switch from when it shared a DECA with the HR20 that went kaput. Could the switch cause the problem? At this moment the downstairs HR is the only one off the WH network.

veryoldschool

· #12 · Aug 22, 2012

I've move this to its own thread.

It's time for you to update your diagram so I can get a better idea of what is what and where it is.

It wouldn't hurt to get photos of the splitters too

KSbugeater

Discussion Starter · #13 · Aug 22, 2012

Hmm. The diagram is saved as PowerPoint elsewhere, so editing it would be difficult until Thursday. The splitters are up to spec, but they are in dark places I can't photograph right now. Gotta get up early tomorrow so I guess the enigma will have to be put on hold. The HR24 rebooting even with a new hard drive is a bad sign to me. Could be something flaky is causing it to drop off and making the others scramble around...? Or not. I'm no networking expert. Thanks for your help, VOS.

veryoldschool

· #14 · Aug 22, 2012

KSbugeater said:
Hmm. The diagram is saved as PowerPoint elsewhere, so editing it would be difficult until Thursday. The splitters are up to spec, but they are in dark places I can't photograph right now. Gotta get up early tomorrow so I guess the enigma will have to be put on hold. The HR24 rebooting even with a new hard drive is a bad sign to me. Could be something flaky is causing it to drop off and making the others scramble around...? Or not. I'm no networking expert. Thanks for your help, VOS.

Your DECA stats suck, so while you may have other issues, you still need to deal with the cabling/splitters.
You've got a lot of loss being reported and the network performance shows it.
I don't care about the powerpoint, though it looks nice.
I need to know what splitters are being used, and how they're configured.
The cables may have problems, but "my gut" says you're not using the splitters correctly.

veryoldschool

· #15 · Aug 22, 2012

I know this isn't all of it, but hopefully it gives you an idea:

Product Slope Triangle Font Rectangle

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KSbugeater

Discussion Starter · #16 · Aug 23, 2012

Okay, when I got home and before I saw this post with your edits, I removed the DECA link to the router. So now the hr24 is connected to the SWM power inserter ( by 12' of RG6) and the HR22 is connected to the splitter outside. I then checked the phy rate mesh and all were good levels ( in the 200s). Then the Hr24 rebooted again. (the HR24 is a refurb, I think it might be flaky). Afterward, it is now only connected to the HR21 in the living room (which is not the one it shares a splitter with)

veryoldschool

· #17 · Aug 23, 2012

So without a router connection, some have the 169.xxx IPs and some don't, as they're still using the ones from the router.

Tisby

· #18 · Aug 23, 2012

Is the power inserter plugged into a power strip or straight into an outlet? SWM8 & 16 PIs will not work correctly in some situations when they are on a power strip with other devices plugged into it...

veryoldschool

· #19 · Aug 23, 2012

Tisby said:
Is the power inserter plugged into a power strip or straight into an outlet? SWM8 & 16 PIs will not work correctly in some situations when they are on a power strip with other devices plugged into it...

Considering this is a DECA problem that's being chased, I don't see the correlation.

Tisby

· #20 · Aug 23, 2012

veryoldschool said:
Considering this is a DECA problem that's being chased, I don't see the correlation.

I've seen multiple times that when the PI isn't getting enough juice, the decas (internal or external) start to drop off. Usually starts with the longest run and gets progressively worse. It's worth a 5-second double checking.

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