Losing Internet Connection on Surfboard SB6120

For the past several weeks, I am having to reboot my cable modem at least once a day cause of lost connection.
I believe its the modem cause after unplugging the power and plugging it back on my internet will start back again. The sb6120 has the latest firmware.
My service is with Charter.

I try looking at my log (cable modem log in) and all I get is this. "Feb 26 2010 23:10:23 4-Error B603.0 Map Request Retry Timeout." Apparently Charter has disable the log page. I dont know if its the service or my modem? My sb6120 is connect to my dlink 655. I had this modem for about two months now.I am losing connection on both my desktop (wired) and notebook (wireless) No issues for the first month. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

Have your carrier check out the system. It is rarely the modem that is at fault. It is more likely a bad connection or bad piece of hardware in the phone line system.

 

Are you sure it's the modem and not your dlink 655 router?

 

This issue honestly sounds like wireless interference caused by electronic hardware or the environment ( Steel, concrete..ect. ) I would recommend just using a different channel.

 

I believe its the modem and not the dlink 655. On my front panel of the modem I noticed that if the "link" light is solid then I have lost internet connection. Apparently the "link" light has to be flashing in order for internet connection. Also right when I unplug the power to the modem and plug it back on, my internet will start working again.

mmmmm, right now i am on channel 1 on my dlink. I will try switching over to another channel and see if this resolve the issue. Thanks for all your replies.

 

First, awesome modem. I would be surprised if it were the modem. I do hate how the cable companies go in and lock you out of the modems though. Your description sounds like a loss of sync to the head office, which is most often a result of poor signal. How old is the cable running from the street to the house?

Take the router out of the equation and connect directly to the modem with one machine. Power off the modem. Power off the computer. Power on the modem until it syncs. Power on the computer. Surf until the internet connection is lost. Call your isp, tell them internet is out and describe the lights on the front. Ask them to log into your modem and check the signal to noise ratio.

 

Gerryf19's comment reminds me of something - I used to get terrible slowdowns in my internet service when I had cable broadband if any of the coax connections were in the least bit loose. You might work your way through each of the coax connections and make sure that they're screwed down as tight as you can get them. Also, check the splitter that's used to split the signal between the TV set-top box and the broadband modem - if it's the no-name piece of junk they originally installed, or if it's been there a while, then you might want to replace it and see if that helps.

 

Before I was using SB5101 which I never had a losing connection. The reason why I got the SB6120 cause i read that it could improve your speed without having to upgrade your service. I do notice that I get better speed with the SB6120 then with my old modem. Like when i was

Not to go off topic but look at my speed from speedtest.net. Is speedtest.net " all smokes and mirrors"? Right now my plan is 10 down and 2 up from Charter but this is what I get from speedtest.net. I never got numbers like these below with my old SB5101.

 

Speedtest.net is kosher (in fact, some of the big ISPs have their own special subdomain links to speedtest.net that they use for their own internal diagnostics - when I had TWC cable broadband one of the techs sent me the url to diagnose why my signal was so bad. It didn't work, though, so we eventually switched to FiOS).

I have 20 down/5 up with FiOS and here's what I get with speedtest.net:

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It looks like your ISP has slipped you off your leash, download-wise. I'd leave it as is (since you're getting your advertised upload speed) and just check every once in a while to see if they've throttled you back down again.

 

Next time it locks up, see if you can ping your router, then the SB5120 if possiable. Then try pinging yahoo.com and there IP address.

Shyster1, You need to check your service. You are not getting what your paying for. I am paying for a FIOS 15/5 and getting 21/14. Their setup script failed and nothing worked except the phone (local only). Once everything was corrected, I ended up with these higher speeds, I'm not complaining. With this high uplink speed sure make VPN and FTP fast.

 

I'll see what I can find. It could be the Actiontec (I just left the default setup alone - I really didn't have the energy to start mucking around with another entirely new setup when they put it in). It could also be the fact that I haven't shut the router down in several months. Or it could be any number of other things (including loose coax connections, which were what was bedeviling the cable broadband connection I had before).

 

Okay lose connection tonight again. I then try pinging the SB6120 and got no response (time out) I then tried pinging the router (dir 655) and got response back (4 packets sent and 4 received) During the lose connection I was in the middle of moving a some files (4gb) from my notebook to my desktop and it never lost connection on this transfer.

Instead of unplugging the power cord from my modem this time, I disconnected the internet cable from my router waited couple of seconds and then plugged it back in. After that my internet started to work again......I believe theres something going on with my modem and router....I will try and give Charter a call tomorrow.

 

Good to hear you have now located where the problem is. Good luck with your ISP. It does point to the modem having a problem.

 

Sorry to ressurect a nearly year old thread, but I am having the exact same issue. The modem appears to be online, link light is solid (no constant blink as usual). I just bought this modem, having no problems beforehand just upgraded from the ancient one I had before. But the same day I did this I installed a new router. I suspect it's the modem, since the router is fairly high-end with lots of logging (no errors in the log), but would like to know how you resolved your issue before doing anything drastic.

 

First, you should start your own thread.

Second, you said "I just bought this modem"

Did you contact your ISP. If you have a new then your MAC address changed and your ISP will not authorize the modem on their network until they have recorded the new mac address. This is how they prevent signal piracy.

 

I have battled this problem for nearly a year in my old house. Here is what I had to do to get it fixed:

1.)Dont be afraid to call techs out, i had t hem out every day for at least 2 weeks at one point.
2.)Have them replace the line from the node to your house, and buy some coax cable and find someone local to run you a fresh new line from outside your house to the back of the modem(this way by far the best results w/o fixing the problem)
3.)Check your modem logs for errors the address is 192.168.100.0 or 192.168.100.1 write the errors you see down and research them on the net and ask the tech what they mean.
4.)Always have the tech check the levels and show you them (they wont be bothered by it, really)

By combining all these steps I finally solved my intermittent problem of disconnecting randomly. To be honest it took far longer than it should but by the end the cable company will be annoyed by incompetent techs and send out their tech lead which usually should get the problem resolved. Just dont be afraid to call them out, set times that are convenient for you and call often

Another thing, getting fresh coax from outside your house to the inside is the best thing I have ever done by far. Also, make sure you have good tight connections on the coax cable from your wall to your modem.

 

Not sure that is his problem.

What you are describing is poor signal quality and yes, fresh cable will generally solve it--especially if you've had a cable install for 20 years, but only recently added internet (cable tv is far less susceptable to poor signal quality than cable interent.

Optimatlly, you want a snr between -8 to +8, but your internet will work up to -13 to +13 before you start seeing drops.

The problem is most cable companies lock you out of your modem these days so you cannot check the snr....