On 6/10/2020 7:25 PM, Alex wrote:


RCE wrote:
On 6/10/2020 8:15 AM, Justan Ohlphart wrote:

RCE Wrote in message:
Thunderbird crashed.Â* Testing setup.-- This email has been checked
for viruses by AVG.https://www.avg.com

Ok
JO ??



Had setup email and newsgroups again.Â* Don't know what happened but
seems to be ok now.Â* First time I ever had a problem with Thunderbird.

Computers bug me sometimes.



At least you aren't honoring Krause with the name he gave you!


Alex, you are familiar with this stuff, so I thought you'd get a
kick out of this. Long story, but interesting to electronic nerds.
I am leaving out a whole bunch of trouble shooting that I have done
trying to isolate the problem:

For the first time in over 4 years I am experiencing chronic problems
with Comcast Internet service. Symptoms are really weird though and
Comcast is sending a "high level" tech and a supervisor to witness.

Problems started on May 18th. I'd come in the house and notice the
modem sync light blinking which means no Internet connectivity. Home
network is fine. Just no Internet.

Doing the recommended power reset thing, it still wouldn't sync.
Finally called Comcast for help and went through the painful automated
remote reset process that takes 10 minutes before you can actually talk
to an "agent".

Talked to agent who said, "let me try a remote reset". I said, "you can
try all you want but if the modem is not connected to the Internet, you
won't be able to reset it. But, he tried anyway and then scheduled a
visit by a tech.

Tech arrived and looked at signal strength which he said was
"excellent". He decided my 4 year old modem was bad and installed
a new, "X7" type that is supposed to be the best they have ever had.

After connecting input cable the modem synced up and Internet
connectivity was restored.

"Good" I thought. Problem solved. But ... noooooo

Next day it's out again. Tried the power off reset. No luck.
Light just blinks endlessly. Checked RG6 connectors. All tight.

After another day I called Comcast again and told the agent what was
done and it still didn't work. She scheduled another tech visit.

Tech arrived, (different guy) tested signal strength and, like the
other tech, said it was "excellent". He went out and replaced all
the RG6 connectors at the Comcast pedestal on the road, the pedestal
near my driveway and ran a new RG-6 cable into house. Connected it
up and everything works fine again.

Problem solved? Nope.

Next day, it's out again, but now I am starting to notice something.
It only seems to go out whenever I leave my house for a while and
return. Then I just happened to notice that whenever my cell phone
scans when I come home, looking for my secure home network, the
model light starts blinking "no sync" as soon as the cell phone
connects via Wi-Fi to the secure network.

Then, I noticed that to restore connectivity I don't need to do the
"power off reset" routine. All I have to do is very briefly
disconnect the cable input line for a second, reconnect it and
"poof" the model syncs.

I've tested and watched this almost 20 times now. Whenever I leave
the house and return and the cell phone connects to the network it
knocks the modem off-line.

I called Comcast again yesterday and explained all this which is why
they are sending out another tech and a supervisor. They had never
heard of a problem like this.

However:

The last agent I talked to looked up to see if Comcast has done any
upgrades, repairs or work on any of their distribution centers. Turns
out they made a major upgrade to one on ... May 18th .. the day my
issues started. This guy was knowledgeable about the Comcast system
and, on a hunch, I asked him if the signal strength is *too* high, can
it cause a problem. He said yes. The modems are designed to shut down
if the input is too high to protect the electronics. Ah, Ha!

My hunch is that they put new distribution amps in and the signal to
my model is more than "excellent". I think it's way too high and it's
knocking the modem off-line. The cell phone connection is the straw
that breaks the camel's back.

Betcha they install a signal attenuator.



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