Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
zig29
Enthusiast - Level 3

We've changed nothing about our configuration (DSL with Westell 6100 E90 modem and a wireless router) for well over a year.  For the last couple of months we've had a miserable time with the DSL modem choking, stalling, hanging or rebooting when one of two things happen:

1)  The phone rings;

2)  My wife reconnects to the network on her main laptop.  (We have four machines at home and only that one machine causes it.)

It doesn't *always* happen, but I'd guess probably 80% of the time it does happen.

As a test I directly connected a laptop to the DSL modem (instead of the wireless router) and the same thing happens when the phone rings, so that would seem to eliminate the router or its configuration as a likely problem.  Also we've tried it with the one troublesome machine turned off completely and the problem with the phone ringing still occurs, which would seem to rule out that laptop being the source of the problems in and of itself.

Has anyone else seen it before?  I'm on old firmware (VER:04.00.00.02), just in case this is something a firmware update might help. 

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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
zig29
Enthusiast - Level 3

@dslr595148 wrote:

Margin (dB) - Signal to noise margin. 6 is pretty bad possibly unusable at times, 20 is very good. You normally want 12dB or better IIRC from back in my DSL days. The higher the number, the better to a point.

Line Attenuation - Measure the amount the signal has degraded. Below 20dB is excellent, above 50 is poor, fill in the dots for anything in between.


Update - Called Verizon support about this after even modem swaps failedpreviously -- and recently the technician moved some wires around in the CO thinking it might help. 

I was at a margin of about 24 downstream and 10 upstream until then; now these are 31 and 16 respectively.  Line attenuation remains about the same (slightly lower upstream - was 17 and 9, now 17 and 7).   So the quality of the connection and the line appears to be improved now. 

So far so good, as neither ringing telephones nor my wife joining the wireless network have caused a loss of connection (though it's not been long yet).  Hopefully that puts this one to bed for good; should have a better feel for it in a few days.  Hopefully I can mark this as "solved" soon.

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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
dslr595148
Community Leader
Community Leader

Please post the modem stats, from the modem combo.

I am not sure where this is located in your modem combo, it might be at System Monitoring -> Advanced Status -> Transciever Stats

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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
zig29
Enthusiast - Level 3

This?  I'm on an old "blue and white" version of the modem software, not the Verizon-branded interface:

Model Number         E90-610015-06

Serial Number         06B403533255

MAC Address      xxxxxxxx

Software Version     VER:04.00.00.02

Software Model       NAT Combo Description             

WireSpeed Dual Connect Boot Loader            VER:04.00.00.02

Configuration        096-900130-01B

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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
dslr595148
Community Leader
Community Leader

No, not that.

Go to Troubleshooting -> Transciever Stats


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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
zig29
Enthusiast - Level 3

Ah, see it:

Transceiver Revision: 4.3.0.1  

Vendor ID Code:        4  

Line Mode:               G.DMT Mode  

Data Path:               Interleaved  

Transceiver Information    Down Stream Path     Up Stream Path

DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 3360 768

Margin (dB) 24.0 10.0

Line Attenuation (dB) 17.0 9.0

 Transmit Power (dBm) 7.6 11.9

By the way, I received a PM telling me that someone was concerned that my serial number was my password.  It's not and it never was, just to put minds at ease. 

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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
dslr595148
Community Leader
Community Leader

Margin (dB) - Signal to noise margin. 6 is pretty bad possibly unusable at times, 20 is very good. You normally want 12dB or better IIRC from back in my DSL days. The higher the number, the better to a point.

Line Attenuation - Measure the amount the signal has degraded. Below 20dB is excellent, above 50 is poor, fill in the dots for anything in between.

-

#1 Did you try connecting your modem directly to the NID?

Points to: http://www.dslreports.com/faq/1317

#2 If not, please do and retest those margins and Line Attenuation.

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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
zig29
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks, I'll see about trying that when I get a chance to move the equipment.  But aren't these stats pretty good already?

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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
dslr595148
Community Leader
Community Leader

Upon, reflection.

adsl drops out when phone call is made or received.

  • Incorrectly installed filters - check filters are installed correctly.
  • Faulty filters - replace one by one to identify which filter is faulty.
  • Fault on the line - unlikely but possible if all else has been eliminated.
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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
zig29
Enthusiast - Level 3

Filters are on all phone jacks except the one with the modem, replaced all filters,  problem persists (unfortunately it's intermittent which makes troubleshooting a lot tougher).  The signal in seems strong and steady -- can it be a modem problem, perhaps getting flaky about keeping synced?  It is over four years old now.

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Re: Westell 6100 hangs, reboots when phone rings or when my wife joins the wireless network
dslr595148
Community Leader
Community Leader

Perhaps, it could be.

I wonder if it is.. A cell phone / cordless phone and a wireless issue.

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