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Basically restart the modem by cutting the power every time the connection is flaky. With a very complicated setup. Cutting power repeatedly a large number of

by lrossi 6y ago

Basically restart the modem by cutting the power every time the connection is flaky. With a very complicated setup. Cutting power repeatedly a large number of times is a great way of eventually bricking the box. This modem has an admin web interface. The author could have used it to trigger a restart. The whole thing could have been automated with just a pi at 100 times less cost, effort and risks.

lrossi 6y ago
On the upside, if he manages to brick it, the ISP will replace it and maybe his problem will be fixed.
- robotmay 6y ago
  I’ve never had a device brick by removing the power. The only button on the Vigor 130 immediately cuts the power too: there’s no “shutdown” button.
  - lrossi 6y ago
    Your device’s firmware is not even able to keep a connection up for a few hours. Which is its main function. Do you trust that they tested its code for recovering partitions that were not unmounted cleanly?
    - robotmay 6y ago
      There’s no problem with the device: I triggered the failures/packet loss manually by pulling the cable to test the system. The actual packet loss is intermittent and reasonably rare, and is I suspect a fault at the line level with BT/OpenReach. A&A didn’t provide me with the Vigor 130 btw, it’s my own device. In general I find DrayTek devices very solid and I’ve not had any issues so far when powercycling it over the past few years. It’s pretty much a stateless device, as the actual connection is established from the router on my side of it.
robotmay 6y ago
You can’t access that web interface from the internal network as the Vigor 130 is not a router. Unless someone has a fancy trick I’m missing I have to disconnect my router and connect a laptop directly to the modem with a fixed IP to access it, unfortunately. The Vigor 130 is really more of a PPPoA to PPPoE converter, or at least, that’s how it’s commonly used.
- mig39 6y ago
  Could you put a dumb switch between the Vigor and your LAN? And have the Raspberry PI be connected with a fixed IP directly to the modem? Then you could use WiFi to talk to the PI?
  - robotmay 6y ago
    Interesting idea! It might be possible; I haven’t touched the thing since first configuring it a few years ago so I’m a bit fuzzy on how exactly the interface works.
- tgpc 6y ago
  vigor 130 - not the full web interface, but... try wireshark on it if you have the right setting enabled, you'll find it is broadcasting its status onto the network for you to pick up vigor's routers use this info. to show line speed etc. when using a modem via the router
  - robotmay 6y ago
    Ooh this is good to know, thank you!
xnyan 6y ago
>is a great way of eventually bricking the box. The LAN interface on my ISP mandated box frequently fails along with whatever else is going on with the modem. Even the reset button fails at times, though not as often. Cutting power is literally the only reliable way of addressing the problem I don't agree that a hard rest is as risky as you are claiming, but even if you are right, who cares? The ISP mandated use of a shiity modem, they made it a black box that can't be troubleshooted and if it breaks then they will just send me a new one at zero cost to me.

by lrossi 6y ago

lrossi 6y ago

On the upside, if he manages to brick it, the ISP will replace it and maybe his problem will be fixed.

robotmay 6y ago
I’ve never had a device brick by removing the power. The only button on the Vigor 130 immediately cuts the power too: there’s no “shutdown” button.
- lrossi 6y ago
  Your device’s firmware is not even able to keep a connection up for a few hours. Which is its main function. Do you trust that they tested its code for recovering partitions that were not unmounted cleanly?
  - robotmay 6y ago
    There’s no problem with the device: I triggered the failures/packet loss manually by pulling the cable to test the system. The actual packet loss is intermittent and reasonably rare, and is I suspect a fault at the line level with BT/OpenReach. A&A didn’t provide me with the Vigor 130 btw, it’s my own device. In general I find DrayTek devices very solid and I’ve not had any issues so far when powercycling it over the past few years. It’s pretty much a stateless device, as the actual connection is established from the router on my side of it.

robotmay 6y ago

You can’t access that web interface from the internal network as the Vigor 130 is not a router. Unless someone has a fancy trick I’m missing I have to disconnect my router and connect a laptop directly to the modem with a fixed IP to access it, unfortunately. The Vigor 130 is really more of a PPPoA to PPPoE converter, or at least, that’s how it’s commonly used.

mig39 6y ago
Could you put a dumb switch between the Vigor and your LAN? And have the Raspberry PI be connected with a fixed IP directly to the modem? Then you could use WiFi to talk to the PI?
- robotmay 6y ago
  Interesting idea! It might be possible; I haven’t touched the thing since first configuring it a few years ago so I’m a bit fuzzy on how exactly the interface works.
tgpc 6y ago
vigor 130 - not the full web interface, but... try wireshark on it if you have the right setting enabled, you'll find it is broadcasting its status onto the network for you to pick up vigor's routers use this info. to show line speed etc. when using a modem via the router
- robotmay 6y ago
  Ooh this is good to know, thank you!

xnyan 6y ago

>is a great way of eventually bricking the box. The LAN interface on my ISP mandated box frequently fails along with whatever else is going on with the modem. Even the reset button fails at times, though not as often. Cutting power is literally the only reliable way of addressing the problem I don't agree that a hard rest is as risky as you are claiming, but even if you are right, who cares? The ISP mandated use of a shiity modem, they made it a black box that can't be troubleshooted and if it breaks then they will just send me a new one at zero cost to me.