I have had an on-going connection problem with my Pipex ADSL. A month or so
back the connection was dropping constantly and I had periods of a day or
two with no connection. This appears to have now been resolved but during
the testing Pipex noted that my connection was dropping at exactly 01:40 am
every night. It drops and reconnects repeatedly at about 4-6 second
intervals for approximately 1 minute. There are no other drops during the
remainder of the day.

This behaviour is reflected in my router's security log, an extract of which
is as follows (NB latest entry is at at top, xxx replaces my IP address).
Note that the first entry (at bottom) is always EXACTLY 00:40:00 (the router
records time as 00:40 GMT not 01:40 BST)

08/11/2007 00:40:16 If(ATM1) PPP connection ok !
08/11/2007 00:40:15 ATM1 get secondary DNS IP:62.241.162.201
08/11/2007 00:40:15 ATM1 get primary DNS IP:62.241.163.200
08/11/2007 00:40:15 ATM1 get IP:81.86.161.xxx
08/11/2007 00:40:07 ATM1 start PPP
08/11/2007 00:40:06 ATM1 stop PPP
08/11/2007 00:40:06 If(ATM1) PPP connection ok !
08/11/2007 00:40:05 ATM1 get secondary DNS IP:62.241.163.201
08/11/2007 00:40:05 ATM1 get primary DNS IP:62.241.162.200
08/11/2007 00:40:05 ATM1 get IP:81.86.161.xxx
08/11/2007 00:40:00 ATM1 start PPP
08/11/2007 00:40:00 ATM1 stop PPP

Pipex suggest the problem is some equipment at my house causing
interference. However, the preciseness of the start time leads me to
believe that this is unlikely and that it more likely to be either something
at the exchange or, possibly my router. My router is a Belkin F5D9630-4A.

Is anyone able to suggest a cause for this please?

Andrew explained on 11/08/2007 :
There could be a multitude of reasons. The main culprit is, as Pipex
say, usually something at your house....or next door....or somewhere
nearby.

I would suggest sitting up, in your house, in silence & darkness at
01:35 & see if anything noticeable happens at that time.

Or just sleep & forget about it.

Do you have a SKy box connected to the line?

BTW, why bother snipping the .220 from your IP address when you're
posting through a News Server that includes your full IP address in the
headers?

Jono wrote:
I do have a Sky box (2 in fact); that was my first thought too. However,
disconnecting them has no effect.

Andrew wrote on 11 Aug 2007:

This log is showing only the PPP status [1]. Can you also log the ADSL
status, which would tell you if the router is losing sync or not at the
same time as stopping PPP?

If the router is losing sync and causing PPP to stop, then check how the
SNR or noise margin changes around 00:40 GMT. In this case in
particular, it's worthwhile checking if you see the same problem when
the router is connected directly to the test socket behind the faceplate
of the master socket [2] - doing that disconnects all extension wiring
and other phone equipment.

If the router is not losing sync (or experiencing lots of uncorrected
data errors) at or just before 00:40 GMT, then something other than
problems with your link to the exchange is causing PPP to stop. I
believe that could either be a command from your PC or router, or a
command from Pipex equipment.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-to-Point_Protocol>

[2] <http://www.dslzoneuk.net/socket.php?type=html>

--
Tony

Tony wrote:
Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, there is no option on my modem/router
to change the logging (Belkin F5D9630-4A).

I will try checking the SNR etc at 1:40, but since the time of the problem
is so precise, I doubt that I will see any change in the lead up to the
event. However, I guess that I should be able to determine if the modem is
losing sync by studying the modem's status lights. I will study the manual
closely!

I also intend trying to connect the modem directly to the master socket with
all other equipment disconnected one night.

It's not my PC that is issuing a command to disconnect (it is usually off at
that time) though it could be a second router that I have in my system (used
as an additional wireless access point). I will try disconnecting this as
well.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Andrew <ajhuk@hotmail.com> wrote on Sat, 11 Aug 2007 at 16:07:33:
That's a pity. For additional info, though, have you investigated the
hidden commands listed at
<http://www.kitz.co.uk/tute/belkin_commands.htm>?

Sorry if you already understand this, but connecting directly to the
master socket (even with all other equipment disconnected) isn't the
same as connecting directly to the test socket behind the faceplate of
the master socket! Doing the latter also disconnects all your extension
wiring. That can be important, as the extension wiring can pick up
additional interference or noise and might be faulty in subtle ways.

Another experiment would be to try a different router (maybe a borrowed
one), preferably one with a full logging capability (which might mean
leaving your PC on as a logging device via syslog).
--
Tony