rwkeating's profile

Contributor

 • 

47 Messages

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020 6:00 PM

Closed

How to get Comcast to help me with "No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out" ?

I have been having T3 timeouts over the course of 3 years. They happened in August 2018, August 2019, and now June 2020. In the past Comcast checked home wireing (all ok,) replaced the wire from the box on the house to the pole and a connection at the top of the pole. None of these fixed the problem. Since it was so intermittant, they never took me seriuosly and they didn't come out for a followup.

 

The problem seems to be tied to very high temperatures. As soon as things cooled down a little there were no more time outs until the next year when it got hot again. Today was an extremely hot day and the T3s started up again.

 

What should I do or say to get them to get a line man to come out and check the old wiring on the poles in our alley? I am convinced that is where the problem is.  A repair person said a line man should come out, but I could never get that to happen when I called Comcast.

 

If anyone wants to see my modem logs, I can provide them.

 

Thanks for any and all help.

Expert

 • 

110K Messages

5 years ago

Please post the *Downstream Power Level*, the *Upstream Power Level*, and the *SNR* (Signal to Noise Ratio) numbers.


Contributor

 • 

47 Messages

5 years ago

I can't post a screen shot, so here is just the numbers you asked for. Let me know if you need more.

 

Downstream

 Signal to Noise Ratio: Channel ID 4-11 = 38 db

Power Level: Channel ID 4-10 =  0 dBmV, Channel ID 11 = 1 dBmV

Upstream

Power Lever: Channel ID 4 =  49 dBmV,  Channel ID 3-1 =  48 dBmV

 

Expert

 • 

110K Messages

5 years ago

Since you are a new poster, it needs to be approved by a Forum Admin. That could take some time. In the interim, you could try hosting it at one of those free third-party pic hosting sites like Imgur or Photobucket and post the link to it here.

 

Or copy all of the text of the status page and paste it into the body of your next post here.

Contributor

 • 

47 Messages

5 years ago

Expert

 • 

110K Messages

5 years ago

The upstream power is on the high side and it may be intermittently fluctuating even higher to out of spec levels. That can cause random disconnects, spontaneous re-booting of the modem, speed, packet loss, and latency problems.

In a self troubleshooting effort to try to obtain better connectivity / more wiggle room, check to see if there are there any excess/unneeded coax cable splitters in the line leading to the modem that can be eliminated/re-configured. Any splitters that remain should be high quality and cable rated for 5-1002 MHz, bi-directional, and no gold colored garbage types like GE, RadioShack, RCA, Philips, Leviton, Magnavox, and Rocketfish from big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Wal-Mart etc. Splitters should be swapped with known to be good / new ones to test

If there aren't any unneeded splitters that can be eliminated and if your coax wiring setup can't be reconfigured so that there is a single two way splitter connected directly off of the drop from the street/pole with one port feeding the modem and the other port feeding the rest of the house/equipment with additional splits as needed, and you've checked all the wiring and fittings for integrity and tightness and refresh them by taking them apart then check for and clean off any corrosion / oxidation on the center wire and put them back together again, then perhaps it's best to book a tech visit to investigate and correct.

Contributor

 • 

47 Messages

5 years ago

All in house connections where checked by Comcast tech. and or replaced in 2018 and 2019.  There are no splitters.  Only one connection (to extend the cable) in the house (that was checked/replaced by Comcast.)  All outside connectors (the box and the ground wire and the cable to the pole and the connector at the pole) were replaced by Comcast. All of these checks/replacement happened either in Aug 2018 or Aug 2019.

 

Thanks for taking the time to look over my information.  I will try to set up an appointment.

Expert

 • 

110K Messages

5 years ago

Quite welcome ! Good luck with it !

Contributor

 • 

47 Messages

5 years ago

Contacted Comcast.  First thing they did was to offer me a better rate if I signed a one year contract.  Then they had to send me to another agent.  Was waiting for an hour.  2nd agent said that they were  not sending people out (due to the virus) and my signal looks good.  Also, since it is my modem there is nothing that they can do and I should check with the modem manufaturer.  I checked the Arris page (SURFboard SB6141) and there are no updates (or anything at all) available for my modem. 

 

I had so many unanswered questions and she kept saying there was nothing they could do.  Great.  Not sure what my next steps will be.

Expert

 • 

110K Messages

5 years ago

Keep on them. Good luck !

Contributor

 • 

47 Messages

5 years ago

Comcast said to follow up with my modem manufacturer and I did via the web.

 

From this link on the modem manufatures page, I checked all the modem's reported values and they were all in spec.
https://arris.secure.force.com/consumers/articles/General_FAQs/SB6141-Troubleshooting-Internet-Connection

 

This next link says there are no drivers or firmware available for my modem.
https://arris.secure.force.com/consumers/ConsumerProductDetail?p=a0ha000000GNcsdAAD&c=SURFboard%20Modems#panel4

 

That makes sense as this page describes how the cable company is responsible for doing modem firmware updates.
https://arris.secure.force.com/consumers/articles/General_FAQs/Upgrading-Firmware-on-Cable-Devices


That is interesting because it means that Comcast has more control over the modem I own than they eluded to. So now I know that they can 1. remotly flash the modem and 2. they can remotly reboot it.  Can they also read my logs and just told me they couldn't?

 

Gold Problem Solver

 • 

25.9K Messages

5 years ago

They can read the modem levels, SNR etc because that information is being sent back from your modem. Your logs aren’t part of that information

Contributor

 • 

47 Messages

5 years ago

In the past, when calling Comcast, I was told they could read my modem logs (I own the modem) to verify a problem I was reporting. Currently, they are telling me they cannot read the logs since it is my modem and therefore they can't help me with my issue.

 

If they can't read the logs, fine, then I won't keep persuing that.  If they can, I need to keep calling till someone admits they can and actually looks at the logs to verify what I am telling them.

 

The problem involves T3 time outs and I'll be keeping my main post up to date.

How to get Comcast to help me with "No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out" ?  

 

Contributor

 • 

47 Messages

5 years ago

There was only 1 T3 time out yesterday (not enough to elevate to a T4 as happened multiple time a few days ago.) 

 

Would it be better for me to present this to Comcast as a T4 problem?  A T3 may cause a pause, but really it is the T4 (reboot of the modem) that really causes bad disruptions in my workflow.

Expert

 • 

110K Messages

5 years ago


@rwkeating wrote:

There was only 1 T3 time out yesterday (not enough to elevate to a T4 as happened multiple time a few days ago.) 


FWIW, it doesn't "elevate" from a T3 to a T4 error, they are two separate and distinct types of errors. T3's indicate an upstream / return path impairment. T4's indicate a downstream / forward path impairment.

Contributor

 • 

47 Messages

5 years ago

Would you help me understand this?

 

After a sufficient number of T3 errors such as

Ranging Request Retries exhausted

Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;

No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out

 

I  then get:

 

Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;

 

Then I get a reboot with this:

 

Cable Modem Reboot due to T4 timeout

 

Would it help to post a screenshot of the log file?

forum icon

New to the Community?

Start Here