Contributor
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30 Messages
Why is Comcast upgrading my modem software in the middle of the day?
My internet connection dropped multiple times this morning and my wife was complaining she was getting kicked out of her online meetings. I logged into my cable modem, a Motorola MB8611, to see if I could see if this was a local problem or something that covered a wider area (no complaints on Nextdoor that I saw).
Checking the Device Information page, I was surprised to see the modem software version had jumped up several versions and there was a new feature, a spectrum analyzer. I was intrigued by having the new version after over a year with no software upgrades. Maybe it would fix the loss of bonding on the downstream channel that keeps happening every week. And I use spectrum analyzers for work and it would be interesting to see what the signals on the Comcast cables look like.
But just a few minutes later, my Comcast connection dropped and my modem reset. I logged back into my modem and was disappointed to see my modem software version had changed again to something slightly older than the version that I had for the past year. What?!?
So I'm curious as to what is going on? Were all the modem resets and lost connections an attempt to upgrade my modem software that didn't work? The software version rollback is a classic symptom of an upgrade failure (Not criticizing. I've had my share). Will I get the spectrum analyzer feature back?
And why couldn't this upgrade be done at night instead of the middle of the day?
CCJamie
Problem Solver
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322 Messages
2 years ago
@joeydog Thank you for reaching out to us, are you still having issues with your internet connection at this time?
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joeydog
Contributor
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30 Messages
2 years ago
For anyone who is curious as to how this was resolved, it sort of just stopped. I don't know if the Comcast reps I chatted with were responsible. They indicated that they saw nothing on their side about a modem version change. They essentially denied they were responsible and hinted that it might be Motorola who was responsible for changing my modem firmware. I find that hard to believe as most network providers tightly control what happens on their network including what modems are allowed and which version of firmware they are allowed to run.
So in addition to the modem firmware version change and the cable modem resets mentioned in my original post, the same thing happened the following weekend with new firmware installed on Sunday sometime and the firmware downgraded on Monday. All the modem resets were not a problem this time because Monday was the Juneteenth holiday. After that, I haven't notice any bunches of modem resets or the firmware changing version. I do occasionally see modem resets maybe once a week but that is sort of normal where I am. I suspect there are more resets when no one is looking because when I check the modem, it reports the "System Up Time" is only a few days.
For those curious, the firmware version for my Motorola MB8611 with the spectrum analyzer is 8611-21.3.7.
The version I was downgraded to without the spectrum analyzer is 8611-19.2.18.
When I checked last year, my modem was running version 8611-19.2.20.
I see the "loss of bonding on the downstream channel" blinking light more frequently than before. Last year, I could go a whole week without the blinking light or a modem reset. Now it looks to be a day or two. Signal levels still look good with the modem reporting 12.4-10.9 dBm on the QAM channels and 9.3 dBm on the OFDM channel.
So it's usable for now. Will be calling Comcast if it gets worse.
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