[Cialug] OT: Cable Modem troubelshooting

[Jeffrey Ollie]

It's more than just MediaCom wanting to control the firmware, it's the
whole cable internet industry as it's baked into the DOCSIS protocol. On
the one hand, if you have an ISP that cares, they can remotely update
firmware to fix security issues (like for the recent Cable Haunt
vulnerability). Most end-users probably never heard about Cable Haunt and
probably wouldn't know how to update the firmware anyway.

On the other hand, savvy end users like us lose a measure of control.
Especially if we purchased our own modem to save on rental fees and to get
a better performing device.



On Fri, May 1, 2020 at 11:10 AM David Champion <dchamp1337 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Being a former ISP employee, I get that MC wants to control the modems, but
> a huge nerd I also want to be able to control my network devices.
>
> They temporarily loaned me one of their combined modem/router/phone
> devices, I was like "uh, no". Took it back to them yesterday.
>
> -dc
>
>
> On Fri, May 1, 2020, 11:05 AM Jared Brees <fromj2sitsme at msn.com> wrote:
>
> > Moost point since it's working now, but side note - you CAN mess with
> > firmware, it just (if applicable) either requires soldering headers, or
> > spinning up your own equipment, similar to what Mediacom has on the other
> > end. Even if you do the 2nd option, that firmware is "gone" as soon as it
> > reboots.
> > ________________________________
> > From: Cialug <cialug-bounces at cialug.org> on behalf of David Champion <
> > dchamp1337 at gmail.com>
> > Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2020 14:39
> > To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group <cialug at cialug.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Cialug] OT: Cable Modem troubelshooting
> >
> > After a couple more tech support calls and some help from Chris (who
> > noticed I was getting a private IP address) I was able to get them to
> > register my modem properly and now it works again.
> >
> > -dc
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Apr 30, 2020 at 12:16 PM David Champion <dchamp1337 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I plugged into the Arris modem and it does give me a dhcp address, I
> can
> > > get into the modem at 192.168.100.1, I can view the software version,
> and
> > > can see the Event Log.
> > >
> > > I may try doing a reset on the modem with the recessed pinhole and see
> if
> > > it will work.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > -dc
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, Apr 30, 2020 at 11:42 AM Jimmy Lela <binaryvisionary at gmail.com
> >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Dave,
> > >>
> > >> You're correct about the firmware, Mediacom controls that.  Last I
> knew
> > I
> > >> thought you could still access the modem's admin page and see useful
> > >> things
> > >> like TX power and SNR, but it's been a while, they may have locked
> that
> > >> down.  Do you get anything if you browse to whatever IP the admin page
> > >> should be at, like 192.168.0.1 or similar?  Actually I just tried, and
> > my
> > >> modem does respond at 192.168.01 but so far any default credentials
> I've
> > >> tried haven't worked.
> > >>
> > >> I've been renting a modem/router from Mediacom too but it's in bridged
> > >> mode.  I've been looking to buy my own and am leaning towards a new
> > Arris
> > >> SB, I've had good success with them.
> > >>
> > >> On Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 11:24 AM David Champion <dchamp1337 at gmail.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > Off Topic question:
> > >> > I have an Arris SB8200 cable modem on Mediacom, it was working
> > perfectly
> > >> > fine. Last week I started having flaky internet connection issues,
> it
> > >> got
> > >> > to the point where if I power cycle the modem, I could ping out to
> the
> > >> WAN
> > >> > gateway IP address for about 15 to 30 seconds, then it would stop.
> > >> >
> > >> > The modem had all 4 of the lights lit up normally, no indication of
> > >> > problems.
> > >> >
> > >> > After bugging the 1st tier tech support guy at MC he finally looked
> > hard
> > >> > enough to confirm that they could see the connection dropping, and
> he
> > >> > claimed they couldn't see the modem at all any more after that.
> > >> >
> > >> > Tech came out yesterday, said the modem was bad, they left me a
> modem
> > /
> > >> > router - Ubee 1301 as a loaner and they're charging me $50 for the
> > >> service
> > >> > call. I was able to get into the admin on it and turn off wifi and
> > >> change
> > >> > the LAN IP, seem  to be working.
> > >> >
> > >> > Question is: is there any troubleshooting I can do on the Arris
> modem?
> > >> From
> > >> > what I understand there's no way I can access it or update firmware,
> > or
> > >> see
> > >> > if the provider pushed a bad firmware to it, I'm fully at their
> mercy.
> > >> Is
> > >> > this correct?
> > >> >
> > >> > Good thing I still have my old Internetsolver / Aureon DSL as a
> > backup.
> > >> >
> > >> > -dc
> > >> > _______________________________________________
> > >> > Cialug mailing list
> > >> > Cialug at cialug.org
> > >> > https://www.cialug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cialug
> > >> >
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> > >>
> > >
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-- 
Jeff Ollie
The majestik møøse is one of the mäni interesting furry animals in Sweden.