D-Link Forums

The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => Other D-Link Products => DHP-500AV => Topic started by: arkandel on April 23, 2014, 06:58:17 AM

Title: Occasional disconnects
Post by: arkandel on April 23, 2014, 06:58:17 AM
Hey there,

I was hoping to get some ideas about this issue.

I recently bought a Powerline AV 500 Network Starter Kit. The main unit is in my basement where the router is, plugged in on its own into a wall socket. The second unit is upstairs plugged into its own wall socket as well, connected to a WD TV Live media player.

It works. I get decent speeds when it does. The second unit's LEDs are all on and always green - they never blink, even while I'm streaming video. They're just ... on.

Now and then though I experience disconnects. The middle LED for the second unit is off then. If I restart the main unit they connect immediately and the network resumes.

I thought this might have been some sort of 'sleep mode' issue to conserve power (since the media player doesn't use the network when it's not actually streaming) so I made a cron job to ping it every 8 minutes. That seemed to work, I often get 12-14 hours of uninterrupted network this way - i.e. I stop watching, do other things, go to sleep and in the morning it's still on. However then I'll come back from work and the network is down and the middle LED on the second unit is off.

Both my PC (running Linux) and the media player have fixed IPs. As noted both the main and secondary units are in their own wall sockets on their own. No other appliances in the house are started or stopped when the network disconnects as, after all, it happens when I'm not home.

Any ideas? Could this be a hardware issue since the middle LED (or any other) never blinks to show network usage, even when the network is being heavily used?

Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: FurryNutz on April 23, 2014, 07:15:02 AM
Link>Welcome! (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=48135.0)




Internet Service Provider and Modem Configurations


Router and Wired Configurations
Some things to try: - Log into the routers web page at 192.168.0.1. Use IE, Opera or FF to manage the router. Besure to log into the Admin account on the router.


Wireless Configurations
Links>Wireless Installation Considerations (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=48327.0) and Managing Signal Congestion (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=53228.0) and Good Neighbour Policy (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=10634.0)

Router Placement
Forum User - "Well I feel really dumb. After moving the router away from other electronic devices my speeds are back to normal. Just a heads up for anyone experiencing slow speeds, you might want to move it away from other electronics and see if that helps."
3-6' feet minimum safe distance between devices.
Placement on main level floor and central in the building is preferred. Not in basements as building materials could interfere or hinder good signal propagation.
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: arkandel on April 23, 2014, 05:48:36 PM
Hello and thanks for the quick response.

1A
4.2.4.3
Canada
Wired
I did it today after reading your post.


Internet Service Provider and Modem Configurations Rogers Canada
Cable
Hitron CGN3-3.
Dynamic
25 mbit/5 mbit
Done
1500
No such setting but it's always on, uptime was two weeks before I reset today.

I don't have most of the settings you suggested as options for the router. I've configured the DHCP and it does assign static IPs per device.

I continue to experience disconnects. I still don't ever see the middle LED flashing on either the main unit (the one connected to the modem) or the one connected to my media player, even while there's video streaming taking place.

To be honest I haven't moved the router physically away from the main unit yet but I will of course if you think that'd make a difference.

Any other suggestions or ideas?
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: FurryNutz on April 23, 2014, 05:57:13 PM
Lets give that a try and move the unit away from the main host router and other WiFi devices.

Keep us posted...
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: arkandel on April 24, 2014, 06:26:26 AM
Quote from: FurryNutz on April 23, 2014, 05:57:13 PM
Lets give that a try and move the unit away from the main host router and other WiFi devices.

Keep us posted...

I gave it a try. If anything it made the issue worse (or maybe it was just random).

I had a disconnect yesterday during the night some time after midnight - when no new devices in the house were turned on or off - and when I woke up I reset the powerline so it was working before I left, came to work, SSH'ed to my machine to ping the media player and the network is down again.

Thoughts?
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 06:58:02 AM
I can only presume that there could be some form of interferences going on or the DHP isn't getting good signal on the line.

What are distances between the ISP modem, DHP and your PC?
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: arkandel on April 24, 2014, 07:13:36 AM
The modem is about 6-8 feet away from the main adapter and I guess a foot away from the PC.

Regarding interferences though:

1) The connection never resumes on its own. Even if there were some wouldn't it mean the quality gets worse then once it's restored, so does the connection? The only way is to do so is to restart the adapter. Once down, it stays down.

2) Whenever I restart the adapter the connection is restored instantly, and the LED colors are always green. All three of them. I've never seen them flicker and they've never been non-green; when the connection is down the middle LED is off, otherwise all three are on full and unflickering green.
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 07:18:06 AM
Is the DHP LAN connected to the ISP modem?

I presume that the ISP modem is acting as main host router as well?
Is this your ISP modem? http://www.hitrontech.com/en/cable_detail.php?id=64 (http://www.hitrontech.com/en/cable_detail.php?id=64)
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: arkandel on April 24, 2014, 07:32:22 AM
Quote from: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 07:18:06 AM
Is the DHP LAN connected to the ISP modem?

I presume that the ISP modem is acting as main host router as well?
Is this your ISP modem? http://www.hitrontech.com/en/cable_detail.php?id=64 (http://www.hitrontech.com/en/cable_detail.php?id=64)

That's the correct modem, yes.

The coax cable (coming from outside) is connected to the modem. Then two ethernet cables connect the modem to the PC and to the main powerline adapter. Then in the living room where my TV is the second adapter is connected to the WD TV Live media player, also via an ethernet cable.

I even changed cables to make sure there was nothing wrong with them but didn't notice any changes.
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 07:46:33 AM
Does the 2nd adapter loose the connection as well?

I'd test these two adapters in the same room using different wall out lets to see if there could be any issues between where the 1st adapter is and the 2nd in the living room. We should rule out any power line problems between these two locations.

If the 1st adapter is loosing connection, another possibility is that it's loosing it from the main host router, your ISP modem.  :-\
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: arkandel on April 24, 2014, 08:02:49 AM
Quote from: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 07:46:33 AM
If the 1st adapter is loosing connection, another possibility is that it's loosing it from the main host router, your ISP modem.  :-\

How would I be able to test for just that part? I have hooked the 1st adapter to different ethernet slots (the highest and second highest priority ones). And yes, the 2nd adapter also loses its connection - its middle LED turns off.

What troubles me is that if this was an issue with the quality of the electrical network then I'd expect the connection's quality degrading then picking back up after. But it's either great or nothing at all, and when it's nothing it stays that way. It never resumes on its own.

Plus the LED not flickering when there's a file transfer (say, video streaming) taking place, how is that explained?
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 08:22:22 AM
I would presume that there is either something preventing the 500s from reconnecting and since it's some what random, I presume that something on the power line could be effecting correct operation.

One way to test this is to put both in the same room on the same circuit to rule out any problems in between the current configuration. If the problem still occurs then a closer look at these units probably by D-Link support would be needed. An extreme test would be to take both of these units to a friend, nieghbor or families place and set up there to a different modem or host router and see if the problem follows.  :-\

I'd review the user manual and see if it explains the LED behaviors that your supposed to see. Usually any blinking green means good activity with the unit and client devices.
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 10:36:02 AM
FYI:
1 Power LED
• Solid. The device is receiving electrical power.
• Blinking. The device is setting itself up after reset or security button was pressed
or power saving mode enabled.
• Off. The device is not receiving electrical power.

2 PowerLine LED
• Solid. The device is connected to a PowerLine network.
• Blinking. The device is transmitting data.
• Off. The device has not found any other compatible PowerLine
devices using the same encryption key.
The color indicates the PowerLine link rate:
• Green. The PowerLine link rate is faster than 80 Mbps.
• Amber. The PowerLine link rate is between 50 Mbps and 80 Mbps.
• Red. The PowerLine link rate is less than 50 Mbps.

3 Ethernet LED
• Solid. The Ethernet port is linked but there is no data traffic.
• Blinking. The device is transmitting data.
• Off. There is no Ethernet connection.
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: arkandel on April 24, 2014, 11:13:24 AM
Quote from: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 10:36:02 AM
2 PowerLine LED
• Solid. The device is connected to a PowerLine network.
• Blinking. The device is transmitting data.
• Off. The device has not found any other compatible PowerLine
devices using the same encryption key.

It's this part which troubles me. The 2nd LED is always solid green, never another color, even while streaming video (i.e. it's obviously transmitting data). I could see the quality of the line being bad, sure, but why would the color not change?

And also why does it never resume after it's disconnected - I could see it if the electrical network was so bad it just couldn't, but then if I reset it by hand it connects immediately (<2 seconds) and the LED is solid green so the quality is reported as perfect?
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 11:15:13 AM
Thats a question that D-Link support needs to answer.

I recommend that you phone contact your regional D-Link support office and ask for help and information regarding this. We find that phone contact has better immediate results over using email.


Let us know what they say...
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: arkandel on April 24, 2014, 01:19:30 PM
I will. Thanks a lot for your help, FurryNutz. :)
Title: Re: Occasional disconnects
Post by: FurryNutz on April 24, 2014, 01:34:20 PM
 ;)