Router/Aircard issues

[JesseFrank]

I recently moved my Intellinet N300 3G router which has an 3G aircard inserted in it to the outside of the house to improve the signal strength.

The signal strength improved significantly, but now when I wake up most of the time the 3G is disconnected.

It will show me the signal strength and 3G/3.5G status connected and shows IP address and Gateway address, but in the WAN status there will be no DNS addresses visible.The data traffic in the modem settings will also show 0

Usually I just reboot the modem and everything will become fine, but many times not so and i will have to go outside to manually reboot the modem or remove and replace the aircard.

If that is the problem it will also not show the product details in the modem settings, but where it should say product : E173 it just says Huawei .

I had this issue never when the router was mounted inside the house. The router is covered for the weather.

Only difference is that before it was plugged straight in to the network hub, and now it goes through an Ethernet switch. However I don't think that the switch is the problem because I still van access the router remotely and cameras connected to the switch and a wireless camera connected to the router remain visible at all time.

Question is where do you think the problem lays, with the router or with the aircard ?

[RichCor]

Another mounting option would be to have the box INSIDE and run the 3G Aircard on a long USB extension so the aircard can be either near a window or outside.

For the problem itself, it sounds like one of those weird issues where the 3G Aircard has sleep issues. Can you hard-code DNS entries in the router? 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 belong to el Google and usually work for people.

[JesseFrank]

Another mounting option would be to have the box INSIDE and run the 3G Aircard on a long USB extension so the aircard can be either near a window or outside.

For the problem itself, it sounds like one of those weird issues where the 3G Aircard has sleep issues. Can you hard-code DNS entries in the router? 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 belong to el Google and usually work for people.

Previously the aircard was on a loooong USB extension near the window but the signal was still below 50%, now it is near 70%.

I'm not sure if it is a sleep issue. Dtac resets the connection at midnight, and a few more times during the day, and it's mainly at those times that it happens.

[JesseFrank]

I thought I had fixed the issue because i found in the settings that "allow fixed IP address " was checked., so I unchecked it and however it didn't happen every day anymor it still has happend a few times.

So was this evening. When I looked in the system log, it said "terminating on signal 15 "

Any idea what that may mean ?

[RichCor]

Yea, I can see where "allow fixed IP address" would be an issue.

"Terminating on signal 15", specifically, is associated in Unix/Linux systems with command/response SIGTERM 15 Software termination signal (sent by kill by default)

These are normal system to 'modem' transaction for controlling the device.

Example transaction

--> Initializing modem.

--> Sending: ATH

ATH

OK

--> Sending: ATE1

ATE1

OK

--> Sending: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet"

AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet"

OK

--> Modem initialized.

--> Sending: ATDT*99#

--> Waiting for carrier.

ATDT*99#

CONNECT

--> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.

--> Starting pppd at Fri Jun 14 22:35:19 2013

--> Pid of pppd: 3145

--> Using interface ppp0

--> pppd: Ęy

--> local IP address 10.133.163.246

--> pppd: Ęy

--> remote IP address 10.64.64.64

--> pppd: Ęy

--> primary DNS address 89.108.202.20

--> pppd: Ęy

--> secondary DNS address 89.108.195.20

owner@linux:~$ sudo kill -1 3143

Caught signal 1: Attempting to exit gracefully...

owner@linux:~$ --> Terminating on signal 15

--> pppd: Ęy

--> Connect time 0.4 minutes.

--> pppd: Ęy

--> pppd: Ęy

--> pppd: Ęy

--> Disconnecting at Fri Jun 14 22:35:50 2013

[JesseFrank]

Yea, I can see where "allow fixed IP address" would be an issue.

"Terminating on signal 15", specifically, is associated in Unix/Linux systems with command/response SIGTERM 15 Software termination signal (sent by kill by default)

These are normal system to 'modem' transaction for controlling the device.

Example transaction

--> Initializing modem.

--> Sending: ATH

ATH

OK

--> Sending: ATE1

ATE1

OK

--> Sending: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet"

AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet"

OK

--> Modem initialized.

--> Sending: ATDT*99#

--> Waiting for carrier.

ATDT*99#

CONNECT

--> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.

--> Starting pppd at Fri Jun 14 22:35:19 2013

--> Pid of pppd: 3145

--> Using interface ppp0

--> pppd: Ęy

--> local IP address 10.133.163.246

--> pppd: Ęy

--> remote IP address 10.64.64.64

--> pppd: Ęy

--> primary DNS address 89.108.202.20

--> pppd: Ęy

--> secondary DNS address 89.108.195.20

owner@linux:~$ sudo kill -1 3143

Caught signal 1: Attempting to exit gracefully...

owner@linux:~$ --> Terminating on signal 15

--> pppd: Ęy

--> Connect time 0.4 minutes.

--> pppd: Ęy

--> pppd: Ęy

--> pppd: Ęy

--> Disconnecting at Fri Jun 14 22:35:50 2013

Thanks for the explanation, but is there anything I can do to avoid the terminating on signal 15 syndrome.

I should add that only a few days before I moved the router, and the symptom started, I had updated to the latest approved firmware.

[RichCor]

Did the symptoms start after the firmware update? If so, can you reinstall the previous firmware?

Sometimes updates create new issues where the older firmware worked perfectly well.

You also said that some configuration settings were changed -- in case something else was adjusted, can you reset the unit back to DEFAULT and only adjust the ones necessary for the unit to function for you?

The Terminating on Signal 15 is produced by your router -- Possibly it's going to sleep, or some other timeout is occurring. Normally this isn't a problem as the unit should re-enable the connection instantly, or re-initialize and reconnect on demand. Any setting on the router that were changed recently?

[JesseFrank]

Did the symptoms start after the firmware update? If so, can you reinstall the previous firmware?

Sometimes updates create new issues where the older firmware worked perfectly well.

You also said that some configuration settings were changed -- in case something else was adjusted, can you reset the unit back to DEFAULT and only adjust the ones necessary for the unit to function for you?

The Terminating on Signal 15 is produced by your router -- Possibly it's going to sleep, or some other timeout is occurring. Normally this isn't a problem as the unit should re-enable the connection instantly, or re-initialize and reconnect on demand. Any setting on the router that were changed recently?

The symptoms started after the firmware update, latest firmware is from 2012 though, so known issues should been fixed since.

When I came home late afternoon, the network icon in the taskbar showed the yellow triangle.

I log into my router and status Modem info shows connection signal but says 0 packes sent/received.It also shows E173 as product info.

3G/3.5G status connected and shows IP address - WAN status default gateway and DNS are empty.

I click reset and when finished the aircard product info show only Huawey instead of E173.

The time of the Signal 15 termination is actually the time I reset the router.Before that time there are no special events.

The only way I can get internet connection again is by unplug the router or take out and reinsert the aircard.

[RichCor]

It will be difficult to diagnose which device is creating the issue.

Normally the simplest method would be to swap out one of the components with a like component and see it it continues to fail.

If you had some time on your hands you could attach the Aircard directly to your laptop for 24-48 hours and see if it stopped working -- unfortunately the laptop drivers may be better at correcting/reinitializing a connection if a fault is encountered and you may never know it failed.