Got Cable :D Won't work :(

After years of waiting Charter finally rolled out digital service in my area. I got a self-install kit with their modem: Scientific Atlanta Webstar DPX 100. It has four lights on the front, power, data, activity and cable. The cable light is suppose to stay on once it initializes, however mine will just blink. This means it can't find Charter, so I called tech support. They said they'll try something there, and to call back 4 hours. 4 hours I call back to tell them it's still blinking, and they said they have to send a tech dude out to the house on Thursday.

Well crap, I wanted to unshackle myself from this crummy 56k! According to Charter, they have to tune the line to work. They said it might be distance, however even with the modem plugged in to the shortest cable route I have (in the front room) it still blinks. They said something about the frequency data travels on, and that it needs to be adjusted to work in this house.

I'm clueless on that subject, however I'm thinking maybe something is wrong with the modem. The modem I got was used, probably a return (the wire wraps and cables were all undone). Maybe it was hacked? Anyone ever hear of the cable company tuning the signal, or any other ideas? Be nice to finally chuck this cursed 56k modem!

Thanks in advance!

Signal strength coming from the cable is a tuning issue. When I had Roadrunner service, the cable guys were adjusting my signal strength every month. It seems that the signal changes when they add or delete users. In my area we have competing cable services so there is a lot of that going on.

The tuning issue they are talking about isn't about the cable lengths in your house. For them its actually signal strength issues from the box at your house back to their servers. It sounds like they may have a capacity problem. Also, most servers now-a-days not only require your MAC address but also require your NIC hardware address (its burned into your NIC). Call their techsup and ask.

Edit: I hope you've purchased at least a software firewall. I can recommend Norton Internet Security.

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Originally posted by ua549
Signal strength coming from the cable is a tuning issue. When I had Roadrunner service, the cable guys were adjusting my signal strength every month. It seems that the signal changes when they add or delete users. In my area we have competing cable services so there is a lot of that going on.

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Boy you sure are lucky! Competition is not even an issue here! DSL is not available, and Cable just came through with internet. I felt I was living in a technological blackhole.

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Originally posted by OS-Wiz
Also, most servers now-a-days not only require your MAC address but also require your NIC hardware address (its burned into your NIC). Call their techsup and ask.

Edit: I hope you've purchased at least a software firewall. I can recommend Norton Internet Security.

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Yeah, the software installation proccess has me enter my MAC address, but not NIC. Either way that 'cable' light is suppose to come on when it can communicate with Charter, and it only flashes. In regards to firewall, I have XP's built-in one enabled - which I would assumme is better than nothing. I've used ZoneAlarm before, however some issues (forget what it was) made me take it off. My goal is to use a hardware one via a router when I get better familiar with networking.

Circuit City has a booster I'm considering buying (Motorola Signal Booster Model: MOT BOOSTER0506 (cookie session, can't link)). Some say it works with internet. What do you think?

Thanks for the help!

I had a problem a lot like you are having when I first got my cable modem. The problem I had was too much cabling in my house. I solved it temporarilly with a bi-directional amplifier, but eventually moved the modem to the basement where the cable enters the house and plugged it in there. It gets plugged into my router and runs to the rest of the house from there.

Have you tried plugging your modem directly into the incoming line in your house? That's where I'd start before calling the cable company.

That amp is what I'm going to buy here shortly. My house is tiny so length is not much of an issue. From where the cable is anchored to the house (overhead wiring) to the TV's splitter is ~40 feet. I have a 12" line from that splitter to the modem's temporary location, just to see if it would communicate with Charter. Nada, and the length from the splitter to my room (temporarily strung across the front room) is ~50 feet. Must be some Charter bugs. I hope that amp works, thanks!!

your cable company is funny

WHen the tech gets to your house on Thursday, have him run around the house and check the signal strength of each line. As well as their demarc.

I dont know maybe UA can help me out here, but there shouldnt be any frequency assignment going on anywhere but perhaps a filter on your line to seperate internet traffic from your TV stations. All the lines beyond your local cable junction should either be Fiber or perhaps short-wave microwave dishes.

EDIT: And yeah, your MAC address and your "NIC address" are the same thing.

Hmm, come to think of it, the desk chick was laughing at me when I was getting all the stuff. I figured it was because I had been going to that office every month since last July asking about digital cable. Charter trucks rolled by and was stringing cable then and I figured disital was coming soon. Sure enough it was, next month. That was repeated 8 times. Actually they aren't funny, they are sadistic.

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Originally posted by Isezumi
your cable company is funny

WHen the tech gets to your house on Thursday, have him run around the house and check the signal strength of each line. As well as their demarc.

I dont know maybe UA can help me out here, but there shouldnt be any frequency assignment going on anywhere but perhaps a filter on your line to seperate internet traffic from your TV stations. All the lines beyond your local cable junction should either be Fiber or perhaps short-wave microwave dishes.

EDIT: And yeah, your MAC address and your "NIC address" are the same thing.

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Well I bought that booster and it is still blinking. In regards to connections, my house again is tiny. The cable enters the house from an overhead wire, couples 10 feet to another couple, and hits ~40 feet of wire to the TV. Nothing goes into the walls - it's all external (well it goes through a hole in the wall). And I have only one connection. Actually it looks tacky, but who the hell cares. Anyways, from that 40' wire I have a splitter that takes another 50' to my booster, then 6' to the modem. The one that's blinking still :( The TV reception is great, near DVD quality on HBO etc.

Actually come to think of it there is a break in that wire as it travels under the door threshold - maybe that's causing some signal degradation that's not noticeable on the TV. Gonna play with that theory...

Edit: Nope, split from a coupler straight to my modem. I think I'll name my modem "Blinky", cause that's all it's gonna do for now :mad:

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Originally posted by Isezumi
your cable company is funny

WHen the tech gets to your house on Thursday, have him run around the house and check the signal strength of each line. As well as their demarc.

I dont know maybe UA can help me out here, but there shouldnt be any frequency assignment going on anywhere but perhaps a filter on your line to seperate internet traffic from your TV stations. All the lines beyond your local cable junction should either be Fiber or perhaps short-wave microwave dishes.

EDIT: And yeah, your MAC address and your "NIC address" are the same thing.

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Isezumi, do this: Start > Run > CMD > ipconfig /all
Under your LAN adapter you'll see a Physical Address, that's your NIC's address.

yes it is, and that NIC address is your MAC address.

48-bit hex address

00-53-45-00-00-00

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Originally posted by Isezumi
yes it is, and that NIC address is your MAC address.

48-bit hex address

00-53-45-00-00-00

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I found out about NIC and MAC addresses when I was upgrading my primary system and tried to get on the internet with my backup system and couldn't. So I called tech sup and after I had explained things to them they said we need your old system's NIC address and when you go back to your primary system we'll have to change it again. Look on the back of your cable modem, you'll see something like this, or close to it, HFC MAC ID: 00DCF825060B. That's the physical address of your cable modem. Most cable modem service providers now require both your NIC and MAC address, where in the past they just used your MAC address. Change out your NIC, and you'll loose caontact with your provider. Another interesting thing I found out was that I can no longer change my IP address by using release/resume anymore. My service provider only changes it about every two weeks whether I need it or not, LOL ;)

yeah its actually a really simple security feature that they should have been using from day one. Creating a semi permanent ARP table on a Proxy prevents alot of people from hiding unscrupulous activities behind cheap IP spoofing techniques.

People get all bent about it for no reason.

Well it works! Finally after years of suffocating 56k speeds I finally have 768k+! Apparently there was a filter installed because of some interference they were getting from my house. The tech replaced all the lines, and removed that filter! So, anyways no more crappy dialup - yea! Thanks all for the help ;)

To try and clarify NIC address vs. MAC address, here's what I think OS-Wiz means when he uses the two terms:

"MAC Address" = Media Access Control (MAC) Address of the modem.
"NIC Address" = Media Access Control (MAC) Address of the NIC.

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Originally posted by Oero
Well it works! Finally after years of suffocating 56k speeds I finally have 768k+! Apparently there was a filter installed because of some interference they were getting from my house. The tech replaced all the lines, and removed that filter! So, anyways no more crappy dialup - yea! Thanks all for the help ;)

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Ya, one of AT&T's contractors killed my connection with one of those filters. AT&T puts a red band with a @ mark in it so that the contractors don't filter the line. Since they get paid on a per unit basis, they still do it anyway. The filter they put on the line allows data flow one way, in. Since my modem couldn't communicate out it did the exact same thing as you had.