Very Computer

I just subscribed to Cox Cable following a move. The connection to the
internet works fine if I plug the ethernet cable from the cable modem
(Toshiba PCX2600) directly to the NIC in my PC. However, I would like
to make the connection from behind my router (SMC Barricade
SMC7004VWBR), so that I can have internet connectivity for both my PC
and laptop (via wireless). This has not worked so far.

The LAN and WLAN parts of the router work fine, ie. the PC can see the
laptop and vice versa. However, the router's status report for the WAN
connection to the internet resolutely says "DISCONNECTED". I have
tried both DHCP and Static IP settings for the WAN connection (the
latter using the IP assigned earlier to the DHCP connection which
worked with the direct connection sans router). Neither has worked.

I guess my first question is: Does Cox Cable have some way of
detecting the use of a router, and denying connectivity if a router is
detected? Be that as it may, my second question is in any case how to
get the router working with the cable modem.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Sidney

Quote:> I just subscribed to Cox Cable following a move. The connection to the
> internet works fine if I plug the ethernet cable from the cable modem
> (Toshiba PCX2600) directly to the NIC in my PC. However, I would like
> to make the connection from behind my router (SMC Barricade
> SMC7004VWBR), so that I can have internet connectivity for both my PC
> and laptop (via wireless). This has not worked so far.

> The LAN and WLAN parts of the router work fine, ie. the PC can see the
> laptop and vice versa. However, the router's status report for the WAN
> connection to the internet resolutely says "DISCONNECTED". I have
> tried both DHCP and Static IP settings for the WAN connection (the
> latter using the IP assigned earlier to the DHCP connection which
> worked with the direct connection sans router). Neither has worked.

> I guess my first question is: Does Cox Cable have some way of
> detecting the use of a router, and denying connectivity if a router is
> detected? Be that as it may, my second question is in any case how to
> get the router working with the cable modem.

What often happens with cable modems is that they become set to communicate
only with a NIC that has a specific MAC, i.e. the MAC of your first
ethernet card.  This can happen automatically when the modem powers up, or
it can be done during some kind of account registration process.  Now when
you switch from your PCs NIC to the router, the router has a different MAC
and so the modem goes into a snit and won't talk to it.

There are several possible solutions to this problem:

- Power down the modem, wait a minute, and then power it back up again.
This works for me: at power up the modem automatically reacquires the MAC
of the NIC it's talking to, i.e. the router.

- Use the MAC cloning feature of your router, if it has one.  With this
feature, the router reads the MAC of the NIC that you designate (i.e. your
PC's) and then sets its own MAC to that value.  Or, maybe you have to key in
the MAC to the router interface by hand.  Either way, now your router has
the same MAC as your PC, and the modem will talk to it.

- If those fail, call Cox and tell them what's up.  No, I can't imagine that
they would prevent their customers from using home routers.  Zillions of
people use them nowadays.

Good luck,
Andrew.

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On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 13:22:31 -0400, Andrew Schulman

AHHH!  Thank you Andrew!  I know you weren't replying to my message,
but I was running into the same problem and having a heck of a time
getting DHCP to work under Linux.  Turns out that all I needed to do
was power cycle the modem and all of a sudden DHCP worked perfectly.
I never even thought that the modem might be locking in a specific MAC
or anything like that!

FWIW, if anyone else is having similar problems, this is how Roger's
Hi-Speed seems to be working now, or at least in the Ottawa area.

I tried both the above, still to no avail... I'll next try a Linksys
router to which I have access.

Quote:> - If those fail, call Cox and tell them what's up.  No, I can't imagine that
> they would prevent their customers from using home routers.  Zillions of
> people use them nowadays.

They want to charge $90 for a site visit to troubleshoot. No thanks.
I'll save that as a very last resort. I'm running Suse Linux on both
PC and laptop ... I suspect they'll take a look and say "we don't
support that."

Quote:> Good luck,
> Andrew.

Many thanks for the advice.

Cheers,
Sidney

Quote:> AHHH!??Thank?you?Andrew!??I?know?you?weren't?replying?to?my?message,
> but I was running into the same problem and having a heck of a time
> getting DHCP to work under Linux.??Turns?out?that?all?I?needed?to?do
> was power cycle the modem and all of a sudden DHCP worked perfectly.
> I never even thought that the modem might be locking in a specific MAC
> or anything like that!

Eureka! :)

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To reply by email, change "deadspam.com" to "alumni.utexas.net"

Quote:>> There are several possible solutions to this problem:

>> - Power down the modem, wait a minute, and then power it back up again.
>> This works for me: at power up the modem automatically reacquires the MAC
>> of the NIC it's talking to, i.e. the router.

>> - Use the MAC cloning feature of your router, if it has one.??With?this
>> feature, the router reads the MAC of the NIC that you designate (i.e.
>> your PC's) and then sets its own MAC to that value.??Or,?maybe?you?have
>> to?key?in the MAC to the router interface by hand.??Either?way,?now?your
>> router?has the same MAC as your PC, and the modem will talk to it.

> I tried both the above, still to no avail... I'll next try a Linksys
> router to which I have access.

Yes, this is probably the next thing to try.  If none of the above worked,
then I wonder whether the router is bad.  Either another ethernet card in
your PC or another router, which you know are good, could help to answer
that.

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The Linksys router worked .... no fiddling required. So, possibly
there is some problem with the Barricade, or some quirkiness of
interaction between the Barricade and Cox Cable. Either way, the
problem is solved.

Still, I'll try the Barricade in the environment where I got the
Linksys, where the WAN port will be attached to a DSL modem hooked to
the BellSouth network. The Barricade previously worked in a similar
environment: DSL Modem, Alltel network.

Again, thanks for the help. These newsgroups are immensely useful.
Clearly, at least one other poster was helped apart from myself.

Cheers,
Sidney

Follow up: the Barricade worked with the DSL modem hooked to
BellSouth. This is very strange. I must have missed something earlier,
but can't imagine what. Or else there is some quirky interaction...

Quote:> Again, thanks for the help. These newsgroups are immensely useful.
> Clearly, at least one other poster was helped apart from myself.

> Cheers,
> Sidney

1.Connect the Modem to the WAN port on the router.
2.Make sure the WAN light is ON  
3.Connect the System to one of your LAN port on the router.
4.Check the IP address on the system.
5.The IP address should be of the range 192.168.2.XXX ( go to 9)

6.If you are getting a auto config IP 169.xxx.xxx.xxx
7.Reduce the link speed on you NIC card to 10Full mode.
8.Check the IP address again now you will have an IP 192.168.2.XXX

9.Open your browser and type 192.168.2.1 on the address bar.
10.You will see SMC login screen, Click login.
11.If you get a password error try "smcadmin"
12.select advanced setup
13.select WAN, select Dynamic IP address, click on more config
14.Click on clone MAC address, click on APPLY.
15.Select "status"
16.If it is disconnected, clear the security log.
17.Logout of the router.
18.Power off the router and Modem.
19.Power ON the Modem first, Wait for the modem to boot.
20.Power on the Router, Wait for 2min and check if you are able to go
online.

If you still have problem connecting to COX, Let me know the make of
the MODEM which you are using, the RUN time code version on the router
(you will find that under the "status" page on the router) and the
PART number of your router (750.XXXX or 720.XXXX or 751.XXXX)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:> I just subscribed to Cox Cable following a move. The connection to the
> internet works fine if I plug the ethernet cable from the cable modem
> (Toshiba PCX2600) directly to the NIC in my PC. However, I would like
> to make the connection from behind my router (SMC Barricade
> SMC7004VWBR), so that I can have internet connectivity for both my PC
> and laptop (via wireless). This has not worked so far.

> The LAN and WLAN parts of the router work fine, ie. the PC can see the
> laptop and vice versa. However, the router's status report for the WAN
> connection to the internet resolutely says "DISCONNECTED". I have
> tried both DHCP and Static IP settings for the WAN connection (the
> latter using the IP assigned earlier to the DHCP connection which
> worked with the direct connection sans router). Neither has worked.

> I guess my first question is: Does Cox Cable have some way of
> detecting the use of a router, and denying connectivity if a router is
> detected? Be that as it may, my second question is in any case how to
> get the router working with the cable modem.

> Any help would be much appreciated.

> Cheers,
> Sidney

Many thanks. I haven't tried this because I have already swapped
routers. The Linksys worked "out of the box" with Cox Cable, and the
Barricade worked "out of the box" with BellSouth DSL. Therefore my
problem is solved (I'm connected), although I never did get the
Barricade working with Cox. However, this is great for the Google
record, and should help the next person having the trouble I had.
Thanks for taking the time to lay it all out like you did.

Cheers,
Sidney