WCG200 v2 Loses Internet Connectivity and Hard Resets Itself

[djazzbass]

OK, I was having daily sometimes twice daily occurrences of my WCG200 losing connectivity. I would restart both WWCG200 and Windows, click on the connection and disable/enable the connection and "repair connection" repeatedly....eventually I would regain connectivity. Finally got tired of it and read in this forum about upgrading the firmware. Used the online chat support and as predicted, I was told that my ISP could upgrade my firmware. So, I called Cox......and indeed they did upgrade the firmware on my WCG200 (version 1.2b). Not even sure what the previous firmware was, but it began with 1.something or another. It is now sitting at 2.0.3.9.31-0418.

Now for the weirdness. The wireless connection has been hanging in there like a champ since they did this. My wife's laptop (which I am using now), my Palm Pre, online gaming on the Wii, etc....all work. HOWEVER, the desktop that I have the router connected to via USB has no connectivity, in fact the entire wireless network that used to be in "network connections" is gone. So I go to device manager and can see that the WCG200 is there with a yellow exclamation point on it. It says the device can not start. So I uninstall it via device manager, and remove the drivers via "add/remove programs", reboot, the system detects the new hardware. I insert the original CD with the drivers and point the wizard towards them. It scans it and says that it does not detect any better drivers there. Besides, the drivers on the disk are the same as the ones device manager says it is already using. So yes, I have connectivity everywhere except my nice big desktop. Suffice it to say my WCG200 is old....when I got out the drivers disk, there was the receipt......I got it in July 2004. I went back to online chat help at Linksys and they told me due to the age of my device,  I was ineligible for online chat help. They told me to visit the forums or call Tech Support, where I would be charged a fee. Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated.

[JohnRF]

>> HOWEVER, the desktop that I have the router connected to via USB has no connectivity,

There are 2 usb drivers relatively new on the Linksys support website.  Have you tried re-installing one of those?

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/support/WCG200/download

Other option might be to use eternet cable directly from your pc to WCG200 eternet port.

[Eviltwist]

Here's my story ...

First time i have signed up for internet with Comcast i've got some lousy modem from them that would be constantly dropping internet connection when downloading stuff over wireless so i decided to get a different modem.

I did some research online and decided to go with WCG200 v2. After setting it up and getting it activated everything was working fine untill something happened to it and it wouldn't display any options at modems configuration page, called Comcast and then Linksys to get this resolved and i've got RMA on it. Few days later i've got my 2nd WCG200 V2 and noticed the same thing like with 1st modem i got from Comcast. Once again i had to do few calls, finally after countless hours on phone i got in touch with Brian one of the Linksys Technicians in Irvine, the problem was the firmware, yet again hours on phone beeing sent from once place to another to get it upgraded.

Everything was working fine till few days ago. When downloading the modem will just reset itself but i'm not able to use internet untill i power it off and on again. Its also doing hard resets loosing all settings .. 

From what i have read Comcast is no longer supporting this modem (it's not listed on "Comcast approved list of modem") and someone on this forum mentioned it too.

I believe the only fix for that now is to change it to something else .. like motorola or something ..

PS.

Since it started im getting this error in modem log : Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out  

And sometimes something with T4, tho i had no errors before at all.

Message Edited by Eviltwist on 02-25-2010 10:57 PM

[mmyk72]

ISP: Comcast

Wireless drops when downloading files or streaming videos (anything with high bandwidth).  Called Linksys 3x and after they told me to reset, change channal #, etc.... still having dropped wireless connection. 

The last Linksys tech says it needs a firmware upgrade but Linksys does not have it and the firmware has to be pushed by Comcast.  Called Comcast who said they don't support router problems and they have no firmware available at all.

What the F....!!!  @

[JohnRF]

>> Called Comcast who said they don't support router problems and they have no firmware available at all.

I had a similar problem with Cox and the WCG200, and was told they have no firmware.  After calling Linksys (who said Cox did have firmware upgrades), I called Cox back and got problem escallated to Level 2 tech.  He pushed firmware update to my WCG200.

My understanding is the reason firmware updates are in the hands of the ISP, is that any modem update must be tested by the ISP.

Sounds like the misunderstanding was caused by a unknowledgable Level1 person who once they heard the words "router" gave you a canned answer.  The question for Level2 is "Is there a modem firmware update". 

[mmyk72]

The Comcast tech sounded clueless, so I talked to the supervisor who insisted Comcast doesn't provide any support to modems and do not provide any firmware upgrades, at all.

I avoided using the word 'router' since I know this will turn on the trigger switch for Comcast people to just say that's not our business.

[JohnRF]

That's too bad.  I can't speak from experience with Comcast.  Cox Level 2 was very helpful; he stated that there were multiple levels of firmware for the WCG200 and that Cox had tested/certified a specific WCG200 firmware that was authorized for their network, so even if there were other (later) upgrades, the one I got for Cox was their "authorized" one.

Maybe Comcast doesn't want to be involved with all-in-one gateways, or has a small number of authorized brands.  Better to get a separate DOCSIS 2 (or 3) authorized modem now.

I am now using Motorola Surfboard cable modem at home which have had very good reviews and tech comments.  Plus a separate router.

See this other thread which I found:

http://forums.linksysbycisco.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Cable&thread.id=3481

Message Edited by JohnRF on 03-03-2010 10:39 AM

[jahwanga]

I too have been dealing with this issue for over two years & finally found a tech that was able to correctly diagnose & fix the problem.

My ISP is Cox & I have been reporting issues with connectivity loss for years. I called yesterday to report the problem once again & actually spoke to someone who wasn't reading from a manual or trying to get me off the phone, he informed me that the modem was receiving a very low signal but returning a very high one to them. These were not ranges the liked seeing coming from a device. We spoke about firmware & the like a came to the conclusion that the modem is not the issue so he scheduled a tech to come out "again".

Once the tech arrived & explaining the symptoms to him, he immediately began to trouble shoot the issue & found a few things that were leading to my resetting problem. He told me my levels were so bad that he was surprised the modem even worked at all.

Make sure that the signal is not being split, have your modem go directly into the wall outlet & not run through a splitter, and secondly make sure that the signal going to the modem/modem cable outlet is NOT being amplified. Most of us have amplifiers where the signal is being split in your home to make sure that you have good signal/picture quality throughout your house, this will not work for your cable modem & was one of the main reasons my signal levels were so bad. The tech had to reroute the outlet for the cable modem to make sure it was not amplified, once he did that the levels were about 500 times better in his words. Hopefully this helps fix or gives another direction to trouble shoot the issue. For me, so far so good. 

-J$ 

[justvsoni]

I had horrible experience with WCG200. I purchased it thinking its good option to have Modem and Router both in one box, but problem started from day one.Whenever I play streaming video over wireless, gateway hangs completly. If fortunate it reboots itself or needs manual reboot.

Here is what I've tried so far.

1. Called comcast 3X and got word from them that signals are fine and they don't mess with my gateway except configuration files, which as per their belief are perfect for my modem.

2. Called and chat with linksys 6X and one tech person suggested reducing beacon interval to 50, thresholds to 2304 and disabling all security.But no help. Atlast got replacement router, but same case in new one too.

3. Called linksys again and esclated case using their online esclation system. They scheduled level 2 tech support from Irvine,ca in 2 business days. 

Lets see where it goes. Its shame on LINKSYS that they are not able to fix one stupid simple problem, which is highly reproducible and faced by almost all unfortunate customers who trusted their brand and purchased this product.

Modem Log

===============

 2010-03-14 22:22:58      notice      TLV-11 - unrecognized OID
 2010-03-14 11:43:14      critical      Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out
 2010-03-14 11:14:37      critical      No UCD's Received - Timeout
 2010-03-14 11:14:26      critical      SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol timing
 2010-03-14 11:14:23      critical      SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing
 2010-03-14 10:36:27      critical      Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 timeout
 2010-03-14 10:13:05      notice      TLV-11 - unrecognized OID
 2010-03-14 10:12:12      critical      No UCD's Received - Timeout
 2010-03-14 10:11:38      critical      No UCD's Received - Timeout
 2010-03-14 10:10:20      critical      SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol timing
 2010-03-14 10:09:22      critical      SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing
 2010-03-14 10:08:57      critical      Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 timeout
 2010-03-14 09:20:43      critical      Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out
 2010-03-14 08:26:59      notice      TLV-11 - unrecognized OID
 2010-03-14 08:05:36      critical      Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out
 2010-03-14 07:11:09      critical      No UCD's Received - Timeout
 2010-03-14 07:06:14      critical      Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 timeout
 2010-03-14 06:40:00      critical      No UCD's Received - Timeout
 1970-01-01 00:01:06      critical      No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
 1970-01-01 00:00:12      critical      No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out 

===============

Message Edited by justvsoni on 03-18-2010 06:31 PM

[robertoreynolds]

I just joined and want to post this question:

I have a WCG200 router connected to Comcast cable, with multiple Vista computers and an XBox live connected to the router. All devices run on the internet fine, but can't see each other. How can I set up the router so all the connected computers and XBox see each other? Does UPNP need to be enabled for this to work (mine has been enabled and I don't know how to enable it) ? Thanks.