Hello to everybody, I hope you're all having a pleasant bank holiday weekend. My post is a long one, so I'm splitting it across two posts:

#1

I've run into some problems whilst working on my checklist of household chores for the extended weekend, and was hoping that I might be able to get some help on these boards...

I have a Draytek Vigor 120 v2, which I use to bridge my O2 internet connection with my Apple Airport Extreme. This setup has been working flawlessly since I set it up in December of last year — I have literally had zero problems until now, which is unusual in my experience, and has definitely encouraged me to continue using third-party networking gear in the future.

My problems began on Thursday (I think) when I finally got around to moving my Airport Extreme (it had been on top of a cabinet, but I wanted to move it onto one of the shelves inside to get it out of the way and out of direct sunlight). As I wanted to tidy the wiring up whilst I was at it, I turned off the Vigor 120 using the switch at the back of the unit, disconnected all of the wires, turned off the Airport, rearranged everything, plugged it all back in and then fired the lot all back up.

As far as I was aware everything went smoothly (and I wasn't really expecting any problems to begin with). Yet that evening, whilst trying to stream a programme from BBC iPlayer, I noticed that the connection was very slow and also unreliable. I encountered a number of buffering pauses, when previously I had none, and these would often result in a hang.

These two issues (slow speeds and unreliable connection) persisted, despite disconnecting everything, replugging it all back in and booting each device up again.

#2:

Over the weekend I've done some experimenting and have isolated the problem to the Vigor 120. WiFi signal remained strong despite having moved the Extreme, and the problems persisted even after plugging my laptop into the Airport with an ethernet cable. I then tried connecting my laptop directly to the Vigor, and found that the problems persisted. I also carried out one of those online speed-checker things, and found that my downstream transfer rate would never exceed around 5Mbps, whereas before I'd get about 15-16Mbps. Carrying out trace-routes and pings to random websites would often result in hangs or dropped packets.

I attempted resetting the Vigor 120, using both the web interface and the hard-reset button on the side, re-entering the settings detailed for O2 on the Draytek website, but all was to no avail. I also noticed that even connecting to the Vigor 120's web interface was very unreliable, and the requests often timed-out.

I then dug out the modem-router that O2 supplied me with, connected it up and hard-wired it to my laptop, and was quickly online with a strong, stable connection. Using the same broadband speed-checker thingy, I was getting the 15-16Mbps results I was used to.

As the O2 box works without and problems, I concluded that the link in the chain at fault was the Vigor 120, as anything further down the line (cables, ADSL filter, my ISP, etc.) would have resulted in the same problems with the O2 box.

I'm frankly at something of a loss as to why the Vigor 120 would stop working just from being switched off for a few minutes, and am worried it may be broken, especially as I'm having difficulties even using the web interface.

If anybody could offer any suggestions as to why it could be broken, or what I could try doing to fix it, I'd be tremendously grateful. Is it possible that the unit could have been damaged by some kind of static shock whilst I was disconnecting it and then reconnecting it?

The web-interface tells me that version 3.2.6 of the firmware is currently installed, which as far as I can tell is the most recent revision.

Sorry for the very long post, and thanks in advance for any help or advice.

I have an update to my problem:

I noticed that the Vigor 120's modem code was set to 321311. This is not something I understand, but from what I can gather this is not normal, and Draytek recommend 332201 for UK users. I was also having trouble connecting to the modem's web interface, and was getting very unreliable ping responses even whilst directly connected.

In the end I decided to flash the firmware with the .rst build over TFTP. After doing so, the modem code was set to 332201. After re-entering the MPoA settings for O2, the modem has been able to establish a far more reliable connection. However, the problem I now face is that it is still not working at full speed.

Yesterday evening I noticed that the ethernet connection between my laptop and the Vigor 120 was established at just 10Mbps. I don't know if this has been the case for the duration of the problems I've been having, or if it is just since I flashed the firmware. Either way, it certainly explains why my throughput is currently unable to exceed around 7Mbps (prior to all of these difficulties, I got between 16-17Mbps, and am able to get 17Mbps with the modem/router supplied by O2). I can confirm that my laptop's ethernet port is working properly, as when connected to other devices (using the same ethernet cable) works at speeds of 100Mbps.

Is anybody able to suggest what, beyond a broken ethernet port on the Vigor 120, could be causing this? As ever I'd be very grateful for any help or advice.

So, please advise which O2 service you have (the max ADSL2+ Annex M?) and the Firmware version currently in use on the 120v2

Thanks, Neal

Hello Neal, thanks for your reply! The Vigor 120 v2 is running firmware version 3.2.6. As for my O2 service, I don't know and I'm not entirely sure how to find out, to be honest. The connection is billed as 18Mbps, and I can get around 17Mbps, so I guess it must be ADSL2+, but as for Annex M I have no idea. Sorry I couldn't supply more accurate information!