[Context: see
http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,17364.msg317505.html#msg317505]
I have just taken delivery of a new router. I had some problems setting it up, as documented in an earlier thread, (see
http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,17779.msg323470.html#msg323470), but Andrews and Arnold, my ISP, sorted the device out and brought it back from the dead for me, by return of post. So it came back all happy and pre-programmed with my own current config in it taken from my Firebrick FB2500.
The reason I bought it was in an attempt to cure the "dripping blood" problem, loss of PPP LCP ping echoes or their responses, sent by Andrews and Arnold's CQM system (see -
http://aaisp.net/kb-broadband-cqm.html) for link quality testing. See also -
http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,17364.msg317505.html#msg317505After a lot of testing and messing about with swapping kit and hours and hours talking to AA tech support, I decided that the only thing I could think of was to swap out the router, on the theory that port 1 on it - which went to one of the three modems attached to it - was bad.
Well here's the bad news. After spending £900 on a brand new router, the problem is still there, quite unchanged. Brain failure, total. I don't know what to do next. Just go over everything again, systematically I suppose.
Theory: perhaps if I swap ports 1 and 4, port 4 being connected to the LAN switch, it will avoid the problem, because then port 1 won't be going to a modem any more. But if this is right, then this would mean that all Firebricks have this port-1 related problem, so why are other users not seeing it, and why did it suddenly appear one Thursday evening at the end of March? Speculation: could have been something triggered by a software update, but there would have to be some secondary condition involved too, as there was no software update that day, yet there had been one a short(-ish) while before. Another point, I think the default config for the Firebrick is to have the LAN on port 1, so perhaps that's how most people use it. More speculation: perhaps there are very few people who use LAN=port_4 and also have multiple modems. Anyway, putting the blame on the Firebrick is far from certain.
I need to go over everything again, swapping modems out - I have yet another new modem. I also need to swap out cables just in case. What a nightmare.