Solve : Internet down monitor?

1.	Solve : Internet down monitor?
Answer» PLEASE help!!. I am running Sling Boxes on my home network. When I am not home and the modem or router goes down, I need to make power off reset. Howe to build a monitor with logic output to recycle the power when internet is down without using a computer. Cant find anything !! (interesting project)How about fixing the problem? You shouldn't need to hard reset a router/modem just because there was a broadband/cable problem - it should spring back into life of its own accord. That fact that it isn't doing so suggests there's an underlying problem that needs to be resolved.The cable modem and netgear router are on line for over 5 years now, and sometimes go for 8 month without the need for power reset. But when it hapens, and I am away sometimes for 6 month, then I loose my link, and the cable company can't "see" the modem anymore. When I finally get back I reset the power of modem & router (on the same power strip), and all is OK. ?It would be useful to know whether it's the modem or router that goes down and if you can browse to any web interface or connect to either device using telnet (from the LAN) while the condition exists. If you answer that question, it may be possible to create a suitable script.Thank you for your help ! I presume it is the Router, but I am not really sure. The modem cable solid light was not on, but flashing sometimes. The send data on the modem did not blink. I could not access the internet from the LAN. The Router lights did not make any sense. I have a Vonage Internet Phone device connected to the LAN. Without using the phone this device is "calling home to vonage" to establish a connection. It has a green LED which was flashing (it should be solid if internet connection with vonage server is successful). Seeing that when I got home: I just power reset Router and Modem together without any further investigation, and in about 30 seconds the cable light was steady, and the router lights where normal, and internet was back on. Perhaps waiting til I am away again to let me down! Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated. As a last recourse I could use a land line phone with an answering machine and a tone decoder with relay to recycle the power. But there must be a more elegant way of doing that ?Okay - what modem and router are we dealing with (make and model)?NOW I AM IN TROUBLE ! I don't remember what cable modem I am using at my place up north, and I am not there to check. The Router is a Netgear MR814 v2. I am willing to replace any of them if the need be. Here is an alternative solution from another application. Many so-so DEVICES do not have good internal monitoring. A piratical alternative is to have a mechanical device to reset the device at certain times even if not needed. How often do you nse the connection? What is your time window? How long do you need it in one day. How long could you wait for nit in one day? I am thinking of an electrical clock with a relay that will TURN an appliance on and off on a schedule. Sometimes used for hot water HEATERS. Set it up to be none for three hours and break for fifteen minutes. Ask your electrical supplier for such a device. Or make one yourself.More about a schedule on/off thing. Automatically Turn On/Off Computer at Specified Time You could use your PC itself to turn the router and modem on and off. When the computer goes off, there is no more 5 volt power on the USB ports. That power could drive a small relay that can switch AC power safely. Quote from: Geek-9pm on March 29, 2012, 12:49:03 AM A piratical alternative is to have a mechanical device to reset the device at certain times even if not needed. How often do you nse the connection? What is your time window? How long do you need it in one day. How long could you wait for nit in one day? That's not a bad idea at all. Even cheap devices have a granularity of five minutes - so the router and modem could just be off for five minutes once or twice a day. Hey presto, scheduled reboots. I like the lateral thinking here.As for an automatice reboot of the router, this is the kind of thing I was thinking of: http://www.digitalservitude.com/?s=worklog&m=permalink&x=automatically-reboot-netgear-router That would require testing and suitable scripting components. I imagine you could do this with PowerShell if you don't have a suitable Linux system.Scheduled reboots is an option. I could set it for every other day at night, and I could live with that. The 5V from USB would be great, but if internet is down the windows computer is still on ? I was looking at some ARDUINO modules. They use ADMEGA micro processor, and have an ETHERNET adapter. Was thinking it could send a query to some website, and if no reply, maybe it could be programmed to pull output bits low to activate a relay ?? Think I need to do more reading ! ANY IDEAS ? hifly Let's recap what you do and what you need. You are at a location where you can not get back to your target PC in a reasonable amount of time, like over one hundred miles. You use some kind of remote access to get to your data. Your Home PC is left unattended, maybe in a secret vault. Once in awhile, maybe once every three months. the system locks up and it is almost always the Modem/Router, not the PC. Sending a tech out to your vault is not a desirable option. An alternative would be to use clad storage, but that has its own limitations and issues. The PC is already setup for the work you do. If the vault has a Land Line and the PC a 56K modem with auto-answer capability, you could set it to answer after ten rings. The router modem may or may not have a trouble light. And if lit does - How do you know it ever works? The router may have a software reset. But how do you know it works when needed? You do know that a physical reset works. Power interruption on all routers is treated as a real physical reset. In some cases it is the only way to 'UN-freeze' a rare electronic lock-up. Rare , but very documented. I still think a crude mechanical timer is the sure thing. Plain old gear-driven clock times have lounger service life than almost anything you might think of. But a electronic device and a relay can also be very reliable. Persona experience. I had some set up to scare COYOTES away from my sheep. Every ten ministers, 24 hours a day weeks at a time until the wet-cell discharged. Recharge the cell and up again. Didn't have solar cells back then. Do not depend of a software reset of the router. Fortunately, in your case, battery power is not needed. Apparently you have then PC set to restart if the power goes off. Geek-9pm, My remote vault is not accessible, and there is no computer connected only cameras etc. A hart reset SEAMS to be the safest solution. I could use my laptop with battery backup but it won't give me an output bit for a relay. I was also thinking to interface to one router or modem light (opto coupling or direct connecting inside but need to do more testing to see what light is reliable and useful.No, dedicating a laptop to do simple job is not a wise decision. the laptop is worth more than a new router router and continuous use will shorten its life. When and if the modem or router fails, there is no device, like a light, that proves that it has failed. Please don't ask., I have been into this before with remote unattended equipment. There are two often used solution: A. A external independent deice , mechanical or electric, turns off the device once a day. Even a photo cell could don that. Turn of at sunrise, on a sundown. B. A external watchdog timer. Once every ten minuets the modem or router must send a status to the watchdog. Just a simple 100 millisecond pulse or stream to do a the restart of a simple 556 dual timer.The watchdog will other wise turn off the modem/router with a very reliable standard relay for three minutes. Then back non for another ten, waiting for a pulse. Any kind of pulse, even very frequent. If is stops for ten min, the watchdog trips the relay. Sorry, I don't have a diagram in my library of stuff, but it has published nears ago somewhere. Just find some light or TTL logic that does a transition at least once every ten minutes The watchdog timer can be built for longer timeout, if needed. One hour is near the limit with simple components. Maybe somebody else can find "Watch Dog timer with 555 or 556 IC"

Answer»

PLEASE help!!. I am running Sling Boxes on my home network. When I am not
home and the modem or router goes down, I need to make power off reset.
Howe to build a monitor with logic output to recycle the power when internet
is down without using a computer. Cant find anything !! (interesting project)How about fixing the problem? You shouldn't need to hard reset a router/modem just because there was a broadband/cable problem - it should spring back into life of its own accord. That fact that it isn't doing so suggests there's an underlying problem that needs to be resolved.The cable modem and netgear router are on line for over 5 years now, and sometimes go for 8 month without the need for power reset. But when it hapens, and I am away sometimes for 6 month, then I loose my link, and the cable company can't "see" the modem anymore. When I finally get back I reset the power of modem & router (on the same power strip), and all is OK. ?It would be useful to know whether it's the modem or router that goes down and if you can browse to any web interface or connect to either device using telnet (from the LAN) while the condition exists. If you answer that question, it may be possible to create a suitable script.Thank you for your help ! I presume it is the Router, but I am not really sure. The modem cable solid light was not on, but flashing sometimes. The send data on the modem did not blink. I could not access the internet from the LAN. The Router lights did not make any sense. I have a Vonage Internet Phone device connected to the LAN. Without using the phone this device is "calling home to vonage" to establish a connection. It has a green LED which was flashing (it should be solid if internet connection with vonage server is successful). Seeing that when I got home: I just power reset Router and Modem together without any further investigation, and in about 30 seconds the cable light was steady, and the router lights where normal, and internet was back on. Perhaps waiting til I am away again to let me down! Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated. As a last recourse I could use a land line phone with an answering machine and a tone decoder with relay to recycle the power. But there must be a more elegant way of doing that ?Okay - what modem and router are we dealing with (make and model)?NOW I AM IN TROUBLE ! I don't remember what cable modem I am using at my place up north, and I am not there to check. The Router is a Netgear MR814 v2. I am willing to replace any of them if the need be. Here is an alternative solution from another application.
Many so-so DEVICES do not have good internal monitoring.

A piratical alternative is to have a mechanical device to reset the device at certain times even if not needed. How often do you nse the connection? What is your time window? How long do you need it in one day. How long could you wait for nit in one day?

I am thinking of an electrical clock with a relay that will TURN an appliance on and off on a schedule. Sometimes used for hot water HEATERS. Set it up to be none for three hours and break for fifteen minutes. Ask your electrical supplier for such a device. Or make one yourself.More about a schedule on/off thing.

Automatically Turn On/Off Computer at Specified Time
You could use your PC itself to turn the router and modem on and off. When the computer goes off, there is no more 5 volt power on the USB ports. That power could drive a small relay that can switch AC power safely. Quote from: Geek-9pm on March 29, 2012, 12:49:03 AM

A piratical alternative is to have a mechanical device to reset the device at certain times even if not needed. How often do you nse the connection? What is your time window? How long do you need it in one day. How long could you wait for nit in one day?

That's not a bad idea at all. Even cheap devices have a granularity of five minutes - so the router and modem could just be off for five minutes once or twice a day. Hey presto, scheduled reboots. I like the lateral thinking here.As for an automatice reboot of the router, this is the kind of thing I was thinking of: http://www.digitalservitude.com/?s=worklog&m=permalink&x=automatically-reboot-netgear-router

That would require testing and suitable scripting components. I imagine you could do this with PowerShell if you don't have a suitable Linux system.Scheduled reboots is an option. I could set it for every other day at night, and I could live with that. The 5V from USB would be great, but if internet is down the windows computer is still on ? I was looking at some ARDUINO modules. They use ADMEGA micro processor, and have an ETHERNET adapter. Was thinking it could send a query to some website, and if no reply, maybe it could be programmed to pull output bits low to activate a relay ?? Think I need to do more reading ! ANY IDEAS ? hifly
Let's recap what you do and what you need.
You are at a location where you can not get back to your target PC in a reasonable amount of time, like over one hundred miles. You use some kind of remote access to get to your data. Your Home PC is left unattended, maybe in a secret vault.

Once in awhile, maybe once every three months. the system locks up and it is almost always the Modem/Router, not the PC. Sending a tech out to your vault is not a desirable option.

An alternative would be to use clad storage, but that has its own limitations and issues. The PC is already setup for the work you do.

If the vault has a Land Line and the PC a 56K modem with auto-answer capability, you could set it to answer after ten rings.

The router modem may or may not have a trouble light. And if lit does - How do you know it ever works? The router may have a software reset. But how do you know it works when needed?

You do know that a physical reset works. Power interruption on all routers is treated as a real physical reset. In some cases it is the only way to 'UN-freeze' a rare electronic lock-up. Rare , but very documented.

I still think a crude mechanical timer is the sure thing. Plain old gear-driven clock times have lounger service life than almost anything you might think of.

But a electronic device and a relay can also be very reliable. Persona experience. I had some set up to scare COYOTES away from my sheep. Every ten ministers, 24 hours a day weeks at a time until the wet-cell discharged. Recharge the cell and up again. Didn't have solar cells back then.

Do not depend of a software reset of the router.

Fortunately, in your case, battery power is not needed. Apparently you have then PC set to restart if the power goes off.

Geek-9pm,
My remote vault is not accessible, and there is no computer connected only cameras etc. A hart reset SEAMS to be the safest solution. I could use my laptop with battery backup but it won't give me an output bit for a relay. I was also thinking to interface to one router or modem light (opto coupling or direct connecting inside but need to do more testing to see what light is reliable and useful.No, dedicating a laptop to do simple job is not a wise decision. the laptop is worth more than a new router router and continuous use will shorten its life.
When and if the modem or router fails, there is no device, like a light, that proves that it has failed. Please don't ask., I have been into this before with remote unattended equipment.

There are two often used solution:
A. A external independent deice , mechanical or electric, turns off the device once a day. Even a photo cell could don that. Turn of at sunrise, on a sundown.
B. A external watchdog timer. Once every ten minuets the modem or router must send a status to the watchdog. Just a simple 100 millisecond pulse or stream to do a the restart of a simple 556 dual timer.The watchdog will other wise turn off the modem/router with a very reliable standard relay for three minutes. Then back non for another ten, waiting for a pulse. Any kind of pulse, even very frequent. If is stops for ten min, the watchdog trips the relay.

Sorry, I don't have a diagram in my library of stuff, but it has
published nears ago somewhere. Just find some light or TTL logic that does a transition at least once every ten minutes The watchdog timer can be built for longer timeout, if needed. One hour is near the limit with simple components.
Maybe somebody else can find "Watch Dog timer with 555 or 556 IC"

Solve : Internet down monitor?

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