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Please help figure out modem / Time Capsule glitch

M

mrzeigler

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 15, 2005
159
3
Pittsburgh
I'm in the process of replacing my old $7/month rental modem/router from Comcast with a Motorola Surfboard SB6141 modem.

My plan is to have a fairly basic system set up as follows:

cable line > modem > ethernet line > Time Capsule > ethernet line > Ooma Telo VoiP, with the Time Capsule providing WiFi.

I'm having problems at the Time Capsule stage (so forget about the Telo for now).

This setup was working fine to get me online:

Comcast cable > Surfboard modem > Ethernet cable > iMac

But when I introduced my Time Capsule between the modem and iMac, I got a blinking yellow light on the Time Capsule. The Airport Utility indicated two status alerts — “Internet connection” and “No DNS Servers.”

After that, I unplugged both the modem and the airport, connected them via Ethernet and restarted them. This produced a steady green light on the Time Capsule and no status alerts in the AirPort Utility … but in the Preferences>Network pane, my Wi-Fi has a yellow light and a note that it has a self-assigned IP address and will not be able to connect to the internet.

(BTW, earlier in the day I called the cable company and gave them the Surfboard's Mac # ... the cable rep said everything looked fine on his end.)

Can someone walk me through what needs to be done to get this up and running?
 
Last edited:
Are you connecting the ethernet to the wan port or lan port of the TC? Not trying to be funny, but some people have done that by mistake. Also, make sure the modem has the latest firmware. Cable company has to do that.
 
Last edited:
darster said:
Are you connecting the ethernet to the wan port or lan port of the TC? Not trying to be funny, but some people have done that by mistake.
Click to expand...

I have the cable from the modem connected into the WAN port. And don't worry, I didn't think it was a a smart-alek question.
 
Last edited:
Here's where things stand:


I unplugged both the new Surfboard modem and the airport.

I connected the Comcast cable line into the modem. I used an Ethernet cable to connect the modem to the WAN port of the Time Capsule. I have Ethernet cables connected from the Time Capsule to the Ooma Telo and to the iMac.

I plugged in both the modem and the Time Capsule. Both cycled through their startup routines and ended with the appropriate indicator lights on both devices (three solids & one flashing blue on the modem; solid green on TC).

The Ooma Telo is working.

The Network Preferences panel shows that the iMac is connected via Ethernet — IP address of 169.254.32.96. It’s configured IPv4 “Using DHCP” with the aforementioned IP number and a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0.

There is no data in the “router,” “DNS Server” or “Search Domains” fields.

I click to open a browser page and am told I’m not connected to the internet. I fiddle around with the wifi settings but am unable to get DHCP client ID info to autofill. I call comcast because the system preferences dialogue says I should call the ISP to get this info. The comcast rep says that the router should automatically retrieve that info, then he tells me he's transferring me to advanced tech support. I connect and the call is cut off 15 seconds later.

I'm too tired to call back tonight. So I replace the new Surfboard modem with the old rental (same ethernet cable configuration), reboot the Time Capsule ... and viola! everything works.

So, what do I do tomorrow — is this a problem for the ISP's tech support, Motorola's tech support or what?
 
FIX! Returned SB6141 for SB6121

I couldn't waist any more time trying to troubleshoot this issue lost connection issue. I returned my SB6141 and have not experienced any lost connection with the new Motorolla/ARRIS SB6121 Model. No more dropped connection!
 
richardg0nzalez said:
I couldn't waist any more time trying to troubleshoot this issue lost connection issue. I returned my SB6141 and have not experienced any lost connection with the new Motorolla/ARRIS SB6121 Model. No more dropped connection!
Click to expand...

It has been noted by many that some Motorola SB6141 modems have issues with losing connection with mainly Apple AirPort and Linksys routers.
 
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