Yet another "network cable unplugged" issue (w/DSL)

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Guest

Greetings, all. Here's my problem.
As my headline indicates, I have the NCU ish. Here's the twist.
I have ATT (formerly SBC) DSL service on two PCs, the main one in my
basement office, and secondarily on my son's PC upstairs. We recently had a
visit from ATT to fix a (major) DSL connectivity problem. I was not present,
but my Mom-in-law said the tech told her we would need to reconnect the
upstairs PC. OK, no big deal, I thought. I had installed it the first time
out. Well, here we go. No matter what I do, the PC will not recognize the
connection. I should mention that my main PC uses a 2wire 1000HW DSL modem,
and the second one connects via HPNA with a 2wire PC Port USB connection. No
troubles until now. Installation instructions are followed to the letter. The
PC Port is properly connected as indicated by its power light, as well as
being connected to its phone line, which is in turn connected to the DSL
filter which is plugged into the wall (whew!). This setup is as it always has
been since first install. My firewall (Kerio) is set up to allow the
connectivity. I THINK it actually connected ONCE for about two seconds, as
indicated by the systray icon for my Desktop Weather :-). But that's it.
The only change since we first hooked up to DSL is that we have upgraded to
the higher speed, but there was no connection problem in the 4-5 months since
then. This should not necessitate a different kind of DSL filter, should it?
HELP!!
 
Chuck said:
Greetings, all. Here's my problem.
As my headline indicates, I have the NCU ish. Here's the twist.
I have ATT (formerly SBC) DSL service on two PCs, the main one in my
basement office, and secondarily on my son's PC upstairs. We recently had a
visit from ATT to fix a (major) DSL connectivity problem. I was not present,
but my Mom-in-law said the tech told her we would need to reconnect the
upstairs PC. OK, no big deal, I thought. I had installed it the first time
out. Well, here we go. No matter what I do, the PC will not recognize the
connection. I should mention that my main PC uses a 2wire 1000HW DSL modem,
and the second one connects via HPNA with a 2wire PC Port USB connection. No
troubles until now. Installation instructions are followed to the letter. The
PC Port is properly connected as indicated by its power light, as well as
being connected to its phone line, which is in turn connected to the DSL
filter which is plugged into the wall (whew!). This setup is as it always has
been since first install. My firewall (Kerio) is set up to allow the
connectivity. I THINK it actually connected ONCE for about two seconds, as
indicated by the systray icon for my Desktop Weather :-). But that's it.
The only change since we first hooked up to DSL is that we have upgraded to
the higher speed, but there was no connection problem in the 4-5 months since
then. This should not necessitate a different kind of DSL filter, should it?
HELP!!
Click to expand...
Your main mistake was to not be present when the ATT tech was there.

The following is based on educated guesses only, so take it with that in
mind. I may be totally off base.

I'm not very familiar with HPNA, but it seems to me that in order for it
to coexist with both DSL and regular telephone signals, it must operate
in a frequency band that is separate from both. Thus, I would expect
that the filters that you get from 2wire are 3-way filters rather than
the usual hi-pass or lo-pass (I can never remember which) that are used
to separate phone and DSL signals.

As I understand your setup, the network connection from your son's pc
goes into your home telephone wiring via a 2wire USB-to-phone adapter
and then through a (presumably, 2wire-supplied) filter. You don't say,
however, how your main computer connects to the phone wires. If your
2wire gateway shares a phone jack with a telephone device, it also
requires a filter. I suspect that the ATT tech replaced your original
2wire filter that went between your 2wire gateway and the wall jack with
a standard DSL filter. This may block the HPNA signals to/from the
other pc.

As a temporary test only, try removing any filter that is connected
between your 2wire gateway and the wall jack. See if you now have
connectivity with the second pc.

If this doesn't help, you will have to try to figure out what the ATT
tech did to resolve your earlier problem and determine how that impacted
your HPNA connection. Perhaps 2wire tech support can help.
 
Hm. I'll try it, but I'll be surprised. If he changed it, it lokoks EXACTLY
the same as the one I had.
 
Chuck said:
Hm. I'll try it, but I'll be surprised. If he changed it, it lokoks EXACTLY
the same as the one I had.
Click to expand...
Good luck. If the ATT tech installed a splitter next to the NID (see
http://www.homephonewiring.com/dsl.html) then -- assuming that there is
a separate HPNA jack on the 2wire gateway -- you will have to connect
that to a wall jack OTHER than the one that has the DSL signal. See the
second paragraph below.

From http://www.homepna.org/support/faqs.asp#FAQ9

How do I connect my HomePNA device if I have DSL splitters or filters?

In some DSL installations, filters, micro-filters or micro-splitters are
provide for telephone devices. These filters, micro-filters, or
micro-splitters should NOT be connected between the wall jack and
HomePNA devices. Telephones should be plugged into the phone jack on the
HomePNA devices. Some filters if plugged between the HomePNA device
phone jack and the telephone may cause the HomePNA device to stop working.

In other DSL installations, a regular DSL splitter is installed outside
of the home. That DSL splitter isolates the home telephone wiring from a
seperate wire run to the DSL modem. In this situation, the regular
telephone jacks should all be usable for the HomePNA network. The
(seperate wire run) jack used by the DSL modem should not be used for a
HomePNA device.

For more information, please see our Filters page
 
Lem said:
Good luck. If the ATT tech installed a splitter next to the NID (see
http://www.homephonewiring.com/dsl.html) then -- assuming that there is
a separate HPNA jack on the 2wire gateway -- you will have to connect
that to a wall jack OTHER than the one that has the DSL signal. See the
second paragraph below.

From http://www.homepna.org/support/faqs.asp#FAQ9

How do I connect my HomePNA device if I have DSL splitters or filters?

In some DSL installations, filters, micro-filters or micro-splitters are
provide for telephone devices. These filters, micro-filters, or
micro-splitters should NOT be connected between the wall jack and
HomePNA devices. Telephones should be plugged into the phone jack on the
HomePNA devices. Some filters if plugged between the HomePNA device
phone jack and the telephone may cause the HomePNA device to stop working.

In other DSL installations, a regular DSL splitter is installed outside
of the home. That DSL splitter isolates the home telephone wiring from a
seperate wire run to the DSL modem. In this situation, the regular
telephone jacks should all be usable for the HomePNA network. The
(seperate wire run) jack used by the DSL modem should not be used for a
HomePNA device.

For more information, please see our Filters page
Click to expand...
Well, I keep learning. According to
http://www.homepna.org/support/filters.asp HPNA signals and DSL signals
coexist at higher frequencies than voice signals. Thus, filters used to
connect telephone devices are lo-pass, which means that they let the
voice through and block the DSL/HPNA signals. According to this page,
you should not have any filters on your HPNA connections. This is
inconsistent with your description of how your son's PC is connected.

["The PC Port is properly connected as indicated by its power light, as
well as being connected to its phone line, which is in turn connected to
the DSL filter which is plugged into the wall"]

Assuming that what is connected to your USB PC Port is in fact a filter
(and not a splitter) then it must be some special kind of filter and you
really should try to get in touch with 2wire and see if they can help
you straighten things out. Before you call them, you should make a
pretty serious effort to figure out what the ATT tech did.
 
Sure I did.
"I should mention that my main PC uses a 2wire 1000HW DSL modem,
and the second one connects via HPNA with a 2wire PC Port USB connection."
The main one connects to the 1000HW via Etehrnet cable, and thence through a
(two-port) filter into the wall jack. The filters are 2wire, supplied by SBC
when I activated DSL. I purchased the PC Port later, and the instructions say
it should go through the filter. But I'll try it when get home.
 
Chuck said:
Sure I did.
"I should mention that my main PC uses a 2wire 1000HW DSL modem,
and the second one connects via HPNA with a 2wire PC Port USB connection."
The main one connects to the 1000HW via Etehrnet cable, and thence through a
(two-port) filter into the wall jack. The filters are 2wire, supplied by SBC
when I activated DSL. I purchased the PC Port later, and the instructions say
it should go through the filter. But I'll try it when get home.
Click to expand...
Well, please let me know if you figure it out. And I'm sorry for
missing your description of the main hookup.
 
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