Cable Modem kills Coaxil cables?

F

Flipside

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 18, 2003
Messages
1,027
This is a strange post, and thus I was unsure where to place it.

I think my cable modem, a terayon, is killing coaxial cables. It goes down on a consistant basis and the only way to revive it is to swap out cables. The modem will only connect with a cable that has not been used with the modem before, yet when used for TV, the cables seem to work.

I've ruled out every other factor - I've reset the modem manually, and then tried swapping in the "dead" cables, only to have the modem die again. According to my ISP, with the dead cables, the single from my house shows that the modem is disconnected. I have a service call on Monday, but I was just wondering if anyone has seen this before.
 
I've never heard of that before, and it hasn't happened to me..

The wire that goes into my modem comes right off the pole outside, direct feed, no splits.
 
A guess - you have a DC problem somewhere in the system. Check the center conductor to sheild with a DC meter and I think you'll find the issue. I had a crappy cable TV box that was the issue.

I bought some DC Blockers from Parts Express that seemed to fix the issue. I installed them on everything EXCEPT the cable modem. Worked great...... :cool:

Good Luck - B.B.S.
 
BlindedByScience said:
A guess - you have a DC problem somewhere in the system. Check the center conductor to sheild with a DC meter and I think you'll find the issue. I had a crappy cable TV box that was the issue.

.
Click to expand...

I'm a bit of a lamen...care to expand on this in detail?

Thanks in advance BBS. :)
 
First up, if it's not your modem, it's not really your problem.....call your service provider and raise hell.

If the above doesn't apply, keep in mind that not only is your cable modem on the system, but so is your TV, VCR, etc....?? The issue I had, and was told it's a very common one by the nice guy from Comcast, is that quite often the DC blocking caps on the cable box, VCR, etc. short out and you can find 12-48 VDC on the co-ax. This will over time literally burn the connections to the point where they quit working. I put those DC blocking connectors from Parts Express on my TV and VCR and Cable box (just to be sure) and the problem went away.

I'll say again - this is a 100% guess. My issue may not be what you are having trouble with, but it sure sounds like it.

For sure, check with your service provider first.

Good Luck - B.B.S.
 
BlindedByScience said:
quite often the DC blocking caps on the cable box, VCR, etc. short out and you can find 12-48 VDC on the co-ax.
Click to expand...

I'll recieve a free modem when I return this one, so it's not really an issue, but like you say, it could be the blocking caps on the modem itself that are broken - I only notice this issue with the modem and it doesn't effect any of the 8 TV in my house.

Thanks BBS, but I'll get my new modem on Monday and see if the issue gets solved with the DC blockers.
 
Last point - do NOT put the DC blockers on the cable modem - just the TV's in the house and any distribution amps you may have. I believe the cable modem's bandwidth would not play well with the caps used in the DC blockers.

Good Luck - B.B.S.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top