We had a powercut tonight... And since then, my homehub hasn't been working, i.e. the broadband hasn't been working through it...
The plug that we got supplied with it, which has three lights, has the status light blinking orange instead of green, but what could I do that could change this?
As ye've mentioned that "plug" with lights on it, I'm guessing that ye also have a BT Vision box...Correct?
The plug that ye refer to is probabally a Powerline networking adaptor, a device that runs a radio-based computer network through your household mains wiring. BT use these to run a wired connection between the Home Hubbub and the Vision without needing to install 10-BASE-T network cabling, as 802.11B/G wireless networking isn't reliable or fast enough to support the amount of data that the Vision normally downloads.
The flashing status light
might indicate that the two Powerline adaptors have become "unattached" from one another, and that each adaptor has selected it's own security ID - Meaning that they would be forming two seperate networks insted of linking into one.
Although I'm not that experienced with Powerlines or BT Broadband (There's a damn good reason why I'm on cable!
) here's one fix that
might work:
- Turn off both Powerline (PL) adaptors, and - If thy Home Hub (HH) is plugged into the mains via the PL - Use seperate sockets for the HH and the PL, so that downing the Home Hubbub in future doesn't knock out the PL network and vice-versa.
- Allow the PLs to remain off for at least thirty seconds, then turn on thy HH - Leaving the PL next to it off for now.
- Once thy HH has booted up and entered a "ready" state; Ensure that the PL is plugged into the HH via an Ethernet (Wired) port, and turn it on.
- Allow the PL a few minutes to sort itself out and wait for the lights to stabilise. Once done, Ethernet should be green (Steady or intermittent), and status a steady green or yellow.
- Turn on the PL adaptor near to your BT Vision box, and observe the lights. Hopefully, the Vision PL (Slave) should find the HH PL (Master) and both Ethernet and status lights should be green (Steady or flashing intermittently) - Meaning that thy link between the HH and the Vision has been restored.
If that doesn't work, ye may need to re-synch the PLs manually...Either search on Google, or call BT support in the morning.
It's worth mentioning at this point though that the PL adaptors aren't essential components of a HomeHub network...And the Internet will still work if ye can't get the Powerlines going. A failed Powerline network will mean that you won't be able to use BT Vision services though, unless ye have a straight-through Ethernet cable that ye can use to connect the Vision box directly to the Home Hubbub with. 8)
I've been through the whole setup procedure already, as this happened before, and doing this rectified the problem...Any ideas would be much appreciated!!
See my blurb above regarding the resetting of Powerline adaptors. Also, consider finding and using a much better ISP!
... and why are we having to do BT's Customer Support for them?
Oh, yes, because it's in India now...
Ah...I find that the same is true whenever I call Virgin
Trains Media, and any other company where I'm an existing customer. Funnily enough though, I
always get English operators whenever I call a company to
enquire about their products and services! :roll:
Mind ye - Though it doesn't work with Virgin Media (To my knowlege) - The way that I've always reached a local BT operator to deal with my enquiries is to call their Welsh language customer sales/service line insted, and when connected act as if I genuinely dialled the wrong line without realising! (And apologising for not being able to speak Cymraeg tends to help too, I find.
)
Your local Exchange may also have suffered if the power was cut so if the usual power off and on does not work, you may have to call BT to see if the local Exchange is shot?
Although I'm no real Phreaker alas, I do believe that the PSTN (And thus exchanges etc.) as a whole is designed in such a way that it could still function in such events, so that people can still call the Emergency Services if needed.
If ye've ever owned a mains-powered phone (I.E: Cordless phones, and those with built-in answering machines) ye'll have noticed a warning in the instructions about the phone not working if the power fails. One good thing about the PSTN is that it supplies power for handsets through the line itself (My own telephone is line-powered) and thus even if the power fails across the whole area, the PSTN itself should still work to some basic degree for calls...Although Internet and QOS equipment might be downed to conserve backup or trunk-fed power. 8)
Anyhow; Whilst I'm at it,
here's a question for any (ex) BT customers:
Being a bit of a tinkerer and generall all-round Hacker, I tend to collect interesting network bits 'n' bobs to see what wonderful things can be done with them. Although I'm forever coming across old DOCSIS (Cable) modems and set-top boxes on car boots and at the local tip, for some reason both Powerline adaptors and BT Home Hubbubs tend to be very hard to come across in the same places, and thus I havn't had a chance to play around with either yet!
hock:
So what I'm asking - Assuming of course that BT provide their CPE at zero cost, in the same way that Virgin do - Is whether or not anyone has any old Home Hubs or Powerline adaptors knocking around that they want to get rid of? Not only would they have a welcome home here, I'd also enjoy getting the extra coverage coming up to collect 'em too! 8)
Farewell...And thanks in advance if anyone has any "donations" too!
>> Death <<
