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+--- Thread: why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? (/showthread.php?tid=86367)
why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? - space-time - 10-21-2009
for example, my Cable modem (motorola surfboard something) does not give an IP address sometimes unless you power it down and power it up again. To make that clear, if my router is plugged into the modem it works just fine, if I unplug the router and plug the PowerBook into the modem, I guess the modem is still trying to talk to the router and it will refuse to see the PowerBook unless I cycle the power OFF and back ON to the modem.
Similar thing happened to the link between VOIP and Router. sometimes I have to power one down and reboot it to make it talk to the other device.
This is very inconvenient if I want to shut down everything (*) and restore power.
(*) I just replaced a switch and disconnected power from the circuit breaker. When I restored the power, the Router and one VOIP box would not work, the other VOIP and cable modem worked just fine. I had to do the unplug/plug-in dance to restore service to the Router and second VOIP box.
Re: why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? - M A V I C - 10-21-2009
space-time wrote:
for example, my Cable modem (motorola surfboard something) does not give an IP address sometimes unless you power it down and power it up again. To make that clear, if my router is plugged into the modem it works just fine, if I unplug the router and plug the PowerBook into the modem, I guess the modem is still trying to talk to the router and it will refuse to see the PowerBook unless I cycle the power OFF and back ON to the modem.
Usually that's because the modem has activated the router's MAC address, and thus your ISP only wants to see that MAC address. You have to power cycle the modem to get it to work with the new MAC address.
Similar thing happened to the link between VOIP and Router. sometimes I have to power one down and reboot it to make it talk to the other device.
It should be router first, then VOIP. The gizmo needs to get an IP from the router. If you turn it on before the router, it can't get an IP and is thus not connected to the network.
This is very inconvenient if I want to shut down everything (*) and restore power.
(*) I just replaced a switch and disconnected power from the circuit breaker. When I restored the power, the Router and one VOIP box would not work, the other VOIP and cable modem worked just fine. I had to do the unplug/plug-in dance to restore service to the Router and second VOIP box.
Overall it depends on the specific hardware you have. I'm sure if I plugged another device into my modem without power cycling it I'd have the same issue. Other than that, I don't really have those problems. That said, I'd always just do it in order of what requires what. Start with the modem, then work your way down the chain.
Re: why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? - Racer X - 10-21-2009
the router can't talk to your cable modem until it is up and running. Your VoIP box can't connect to the internet and your provider until the router is up and running. Your Powerbook cab't see the internet until the modem sees the internet, then the router can see it, then your laptop can.
It is actually fairly simple if you visualize a string of black boxes. #1 must work before everything after it can.
Re: why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? - N-OS X-tasy! - 10-21-2009
Your cable modem acts as a DHCP server to your router - it provides the IP address the router uses to communicate with the modem. Likewise, your router acts as a DHCP server to your VOIP server and other downstream network devices, with some NAT translation thrown in to enable you to utilize private IP addresses for your LAN.
If the DHCP server that provides an IP address to a device is not active when the device attempts to come online, the device will not be able to connect to the network. Often the device will assign itself a 169.254.x.x IP address, which will preclude it from joining the network once the DHCP server DOES come online until the network device is rebooted (for more info see http://support.apple.com/kb/TA26003).
(Basically what Racer X said, with more technical detail provided.)
Re: why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? - space-time - 10-21-2009
Racer X wrote:
It is actually fairly simple if you visualize a string of black boxes. #1 must work before everything after it can.
I understand that all chain should work in order for the last element to see the internet. Serial connection.
My question really is about why they should be booted up in the same order as the physical location in the chain. That's what bothers me.
I wish these devices would self-reboot if they don't see an active link (internet connection) upstream; if they did that, then I could just power up all of them at once, the Modem would come online first (and during this time, the router would just sit and wait, maybe reboot itself if it took too long). Finally, then the router was up and running, the VOIP box would also come online (even if it had to reboot itself 5 times by now).
let me put it another way: everything is working fine.
power outage
I come home to see the VOIP blinking because when power came back on, the router was not ready (this is just what happened when I change the switch earlier tonight). So the VOIP has power, is physically connected to a router, yet because it started a little too early it is now not functional. I have to get on my knee, unplug the device, wait 5 seconds, plug in and get up. painful.
Re: why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? - Dick Moore - 10-21-2009
Your question is eminently reasonable and one that I too have asked many times. The suppliers will spend any amount of time and energy on lights that blink, but have no interest whatever in how stuff is actually used. The reasons for that are many and often have to do with VPs of marketing and sales, many of whom don't actually use the products whose development they are impeding....
Re: why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? - M A V I C - 10-21-2009
I guess the other reason I never run into this is that my modem, router, switch, gizmo... are all on batter backup.
Re: why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? - space-time - 10-21-2009
M A V I C wrote:
I guess the other reason I never run into this is that my modem, router, switch, gizmo... are all on batter backup.
mine too, but I could not stand the beeping sound for those 5 minutes it took me to replace the light switch and I turned the APC UPS off.
Re: why do I have to power up or connect cable modem, router, VOIP box in a very particular order? - M A V I C - 10-21-2009
space-time wrote:
[quote=M A V I C]
I guess the other reason I never run into this is that my modem, router, switch, gizmo... are all on batter backup.
mine too, but I could not stand the beeping sound for those 5 minutes it took me to replace the light switch and I turned the APC UPS off.
I think with most of them you can turn the beeping off.