Topic: Constant upload failures

[CW2274]

Was hoping for a little help. I just bought a new modem/router combo and seems to work fine, except that I'm constantly getting errors when uploading my data to APRS. It either says "error opening APRS socket" then the IP address (I guess that's what it is), or "error waiting for response from the APRS host" then the IP. I've always occasionally gotten them, but now it's ridiculous. It freezes WL the whole time it's trying, so it's quite the pain, even though the upload does eventually go out. I've changed ports in WL with no avail, rebooted the entire planet, even tried it on a different laptop, still the same. This is as far as my pay grade gets me. Ideas please?

[saratogaWX]

Log on to the router's admin interface and check the settings for 'Firewall' or 'security'.  It may be that the router is blocking inbound high-port traffic so the APRS feed port return signal is being blocked.  That's what I suspect is happening (over-active security setting).

I assume your local network is in private IP space (192.168.n.n etc) and that your router will network address translate (NAT) from external IP addresses.  It should deny all packets externally that have not been established by an outgoing connection request.

It may also be a IPV6 v.s. IPV4 issue with your router/modem talking IPV6 while your internal network is only set for IPV4.

Just some things to check...  what router make/model are you using?

[CW2274]

Thanks for the reply, Ken. It's a netgear c7000v2 and I just got into it, and I am searching around. BTW, everything is hardwired, no wireless if that helps.

[saratogaWX]

I took a quick look through the modem/router's manual ( AC1900 WiFi Cable Modem Router Model C7000v2 ) and saw it does have a log capability.
You should make sure that is enabled, then browse the log to see why the connection is failing. 

[CW2274]

Found the log. Here's a very small sample..


Description    Count    Last Occurrence    Target    Source
[admin login] from source 0.0.0.0   1   Fri Jun 03 16:22:00 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.13] to MAC address 14:18:77:a2:f2:78   1   Fri Jun 03 16:21:36 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[admin login failure] from source 0.0.0.0   1   Fri Jun 03 16:17:06 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.13] to MAC address 14:18:77:a2:f2:78   1   Fri Jun 03 16:16:18 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.13] to MAC address 14:18:77:a2:f2:78   1   Fri Jun 03 16:09:20 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.13] to MAC address 14:18:77:a2:f2:78   1   Fri Jun 03 16:08:20 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.13] to MAC address 14:18:77:a2:f2:78   1   Fri Jun 03 16:02:30 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.12] to MAC address 28:f1:0e:30:cf:d8   1   Fri Jun 03 16:01:21 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.13] to MAC address 14:18:77:a2:f2:78   1   Fri Jun 03 16:01:18 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.11] to MAC address 70:26:05:4d:c6:03   1   Fri Jun 03 16:01:16 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.12] to MAC address 28:f1:0e:30:cf:d8   1   Fri Jun 03 16:01:10 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0
[DHCP IP: 192.168.0.13] to MAC address 14:18:77:a2:f2:78   1   Fri Jun 03 16:01:07 2022   0.0.0.0:0   0.0.0.0:0

[CW2274]

It's also taking forever just to load these replies. 

[CW2274]

After going through the modem, I can't see anything else to try. What I have now noticed, in the WL log, is that every time the upload fails, it's the same four addresses that are failing. When it's successful, it's the same lone address that succeeds. I suppose if I could get that lone, successful address to be the only one that tries...

[saratogaWX]

Looks like a crazy DHCP oddity .. did you do the activation of the modem part with your ISP?

What's in the ADVANCED > Security > Block Services setting?

[CW2274]

Yes, I went through Cox and gave them the MAC and serial#.

In the block service, it has "never" selected and "service table" is empty.

[CW2274]

And like I said, these replies are taking forever to load, but everything else seems fine..so something is amiss somewhere.

[CW2274]

After going through the modem, I can't see anything else to try. What I have now noticed, in the WL log, is that every time the upload fails, it's the same four addresses that are failing. When it's successful, it's the same lone address that succeeds. I suppose if I could get that lone, successful address to be the only one that tries...

Well forget that, the "good" one is now rejecting the upload as well.

[saratogaWX]

You might try the Ping tool in the modem/router to each of the addresses .. it would show that you can/can't connect.  I think there's a traceroute tool there also.. that would help find where the packets are failing.

You could add the port:ip addresses of the 5 servers in the 'allow' table in the router.. that may help.

If you web access is also slow, it may be that there's bad sync of the modem with your ISP.. has Cox done a diagnostic test from their end?

[CW2274]

I've now gone back to my backup puter and removed WL and reinstalled it as a test bed before I try it on the main puter.  I now have had 5 of 6 flawless uploads. That's pretty much on par with the way it used to be, and I can live with that. We'll see how it goes for a while.

[CW2274]

Yep, forget that too.

[CW2274]

After further research, I've found that the exact same four addresses are all nixing the transfer, but only one always allows it. So, I put the old modem back in and found the exact same results as the new modem. I also saw a message at one time that said 'cowp aprs servers not found'. So, I can only assume that APRS servers are jacked, and just so happened to coincide with my new modem going online. Nothing like something to muddy up the mix. Well, that's my present conclusion, unless someone has something better.

Now, how to fix it...

[ocala]

Do you have another program you could use to upload APRS. WL can get weird at times. Maybe try Cumulus. 

[CW2274]

Do you have another program you could use to upload APRS. WL can get weird at times. Maybe try Cumulus.

Unless there's something that WL all of a sudden has a quirk with APRS, I don't see how it's WL's problem. I've tried it on two separate laptops, both with USB 6.0.3. and got the same results. I even removed both programs and reinstalled with no joy. I've used WL USB for ten years and has been rock solid except for the rare bad data file that needs purging. And no, I don't have another way to push data out. I guess no one else is having problems...

[saratogaWX]

The dns for cwop.aprs.net returns a round-robin set of servers to use.
At this lookup, it's
06/04/22 12:52:03 dns cwop.aprs.net
Canonical name: cwop.aprs.net
Addresses:
  129.15.108.116
  129.15.108.117
  44.155.254.4
  85.188.1.27

That's
06/04/22 13:00:09 dns cwop1.aprs.net
Canonical name: cwop1.aprs.net
Addresses:
  129.15.108.116

06/04/22 13:01:04 dns cwop3.aprs.net
Canonical name: cwop3.aprs.net
Addresses:
  44.155.254.4

06/04/22 13:01:39 dns cwop4.aprs.net
Canonical name: cwop4.aprs.net
Addresses:
  129.15.108.117

and

06/04/22 13:02:23 dns cwop5.aprs.net
Canonical name: cwop.he.fi
Aliases:
  cwop5.aprs.net
Addresses:
  85.188.1.27

Each of those has a status page at cwopN.aprs.net:14501 -- you can check to see your packet arrive there.

That's info from http://www.wxqa.com/cwop_info.htm

[CW2274]

The dns for cwop.aprs.net returns a round-robin set of servers to use.
At this lookup, it's
06/04/22 12:52:03 dns cwop.aprs.net
Canonical name: cwop.aprs.net
Addresses:
  129.15.108.116
  129.15.108.117
  44.155.254.4
  85.188.1.27

The two 129's always succeed, the 44 & 85 never succeed. Add to that from yesterday the two that start with 63 & 66, they always fail as well. So, depending on which address it goes for first determines how many times it fails, be it once, four or something in between UNTIL it gets to 129. That goes straight through every time. It literally can be over a minute for the upload to work if it goes through all four bad ones til it gets to the good one.

[CW2274]

And it STILL takes forever to post these replies. The site itself it light speed until I hit "post", that takes like half a minute. Never use to be that way til all this other crap started.

[dupreezd]

CW2274, if you are running Windows, you can use the Hosts file to specify to only use the good IP addresses.
So, instead of me trying to describe how it works or to use it, here is a good link. There are others well.
https://www.loginradius.com/blog/engineering/hosts-file/

Dries

[CW2274]

CW2274, if you are running Windows, you can use the Hosts file to specify to only use the good IP addresses.
So, instead of me trying to describe how it works or to use it, here is a good link. There are others well.
https://www.loginradius.com/blog/engineering/hosts-file/

Dries

Thank you. I was hoping for something like this, but am clueless on implementation. I have to run out, I'll try it when I get back.

[CW2274]

Okay. I got the addresses added. Let's see what happens...

[CW2274]

Nope, still not working. Here's how I added my addresses. I used both APRS and cwop.aprs.net as you can see, but neither works. Some other "name" I should use? Very ambiguous to me on what I should use.

#     85.188.1.27        APRS

#     44.155.254.4       cwop.aprs.net

#     63.251.153.99      APRS

#     66.151.32.203      APRS

[saratogaWX]

You've used a # as the first character in the line .. that means a comment (it's not processed as an entry).

You should try using

Code: [Select]

129.15.108.116  cwop.aprs.net