[SWLUG] NTL Cable modem problems in MDK10.0 install

[Foeh Mannay]

Since this one comes up fairly regularly, it's probably worth clearing
through some of the rumours... I used to work on ntl cablemodem support
for about a year and I can't imagine much has changed since then.

USB is (for some unknown reason) the recommended way of connecting up,
probably to stop non-techie people panicking that they can't connect up
the other way... but I digress. KNOPPIX (and probably some others) pick
up the cablemodems via USB no problems, but just don't do it. 

Go ethernet - every modem ntl have ever put out there has had ethernet
on it. AFAIK they all use straight through cables to connect to the PC,
however the newer silver ones allegedly auto detect and will work with
either straight or crossover cables.

The cablemodem learns ONLY one MAC address at a time. If you change the
PC that is plugged into the modem, or swap between ethernet and USB,
then you need to power cycle the modem.

The high addresses that one poster referred to (I believe it applies to
.249 - .253) are pre-registration addresses, and should never be seen if
you have had the modem working previously - even if that was on another
PC.

If it is the first time you are coming to use the cablemodem, you will
need to go through a registration process (I've completed it using
FreeBSD and Linux in the past) - it's not supported by ntl (shame) but
you can, assuming they haven't changed it, just point your browser at
autoreg.autoregister.net and follow it through. The modem will reboot at
the end and you'll need to release & renew your IP to get everything
working fully.

The ntl cable service does indeed provide DHCP addresses. You *have* to
use the DHCP, as if you don't receive your address through DHCP, the
router at the head end won't let you use it even if it's free. Contrary
to some reports, you don't have to set any DHCP options up with your
username.

I had ntl cable rigged up through BSD / Linux for years, and never had
any problems. dhcpcd & dhclient both worked no problems for me, and
never needed any fiddling at all.

Foeh

On Mon, 2005-03-07 at 10:53, Marcus Davage wrote:
> Hi, all.
> 
> I'm trying to convert a friend, who's built his own PC, from XP to Linux. So
> far, his experience with installing Mandrake 10.0 (the only version I had to
> lend him) has been good, except that he says he can't connect to the internet.
> He has an NTL cable modem. I've never had a problem downloading support for my
> ISA linmodem, but he's not a techie, and I've never used cable modems before.
> I'm trying hard to prevent him from crossing over to the dark side, but he
> thinks he needs XP to access the net. I thought the Mandrake installation
> wizard detected modems like that, but I doesn't think it has.
> 
> Can anyone who has experience please suggest some questions/solutions I can
> ask/recommend to him?
> 
> Thanks very much.
> 
> Marcus
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