Webstar Cable Modem

I’m posting this in the vague hope it’ll help others, save them a few bob, and at the very least it’ll mean I have this info stored somewhere when I need to look it up again.

The problem
My cable modem was connecting, but dropping the connection after a few minutes. Rebooting the modem gave me the same result, as did rebooting the PC AND the modem. Annoying.

So I bit the bullet and phoned Virgin Media technical support.

Three minutes into the call (at 50p a minute I might add) I finally got put through to a young lady. After confirming that I had tried rebooting my PC, and switching the cable modem on and off again (with at least a 30 sec gap in between), she asked me to type open a web browser.

The solution
Open a web browser and go to – http://192.168.100.1/gscan.htm

Having done so (and I’ve NO idea what that’ll get you if you don’t have a Scientific-Atlanta WebStar Cable Modem) I was presented with a web page with some large numbers on it.

The downstream frequency and starting frequency were both set to 333250000, this is wrong so I needed to enter the proper value – 331000000.

So, enter 331000000 as the starting frequency, bash the “Click here to restart your cable modem” button and bob’s the brother of your mother.

You can reload the page to check the values ‘took’.

And no, I’m not entirely sure WHAT the values are but it worked a treat for me.

I also suspect it’s more to do with the switch from BlueYonder to Virgin Media than anything to do with my lovely, fast and shiny PC.

Comments

  1. Ah. I wish you’d post something I understood so I could comment legitimately. However, I’ll comment anyway. Hello.

  2. Gordon dear, as I’m sure you’re aware, or may have heard, that is NTL/VirginMedia in a nutshell. Great once it’s working, but a right pain in the bloody arse to actually get going in the first place.

    That’s why I’m scared of moving back to Virgin from Pipex – just because it was such a bumbruiser the first time around, and I don’t know if I can really be bothered with the whole thing.

    Ps. How’s the 4GB of RAM working out for you?

  3. To be fair Timbo, it wasn’t really a pain in the arse at all. One phone call was all that’s needed. Any other connection problems I’ve had have been solved by rebooting the modem. Simple.

    4GB RAM is alright, but I’ve not done much in the way of heavy lifting on the PC yet so hard to tell.

  4. But they still charge 50 a minute when the service they charge you for doesn’t work. An outrage.

  5. Thanks for this info.

    Its been driving me nuts – trying to get support from Virgin is awful – Keep getting sent to some Indian call center with terrible phone line connection.

    Did not even know about the Tech help line. Did what you said and it is now fine.

    Once again thanks – I was just about to go out and buy a new modem!

  6. Wow!!
    I’ve been having problems with my connection too (DATA light not flashing on the modem) and was deading the call to virgin – mostly the cost of it at least. So I gave this tip a try and wow!! it seems to have worked and the connection has been up for a few hours now.
    Thanks so much!!

  7. thanks mate. ive had this problem for nearly a week now and was googling for modem problems and came across your tip. seems to be working fingers crossed. well its workin longer than usual right now. youve saved me alot of bother thanks again.

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