homecomputerlab

After I got my (new) 2nd ADSL line installed, I noticed my Cisco 877 Router would constantly drop it’s internet connection and often not be able to reconnect to the internet again for extended periods of time. I plugged in the cheap generic router originally shipped by my provider to troubleshoot the problem and sure enough the connection came up first time and stayed up for a full day and a half before I was satisfied that the problem was definitely an issue with my Cisco Router.

My first port of call was to run a debug on the router to try and narrow down the issue:
Don’t forget the ‘temrinal monitor’ command if you are running your debug from a remote session
debug atm events

After a quick google search of the error I was receiving and a speed read through the Cisco website the problem seemed to be an issue with the Alcatel DSL Chipset and the recommended resolution, a quick firmware update for the chipset, not to be confused with an IOS upgrade. To get my current DSL chipset firmware version I needed to issue the following command which confirmed my suspicions of the out of date firmware.
show dsl int ATM 0
It was then just a simple matter of downloading the new updated firmware file from the Cisco website ftp://ftp.cisco.com/pub/access/800/ and copying the adsl_alc_20190.bin file to my router.
copy tftp: flash:
reload
The result? My connection is now rock solid and I’m currently sitting on ~2Weeks uptime – not too shabby for an ADSL circuit! I also noticed that my connection syncs are slightly higher than before, so overall a win win and probably a good idea to update your chipset firmware whether you’re connection is dropping out of not, if anything for the higher sync rates.