SAGEMCOM FAST 5364 TALKTALK ROUTER - Hardware Failure

[steve1234]

I have a SAGEMCOM FAST 5364 TALKTALK ROUTER - Wireless Hub with VDSL2/ADSL2 Modem for fibre, which has died.HARDWARE version: FAST5364 3.00
FIRMWARE version = SG4K10002816t

It stopped working at 5.50am BST, the network went down and the LED was permanently flashing AMBER. There was no LAN routing and no WiFi connections, hence no internet connection could be seen even if it was there.

Unfortunately, all my security systems, monitors, CCTV, Gate Access, all of which uses LAN/WiFi routing, are lost and so it is serious for me. I did the usual power of, leave, power on sequence and did all of the tests which I know from past issue with that model.

I tried telephoning TalkTalk support on all the numbers I have numerous times today and each time after going through all the automated details, received a message saying they were closed (why don't they say that at the beginning).

I connected my mobile phone as a WiFi hotspot to allow my PC to connect to the TT service site, a line test was done and it informed me to check the internal system, which I duly did, as this happened in exactly the same way last year, which turned out to be the same, ie a hardware failure. Note that the router in on a shelf alone and is cold in a well ventilated area and has not overheated.

The is nothing wrong with the line, the router does not route LAN nor radiate any WiFi signals, which it should do even if just the line was at fault, which it isn't.

It is a simple hardware fault, or was it being auto updated during the night by TT and the update failed?

Because of the urgency, I had to pay to get a company to come out (Sunday) to get my network working. They installed a BT Fibre Modem and a DLINK DIR-842 router, which is working fine. The also check the TT router and said it was a hardware failure, which conclusively shows that the TalkTalk router has died.

I have again tried to contact TalkTalk to urgently get a replacement but they are not there.  I tried, on-line chat and that was not working - are they cutting back?

Does anyone know how to get a message through to them to order a replacement. I have been with TalkTalk since the very beginning and found them fine, but this episode has caused me some concerns - not because ot the failure as these things happen, but the difficulting in getting through to leave a message (to a comms company). Is there a better ISP, with better support 24/7?

Thanks for looking
Steve

[KeithFrench]

Thanks, @Debbie-TalkTalk I have also got Karl to do it as well.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Thanks @KeithFrench and Steve

I have fed this back to our Products Team and they will be investigating this further.

Debbie

[KeithFrench]

Hi @Debbie-TalkTalk 

I have seen other people having this problem but not me. The last time this was escalated to the products team they couldn't replicate it. Perhaps you could try having a word with them for me?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Steve

Thanks for letting us know.

@KeithFrench is this an issue you have detected with the firmware 136?

[steve1234]

Hello Debbie, Skynet, Ferguson and everyone else who have assisted

Thank you for prompting me again about the factory reset, which I had already done, but it was well worth trying again.  I did a reset for 10 secs first thing today and still no joy.  I redid it later, but this time I decided to hold in the reset pin hole for a long time more than I wanted to (about 30s) and it reset!

I went through the essential settings (changed router IP from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.0.1, WiFi, reserve IPs) and have now got on-line using this replacement router - very happy and much relieved, so thanks to everyone with your help.

As I mentioned before the firmware is SG4K100136 which you said is the latest.  There is just one remaining problem.  I have to have port forwarding for the CCTV, solar, etc.  I manually set it up as before and when I click add, I immediately get a red banner error message saying:

'Operation Could not complete, something went wrong'.

I have added the pictures to show this.  Port forwarding worked OK in the previous router (which was a different firmware version).  Can you spot if I am doing something wrong or is there  a glitch in this version of firmware? Please note that my router IP is set for 192.168.0.1 (and not the default 192.168.1.1).

Thank you again

Steve

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Steve

I'm sorry for the delay.

Please can you connect the new router again and then factory reset the router using the pin hole reset for ten seconds and then retest again?

Thanks

[Skynet_TX]

Random thought, have you tried using the new cable to connect the router to the phone socket, and the new microfilter (if you need one) that came with the new Sagemcom. I've seen situations before where an old 3rd party router worked fine on a cable, but the Sagemcom just didn't like it, then a new cable worked fine on both. Probably won't help, but just a thought !

[Skynet_TX]

Just to confirm, SG4K100136 is the very latest firmware that is just rolling out at the moment, SG4K10002816t is an older version that has been the fairly stable version that most users have been on for some time (although it does still have some known issues, primarily around DNS resolution)

[steve1234]

Hello Debbie

The replacement arrived this afternoon, so many thanks for TalkTalk's prompt service.  I am really sorry to report a continued problem and will detail it for your analysis:

Serial Number on box: N7190704N007837 (faulty one to be returned is: N7202494N000436, which is a newer unit)
Serial Number on unit: 253734241

Firmware: SG4K100136 

1. As you know from my earlier post, to keep me going (security cams. monitors, etc) I had to get an old original BT Openreach modem + a DLINK DIR-842 router installed and removed the faulty TT WiFi hub, ready for replacement and swapout.

2. All worked well with this temporary setup (download/upload speeds = 70/18 mbps).

3. The replacement WiFi hub arrived today - thanks for the prompt service.  I simply changed over the connections (4 x LAN and the telephone cable from the VDSL socket).

4. The LAN and WiFi worked OK (whereas on the faulty one, the LAN and WiFi didn't work at all).

5. I went through all of the settings (although some options were missing as the supplied unit was running an older version of firmware, eg there was a limit of 10 on the number of port forwarding entries; you cannot name the 2.4G and 5G SSIDs separately; plus other restrictions, which were not present at all in the newer firmware).

6. The firmware in the replacement unit is: SG4K100136, whereas the firmware in the broken unit was a newer firmware SG4K10002816t.

7. The network, NAS, clients, cameras, etc, were restored however the light was still flashing AMBER and I waited a further 30mins, yet it did not change to white to indicate connection to the internet.

8. When I logged in an looked in the admin panel it showed that the unit was not connected to broadband.

9. I powered down, left it, restarted and still there was no connection to the internet as just the Amber LED flashed.

10. In desperation, even though it would lose all of my settings, I did a factory reset and did not touch any settings.  Unfortunately, it still would not connect to the internet (I left it a long time), although the LAN and WiFi worked fine.

11. I removed the replacement TT WiFi Hub unit and reconnected the BT OpenReach modem + DLINK router.  It IMMEDIATELY connected within seconds and all was OK.  Again the download/upload speeds were 71/17 mbps as before.

12. I then went back to the supplied TT Hub replacement and it did not work.  I have now had to go back onto the BT OpenReach setup to keep everything going.

Q: Was the replacement, which was older than the faulty one, a new/tested unit or a reconditioned old unit? See the above serial numbers?

Q: What are the odds of sending out a faulty untested unit, although the replacement did actually route the WiFi and LAN, whereas the old did not even do that, however both would not connect to the internet?  Was it just tested for WiFi/LAN and not VDSL.

I am naturally worried about the reliability of this router and wonder if there is a way of getting a certified and tested working router and not a reconditioned one, which may have not had full tests.

I hope you can look into this and after hearing back from you, I will return both routers (the original faulty unit, which is totally dead (no LAN/WiFi/VDSL), and this replacement which is part dead (no VDSL).

Many thanks
Steve

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Steve

Thank you 🙂

Debbie

[steve1234]

Hello Debbie,

Thank you for promptly organising a replacement router and returns bag for me.  Once I have swapped it over with the temporary router I will let you know.

Regards

Steve

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Steve

Sorry for the delay.

I have ordered you a replacement router and a returns bag for your current router.

Please allow 24-48hrs for this to arrive. Let us know how the connection compares with this router.

Thanks

Debbie

[steve1234]

Hello Skynet,

I did the factory reset again as you suggested but unfortunately that did not fix the error, however it was worth a try.

I will wait for ferguson's team to look into it and hopefully get a replacement swapout this week.

Regards

Steve

[steve1234]

I did the factory reset this morning, but will gladly try again.... hopefully 2nd time lucky.  I will report back tomorrow.

Thanks for the info.

[Skynet_TX]

Have you tried a factory reset by holding in the reset switch on the back for over 10 seconds ?. A few customers have had issues where a firmware update appears to cause the router to get stuck in a restart loop, if that was the case a factory reset can often get it working again.

[ferguson]

No worries.  🙂

[steve1234]

Thank ferguson for letting me know it will be looked into as soon as everyone is back.

Regards

Steve

[ferguson]

Sorry to see this and it does seem from what you have said that the router has failed. The support team here will gladly look into this for you, but please bear in mind that you are unlikely to get a response from them before Tuesday at the earliest.