12/21/2012 4:32 AM

About the Founder

About Us

Services

Blog

Contact

Blog / Get Your Tech On

Back to Home Page

Search
DOCSIS 101 to search type and hit enter

Share

Like

Recommend

Search by Categories

DOCSIS 101: T1,T2,T3, & T4 Timeout Descriptions

Tweet 1 Like 3

Select Category

Popular Posts
DOCSIS and Cable Modems - How it works :: Station Maintenance
March 3, 2009

This is a handy summary of the various timeout errors you will find in a DOCSIS network. T3 and T4 timeouts are described in much more detail elswhere in this blog, however this post provides a high level overview of the various timeouts as a reference. Thanks to baranek110 for the tutorial located on Cable-Modems Blog.

T1 ( No UCDs received )
Explanation: The cable modem has not received any periodic Upstream Channel Descriptor (UCD) messages from the CMTS within the timeout period. This error message is DOCSIS event message is U01.0, Upstream Channel Descriptor.

DOCSIS and Cable Modems - How it works :: Cable Modem Registratio ...
February 9, 2009

T2 ( No Maintenance Broadcasts for Ranging opportunities received )

Explanation: The cable modem did not receive a broadcast maintenance opportunity in which to transmit a Ranging Request (RNG-REQ) within the T2 timeout period (approximately 10 seconds). The cable modem is resetting its cable interface and restarting the registration process. This error message is DOCSIS event message is R01.0, Ranging Request.

Cable Modem Registration, T3 & T4 Timeouts Poster

October 11, 2012

DOCSIS and Cable Modems - How it works :: RF Fundamentals

January 29, 2009

T3 ( Ranging Request Retries Exhausted )

Explanation: The cable modem has sent 16 Ranging Request (RNG-REQ) messages without receiving a Ranging Response (RNG-RSP) message in reply from the CMTS. The cable modem is therefore resetting its cable interface and restarting the registration process. This typically is caused by noise on the upstream that causes the loss of MAC-layer messages. Noise could also raise the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on the upstream to a point where the cable modems power level is insufficient to transmit any messages. If the cable modem cannot raise its upstream transmit power level to a level that allows successful communication within the maximum timeout period, it resets its cable interface and restarts the registration process. This error message is DOCSIS event message is R03.0, Ranging Request.

DOCSIS and Cable Modems - How it works :: Upstream RF

February 5, 2009

DOCSIS 3.0 Tutorial Introduction

October 12, 2009

T4 ( Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received )
Explanation: The cable modem did not received a station maintenance opportunity in which to transmit a Ranging Request (RNG-REQ) message within the T4 timeout period (30 to 35 seconds). The cable modem is resetting its cable interface and restarting the registration process. Typically, this indicates an occasional, temporary loss of service, but if the problem persists,

Recent Posts
EPON | A Brief Primer
December 3, 2012

OpenDNS | Security at the Network Level

1 of 6

12/21/2012 4:32 AM

check for possible service outages or maintenance activity on this particular headend system. This error message is DOCSIS event message is R04.0, Ranging Request.

November 26, 2012

T6 ( Cable Interface Reset )

Explanation: The cable modem has sent 3 Registration Requests (REG-REQ) to the CMTS without receiving a Registration Response (REG-RSP) within the T6 timeout period (3 seconds). The cable modem is therefore resetting its cable interface and restarting the registration process

DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem Registration, T3 & T4 Timeouts

October 18, 2012

Cable Modem Registration, T3 & T4 Timeouts Poster

October 11, 2012

This problem can also occur if the DOCSIS configuration file is corrupt, or if it contains a large number of vendor-specific information fields (VSIF). If the configuration file contains a large amount of VSIF information, the cable modem might generate a Registration Request (REG-REQ) that exceeds the maximum size of DOCSIS MAC-layer management messages (1514 bytes plus the header). The CMTS considers this an invalid MAC-layer management message and drops it, without replying.

Capacity Planning | Build It & They Will Fill It

October 8, 2012

Cable Modem Registration | A Second Look

October 1, 2012

Brady Volpe
Brady Volpe is the CTO and Founder of the Volpe Firm, Inc. He has over 20 years of experience in the cable and telecommunications industry with expertise in RF, DOCSIS and IP networks. The Volpe Firm now provides best-in-class services and product development to cable operators and vendors. Digital Library

Other Links

Change Text Size

Firefox See - View - Text Size or Ctrl + and Ctrl - or Ctrl & mouse-wheel

Share this:

Google Chrome See - Tool - Zoom or Ctrl & mouse-wheel

IE See - View - Zoom or Ctrl and move the mouse wheel or use mouse wheel

Next

Previous

Opera See - Ctrl + and Ctrl - or use mouse wheel Safari - Command + and Command -

You might also like:

13 comments

cabs
June 28, 2011 Are we sure if a T3 timeout message is seen in the logs, that this correlates to a reboot of the modem (restart of the registration process)? Ive seen plenty modems with a T3 timeout, but no other entries in the modem log to indicate a re-registration, or/and a change in the uptime at the CMTS. T4s yes, but not T3s confused. Reply

Brady
June 28, 2011 Hey cabs,

2 of 6

12/21/2012 4:32 AM

You are absolutely correct. Depending on the cable modem manufacturer and its version of firmware, it will display T3 timeout messages when the cable modem does not receive a Range Response (RNG-RSP) from the CMTS within 200 msec of sending a Range Request (RNG-REQ). The T3 errors are an early alert system of potential bigger problems to come. When you have a modem actually reset due to T3 timeouts, it is the CMTS reaching a pre-determined threshold of x-number of T3 timeout errors. Typically this will be about 10-12 consecutive T3 timeouts, but this will vary based upon CMTS vendor, IOS, plant configurations, etc. The reason it is 10-12 is because that is amount of time it takes to exceed the required 20 second (10 * 200 ms=20 sec) CMTS threshold for not receiving a RNG-RSP. The DOCSIS spec requires 35 seconds, but CMTS vendors are more conservative. There is another blog post that contains additional information on T3 and T4 timeouts at http://bradyvolpe.com/docsis101/docsis101_station-maintenance/ -Brady Reply

Carl Thomas
September 6, 2011 Thanks for the offer on Twitter. The MSO have been overbuilding the area to upgrade it from 550/30 to 1000/85 network. Since they did that Ive seen this error message once a day, non-service affecting: Tue Sep 06 08:14:34 2011 Critical (3) UCD invalid or channel unusable;CM-MAC=a0:21:b7:12:3d:5c; CMTS-MAC=00:30:b8:d0:ac:c0;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; This also corresponds with power levels being rather changed, upstream tx power has dropped by 14dBmV and downstream rx has increased by 7dBmV. Downstream Channels Lock Status Modulation Channel ID Max Raw Bit Rate Frequency Power SNR Docsis/EuroDocsis locked Locked QAM256 38 55616000 Kbits/sec 299000000 Hz 12.1 dBmV 40.2 dB Hybrid Locked QAM256 39 55616000 Kbits/sec 307000000 Hz 11.9 dBmV 40.2 dB Hybrid Locked QAM256 40 55616000 Kbits/sec 315000000 Hz 11.5 dBmV 39.7 dB Hybrid Locked QAM256 41 55616000 Kbits/sec 323000000 Hz 10.9 dBmV 39.5 dB Hybrid Upstream Channels Lock Status Modulation Channel ID Max Raw Bit Rate Frequency Power Locked TDMA 2 10240 Kbits/sec 25800000 Hz 34.5 dBmV Cableco believe no configuration changes have been made, so according to them there isnt, say, a 2nd upstream channel added to the service group above 30MHz which I cant lock to due to being RF limited. Any thoughts welcome as theres no service impact with either that message or the power levels the MSO will not give me a service call and itd be rude to ask really. Im curious about the message though, it seems not particularly well documented and is usually linked to downstream impediments corrupting the UCD which I cant see any evidence of. Thanks! Reply

Brady
September 9, 2011 Hi Carl, From your OUI of a0:21:b7 I can tell that you have a Netgear cable modem ver. 3.0, which is a DOCSIS 3.0 modem that supports DOCSIS and Euro-DOCSIS. It supports downstream channel bonding for up to four (4) channels and upstream channel bonding for up to four (4) channels. So its not a bad modem. It looks like your running on a Euro-DOCSIS plant with 8 MHz channel spacing. The downstream appears to be fine based upon the modems log file and channel setup. You have probably noticed an increase in downstream power level due to the re-build and re-balance of the plant to 1 GHz. If they did a good job, you should have a cleaner downstream with less issues than in the 550 MHz plant. On the upstream, it sounds like they are bonding two upstream channels, one at 25.8 MHz and one above 30 MHz. The error message you are getting, Critical (3) UCD invalid or channel unusable is your cable modem stating that either the UCD has told the cable modem to lock to a channel it cannot

3 of 6

12/21/2012 4:32 AM

physically lock to or the channel is not usable due to physical impairments. Since the Netgear is DOCSIS 3.0 compliant, we know that it will go up to 85 MHz, so 30 MHz should be no problem, therefore we can rule out a bad UCD. So that leaves us with an impaired channel. When a cable modem fails to lock to one or more upstream bonded channels, this is called Partial Service. In a partial service situation, the CMTS will notice that the cable modem has a subset of the channels transmitting and issue transmit opportunities (MAPs) only for the working channels. In your case that is the channel at 25.8 MHz. So you will not notice any loss of data because the CMTS will not allow your modem to transmit data on the missing channel. This is a very nice feature in DOCSIS 3.0, because one or more bonded channels can go down in a DOCSIS 3.0 modem yet the subscriber will never know the difference unless the upstream is near maximum throughput capacity. Now should the cable operator ignore this? Not for the long term. One of your bonded channels is down, but your service is not interrupted for now. Your cable provider does need to ultimately troubleshoot and resolve the root cause to get your modem (and any others) out of a partial service condition. There is an impairment in the plant. DOCSIS 3.0 is able to mask the impairment from the subscriber, but it does not make the impairment go away. So the operator has some temporary breathing room to fix the impairment. Should another impairment arise around 25.8 MHz, then you will be out of service altogether. So I recommend that you ask your cable operator what is their timeline to get your second bonded channel back online. Keep in mind that they may have many larger fires to fight right now and this may be a much lower priority, but it should still be on their to-do-list. -Brady Reply

denden
November 10, 2011 Hi Brady, Can you explain a little the concepts and messaging behind Partial Service and how they are implemented on the CMTS. I believe its CM messaging that alerts the CMTS to impaired services or missing channels is this correct ? Any help on understanding this would be great Den . Reply

Brady
November 21, 2011 Hi Den, I just did a short presentation at SCTEs Cable-Tec Expo 2011 on Partial and Impaired Service this past week. Please give me some time to catch up as I will be writing a full article on the two issues that impact DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems during upstream channel bonding. -Brady Reply

gabriel burdan
November 11, 2011 Hi Brady I have some questions regarding modem logs.How is possible to translate all messages and to be able to troubleshoot calls from customers. Thanks Map Reject Not Authorized for Requested Downstream Traffic Flow (EC=7);CM-MAC=e4:48:c7:6b:7e:d6; CMTS-MAC=00:17:10:01:98:93;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; SYNC Timing Synchronization failure Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol timing;;CMMAC=e4:48:c7:6b:7e:d6;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.0;CM-VER=3.0; YNC Timing Synchronization failure Failed to acquire FEC framing;CM-MAC=e4:48:c7:6b:7e:d6; CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.0;CM-VER=3.0; SYNC Timing Synchronization failure Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol timing I have 3345 messages on a modem

4 of 6

12/21/2012 4:32 AM

Reply

Brady
November 21, 2011 Hi Gabi, I am glad you are asking the question. I cant answer your question in the body of this post, but I will put together a future article to address your question. A couple of articles back I asked if my audience wanted me to further elaborate on errors beyond the physical (PHY) layer and your response is just what I was looking for. If you have additional cable modem logs, please send them to brady.volpe [at] volpefirm.com and I can add these to the future article. BTW, I did notice the MAP Reject Not Authorized for Requested Downstream Traffic Flow error in your log above. You likely have a VoIP session that is failing to tear down the Dynamic QoS or a hacker that is creating that error message. If you get that frequently and are sure it is not a hacker, confirm your Dynamic Service Flows have an auto timeout on them. -Brady Reply

Moh
March 1, 2012 Hey Brady, First, I would like to express how much I appreciate your DOCSIS tutorials and website content in general. The explanation is detailed and very helpful. On the same token, would like to know why a phone modem(MTA), in the provisioning stage, would start and scan for the wrong downstream frequencies: 1-DS for the CMTS is set to freq 657MHz 2-Modem starts scanning at 687, 693, all the way to 1110MHz. How do you explain that issue causing intermittent phone and high speed data issue? The return spectrum is showing a very minor noise floor but not enough to cause any problems. Reply

Brady
March 2, 2012 Hi Moh, The cable modems scan table is determined by the modem manufacturer. Normally scan tables begin around the mid-400 MHz to 500 MHz and go up. I have also seen cable modems that start at high frequencies and go down, however so it really depends upon the cable modem manufacturer. Also, scan tables are set (at least in the US) based on HRC (harmonically related carriers) which is the typical North America channel line up. Then they should start checking the IRC (inter-harmonically related carrier) channel table. If you are using the IRC channel spacing, this could take longer. You can work with your modem vendor and have them create a special firmware build for your system if you are having issues with your channel plan, but I do recommend against special firmwares as this takes you out of the normal build process. As for the intermittent phone and high speed data issues I dont believe there is any relationship between downstream channel scanning and your intermittent issue. Once the cable modem has found the downstream channel and registered with the CMTS, it should not have to re-scan again. It is my opinion that you have another issue going on outside of downstream channel scan. Even though your return spectrum looks good, that does not mean there are not underlying problems. Many problems can exists that will not show up on a spectrum analyzer. -Brady Reply

Antonio
March 27, 2012 Hello i found this site and i wanted to ask a question i am geting T3 and T4 timeouts that are rebooting my

5 of 6

12/21/2012 4:32 AM

modem a couple of times a day.. Do you know what can be causing them Logs:R02.0 NO RANGING RESPONCE RECEIVED T3 TIMEOUT THEN T05.0 SYNC TIMING SYNCHRONIZATION FAILURE LOSS OF SYNC THEN CABLE MODEM REBOOT DUE TO T4 TIMEOUT. Reply

Nancy Roberts
July 18, 2012 This a very informative blog. This could help me know more on the various time-outs that usually happens. Hope you could feature another relevant issues on Broadband stuffs. Thanks! Reply

Marc King
September 15, 2012 It is very rare to meet certain reviews as entertaining and as educative as this site.It only proves that everything is in detailed and is one of the best reliable resources that an individual can learned through reading both the article itself and that users has encountered certain circumstances during configurations wherein perfectly answered by Brady. [ cable modem guide (dot) org ] Reply

Leave a Reply
Name*

e-Mail * (will not be published)

Website

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting. Submit Comment Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.

Address

Latest Tweets
@karolykassjr Hi Karoly. Thanks for the retweet and Google+ post!
A bout a month ago from V olpe Firm's Tw itter via Tw eet Button

Recent Comments
OP on Cable Modem Registration, T3 & T4 Timeouts Poster

PhotoStream

3000 Old Alabama Road Suite 119-434 Alpharetta, GA 30022-8555 Phone : 404-424-8202 Email : info@volpefirm.com

rmcclean on Cable Modem Registration, T3 & T4 Timeouts Poster

jbyrd on Cable Modem Registration, T3 & T4 Timeouts Poster

Copyright 2012. All Rights Reserved.

6 of 6