Slow internet speed? Even with a direct connection to Google Wi-Fi access points on gigabit ethernet, the internet was slow. Without the FiOS router, I was puzzled how to fix. Turns out the same routine is required for the Optical Network Terminal. Remove power cable. Wait. Plug power cable in.

Why would anyone design a network that slows down unless rebooted periodically? No one knows when to reboot, so I guess I'll just do it monthly.

That's a feature!
Windows95 built an entire OS on the concept.
Trouble shooting 101, "have you cycled power?"

It's like flushing a toilet.
Clears out most all the crap clogging up your system. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Why would anyone design a network that slows down unless rebooted periodically? No one knows when to reboot, so I guess I'll just do it monthly.

I'm such a geek, I'd buy a cheap PLC (or "smart relay") on eBay and set it up to drop power to that particular outlet for two minutes on a schedule -- say, 3am every Tuesday.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:

It's like flushing a toilet.
Clears out most all the crap clogging up your system. LOL

There's really a lot of truth to this.

"Memory leaks" can bring any system to its knees over a period of time. Re-booting starts everything fresh.

Programmers probably know what I'm talking about. The explanation is probably a bit too lengthy for this thread.

Because Sanjay at the tech support call center says so...

If you have devices that need to be regularly power-cycled to continue to run well, something is wrong.

The stuff here at the ensigmatic household just runs and runs and runs, day in, day out. The only time anything gets rebooted is after an OS or firmware update or if the UPSen run out of battery on a power failure.

There is a bug in the version of the firmware in our Internet border router that causes a slowdown on links with >700Mb/s bandwidth after 30 days. They've fixed it in the current release. (Our Internet connection is merely 50Mb/s down, so I'm not in a big hurry to update.)

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
"Memory leaks" can bring any system to its knees over a period of time. Re-booting starts everything fresh.

That's a sign of broken code. It happens, but it should get fixed.

4MUL8R, have you isolated this to the optical interface to your ISP? If so, and assuming it's ISP equipment: Best place to ask about this is in the appropriate ISP-specific forum over at DSL Reports (I think they allow anonymous posting over there, if you can't be sussed to create an account.)

should we be doing something on this 9 y.o. computer?

Mostly they don't or shouldn't but if a reboot fixes something it doesn't necessarily mean the device is the problem - sometimes it is what is connected to it or how that device signals or communicates with your device.

Besides bad code and resulting memory leaks, most of these devices have small power supplies.

Larger devices with greater built in capacitance can resist small dropout or spike in power that will cause a small device processor/memory to halt.

So switches, routers, set top boxes and the like, will hang up while a computer will not.

Commercial power is often "dirtier/noisier" than reaches a household, by nature of large electrically powered devices in the building, or on the feed circuits.

One place I worked for 10 years, (it was originally residential, and then rezoned mixed commercial) was on the same feed as the local hospital, and after continuing issues, I had a talk with the power company (a few times) and finally convinced them to do some serious data collection on the issue.

They discovered that there were sags, and then spikes in short intervals, that were traced back to the hospital, and put us on another feed that was near the residential area, and the issues quit.

We would get UPS tripping on and back off for a few seconds, and sometimes for nearly 30 seconds. random restarting of systems and equipment, and the lock up of devices as well as false alarm on the security systems.

The false alarms occurring in the middle of the night and the Sheriff's Department continued response helped getting the electric company to look into it deeper, than the original shoulder shrug.

I also had a phone system to hotel folio interface that would reset the VM to zero on check out, log calls, and all the other phone things the hotel needed, the interface box was always locking up, it was replaced several times, and we could not figure out why it kept locking up. It would be discovered when night audit ran reports.

I put in mechanical timer that cut power for a minute (like an irrigation timer) and never had a problem with it again.

For someone who has a constant issue and power cycling will fix it, a mechanical timer, vs tilting at windmills, might be an option.

Sounds like I will be installing a power outlet timer for weekly resets.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
should we be doing something on this 9 y.o. computer?

Depends. Are you the kind of person who shuts down their computer after using it, and it remains off until you need to use it again? Or do you leave your computer running 24/7?

If you leave your computer running 24/7, you should be restarting it daily, or at least every few days.

But if you only turn it on when you need it, and then shut it down afterwards, you're already achieving that same effect.

it gets shut off after using it,

whats the best reason to leave it on all the time?

If you have background programs running. Or just sheer convenience.

Rather than shutting all the way down, some folks just put their computers on sleep or standby, so it's ready to quickly "wake up" anytime it's prompted by the user or by a program. Kinda like your smartphone.

It's more common with laptops or tablets than desktops, although there are people who have always-on desktops for various reasons.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Sounds like I will be installing a power outlet timer for weekly resets.

Just be mindful of any middle-of-night impacts. For most of us a non-issue. However when I considered doing this I realized I have some recurring items set to record (overseas races, etc.) that occur at crazy hours and would miss those or have to remember to disable the switch.

Instead I added a couple of those wifi connect plugs to the switches with not set times, but will cycle them on/off every week or few at a time I know it's a none event, all from my phone.

quote:

although there are people who have always-on desktops for various reasons.

Yeah, such as not wanting to have to wade through a bunch of updates, peripheral connections, wifi connect, etc. each time I need the desktop. I'm using a UPS on the PC and the estimated energy cost for it running 24/7 is something like $.10/day. Sure the components may wear sooner, but with a SSD and good cooling, probably not before I'm done with it anyway.

When resetting your ONT, make sure you also disconnect your battery, otherwise it's still got power. If you are using MOCA and their modem then you should also reset that at the same time.

quote:

Originally posted by kz1000:
Because Sanjay at the tech support call center says so...

I always get a Thomas or a George.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

If you leave your computer running 24/7, you should be restarting it daily, or at least every few days.

We have some Macs that have not been shut down, nor re-started, for many, many, months. UNIX boxes tend to run happily for months at a time.

Back in my Netware days, I picked up a new client who needed a printer installed. Did a site visit. They walked me to a "mop closet" and in the back corner, covered in dust and cobwebs, was a server with a small monitor and keyboard resting on end against the side of the server. Picked it up and pressed the Shift key and the monitor came up, orange text.

Netware 2 and uptime 964 days. It was a "record" for me, so I wrote in in my notebook.


Netware Netware 2.15/uptime 964 days.
286/4MB RAM
2 each 210MB drives mirrored.
126MB free.

They had the server about 5 years, and replaced it about 6 months later with Netware 4 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 desktops.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

If you leave your computer running 24/7, you should be restarting it daily, or at least every few days.

We have some Macs that have not been shut down, nor re-started, for many, many, months. UNIX boxes tend to run happily for months at a time.

I have Unix boxes going with years without a restart.