Troubleshooting NETGEAR's Powerline Products

[Orbital]

Troubleshooting NETGEAR's Powerline Products

• Powerline products work better when plugged into the wall without power strips, extension cords, surge protectors, or interruptible power supplies.
  
  
• Passwords. Powerline products have both a network password, and a device password. A particular device's password, which is not changeable, is printed on the Powerline product label. Once you have collected all your Powerline device passwords, use the encryption dialog box, as described on pages 9 and 12 of the XE102 User's Guide, to change the network password. (Without password protection, it is possible, although unlikely, for someone very nearby to access your network.)
  
  
• If you changed the default network password, make sure that all the Powerline products use the same network password.
  
  
• If you've moved a Powerline unit, or disconnected the cables, your other network devices may need about 5 minutes to refresh their information about the Powerline's current status.
  
  
• If you have earlier Powerline products, switch to the encryption used by later products. (Early versions of XA601 and XE602 are known to have compatibility problems with newer models.)
  
  
• To test whether a house's electrical wiring is contributing to Powerline problems, plug units in the same room. Examples of potential problems are:
  Old fuse boxes.
  Old wiring that does not meet modern wiring building codes.
  
  
• Interference may be caused by a Major draw of Electrical power through the circuit, or the wiring may not be up to code, The following major appliances may cause Interference:
  Refrigerator
  Freezer or Microwave
  Air Conditioning system
  Power equipment or other house equipment that draws a large amount of power like:
  Hair Dryer
  Air Compressor
  
  The above devices use a large amount of power, combined with the Television, and other A/V Equipment that may be plugged in will contribute to this interference.
  
  
• An outlet tester will help you identify problems such as bad grounds, reversed wires or bad connections - all of which you should avoid, of course. In fact, if you do encounter any of these problems, you should bring in a certified electrician to make the needed repairs.
  
  
• Swap devices to isolate the problem to a particular Powerline unit.
  
  
• Reset the Powerline adapters to the default settings using the utility.
  
  
• Use all the same Powerline models for best connectivity. Also, software for one model may not work for another model. In particular, remote and advanced features may not work between Powerline manufacturers.
  
  
• Powerline is not directed at businesses, however it may work in a business environment, anyhow. See Assessing Powerline for Business Environments. In some cases noise can be limited by placing line conditioners or surge protectors between the source of the noise, and the Powerline units. (Not between the units.) Consult a professional electrician to evaluate your electricity's noise and to suggest remedies.

[fordem]

Originally Posted by Orbital

[*]To test whether a house's electrical wiring is contributing to Powerline problems, plug units in the same room. Examples of potential problems are:
Old fuse boxes.
Old wiring that does not meet modern wiring building codes.

Mmmmm - outlets in any given room may or may not be on the same circuit, and if they are on different circuits this would invalidate this particular test.

I would suggest connecting the devices to the same outlet using a couple of extension cords or power strips - you need your basic multiple outlet extension cord here - no fancy surge suppressors with noise filters.

By the way - this list completely neglects the effects of interference from appliances and also the fact that it is entirely possible for the noisy appliance to be in a neighbouring residence.

[Orbital]

I updated it with *Major draw of Electrical power through the circuit*

I didn't have a lot of time to edit this, and it was something I found at NETGEAR's Knowledge base: here

I'm not an Electrician or anything, but I read somewhere that the XE102 can pass-though up to 4 phases.

[omuise]

"Reset the Powerline adapters to the default settings using the utility."

This is a rather useless piece of advice:
what "utility" and where is it hidden?

can any one help?
thanks
om

[PetrolDave]

Originally Posted by omuise

"Reset the Powerline adapters to the default settings using the utility."

This is a rather useless piece of advice:
what "utility" and where is it hidden?

Look on the CD that came with your Powerline adapter, on there you will find a program that allows you to set the encryption - this is the "utility".

Better than the CD though is to download the latest version from the Netgear website. BTW whatever Netgear Powerline product you are using if you are running Vista you need version v1.0.1.0 or later (you'll find that under XEPS103).

[SKL1]

HDX101 - the product information states:

• Turns any electrical power outlet into a network connection
• Outlets must be electrically connected in order for Powerline devices to provide a network connection between them.

This would lead me to believe that the circuits contained in every US house would not be a problem. From talking to Tech Support, this product will not work across ANY circuit breaker. True or not? Is Netgear just conveniently withholding this information?

[sirjohnfalstaff]

Originally Posted by Orbital

Troubleshooting NETGEAR's Powerline Products
In some cases noise can be limited by placing line conditioners or surge protectors between the source of the noise, and the Powerline units. (Not between the units.) Consult a professional electrician to evaluate your electricity's noise and to suggest remedies.[/LIST]

Has anyone have experience with surge protectors to limit noise? (I just noticed that running the dishwasher costs me 500 - 1000 KB/s so )

Thanks,

Daniel

[fordem]

Ummmm - surge suppressors of themselves won't limit noise (they limit surges), but better quality surge suppressors typically include noise filters, hence the statement you quoted.

The dilemma here is that the surge suppressor will have to be installed in the line feeding the noisy appliance (in this case, the dishwasher) so, depending on the appliance, you could be looking at a fairly hefty electrical load - so this is why you need to consult a professional electrician.

[sirjohnfalstaff]

Originally Posted by fordem

Ummmm - surge suppressors of themselves won't limit noise (they limit surges), but better quality surge suppressors typically include noise filters, hence the statement you quoted.

The dilemma here is that the surge suppressor will have to be installed in the line feeding the noisy appliance (in this case, the dishwasher) so, depending on the appliance, you could be looking at a fairly hefty electrical load - so this is why you need to consult a professional electrician.

I'm afraid that would get rather costly. I bought the hdx101's to get a 'cheap' connection to the other side of the house. If I need to get professionals to get some speed improvement I would rather get someone to put a utp cable in place At the moment the connection is stable and relatively fast compared to wifi and my old 14mbit devolo units but since I copy large amounts of data accross the network I was hoping just for some (cheap ) improvement

[xylem]

"Reset the Powerline adapters to the default settings using the utility."

This is a rather useless piece of advice:
what "utility" and where is it hidden?

can any one help?
thanks
om

hummmmm How can we say that the advice is useless if you yourself does know anything about the utility.... be considerate to others.. try to research before saying something you are not "knowledgeable" of....