Steve modem kicks all devices upon DNS name resolution failure (occurs every 1-15 mins)

[Mosasaurus]

Our Steve modem has been dropping connections every frequently (every 1-15 mins roughly). My partner and I found a way to log into the Steve modem and were able to look at the error log. We determined that we were being disconnected from the Steve modem and therefore kicked off the wifi every time there was a "DNS name resolution failure" and assume that there may be some kind of hardware or firmware failure in our Steve modem.

Our troubleshooting steps so far have been to:
1) reset Steve via the troubleshooting page in the modem
2) use the virtual repair tool
3) power cycle and reboot Steve
4) message the customer support chat who forwarded us to a phone call where we were told us that everything looked fine on their end and to "monitor the situation and call them back if we were still having internet problems".

Below is an image of the error log which shows how often the DNS name resolution failures occur (and remember, each time we are kicked from the internet) and also shows the power cycle as well as continuing DNS name resolution errors following the power cycle.  

 The other problem we have encountered which makes us assume there is a problem with the modem firmware/software is that we are sometimes unable to log into Steve until we power cycle it (image of what we see when we try to log in shown below). When we log back in and look at the error log, we see the error "DNS name resolution faliure (steve)". 

If anyone has found a solution to this problem, please let us know.

[Mosasaurus]

As support here has been absent, I will give an update in case any other customers have similar issues and would like a solution.

I reached out to virgin plus chat and learned that Virgin support is currently overrun and unable to perform support via chat and that virgin plus chat actually redirects to Bell support. I learned this from a Bell support agent who was very helpful. They called me and connected me directly to a Virgin agent within 2 minutes.

The Virgin agent told me he was going to upgrade my Steve modem though what actually happened was that they performed a "warm reset" according to modem logs. After this did not solve the issue, they performed a factory reset of the Steve modem and while this was happening, the phone call disconnected.

The factory reset did not solve the problem and I was unable to contact the same support person since it was the Bell agent who connected us. Frustrated, I tried using other devices to see if they were also still being kicked to make sure it was not a problem with just this computer. It was not the computer.

Finally, I was able to connect to virgin plus chat which connected me to another Bell agent. I let them know what had happened so far and they went to check the notes on my file. It turns out that the virgin agent hadn't left any notes so I was back at support step 1.

However, the Bell agent could sense my frustration and helpfully provided me with clear options to move forward: either sending a replacement modem to be delivered in 3-5 days or alternatively, offered to send a technician. I opted for the replacement modem as that is the simplest fix, though will move on to a technician if the replacement also does not solve the problem.

I will update in 3-5 days since while googling to try and fix my problem, I have learned that I am not alone with consistent and frequent virgin internet disconnections and there should be a clear solution to this problem posted somewhere.

[VirginPlusAntgio]

Hey there @Mosasaurus,

Welcome to the Community and thanks for the detailed troubleshooting you have completed. 

As you mentioned you have a new modem on the way, once received can you test it for 24 to 48 hours and let us know if you experience any further issues.

[Mosasaurus · Accepted solution]

The replacement modem was delivered yesterday and I have been using it for the past 24 hours. Replacing the modem seems to have fixed all of my problems as devices are no longer kicked following a DNS name resolution failure.

I should point out for anyone who happens upon this thread in the future, having DNS name resolution failures is not normally a problem. My replacement modem still has occasional DNS name resolution failures. My issue was that, for some still unknown reason, the Steve modem I was provided with kicked off ALL devices whenever there was a DNS name resolution failure which is a massive problem. This issue persisted following warm resets, factory resets, and power cycles. It was clearly not a typical easy fix and my guess was a result of either a hardware failure (which I was never going to fix on my own) or a firmware corruption (which I cannot fix as I don't believe I have admin privileges to flash the firmware). Therefore the only solution was to replace the modem.

Perhaps a technician would have been able to diagnose and fix the modem problems however having a technician come over is significantly more effort than unplugging an faulty modem and plugging in a replacement modem.

[FatHamster]

 I had the exact same issue 2x LOL.  Thank goodness for this post.  I called virginplus support, gave the rep the link to this issue, they sent me a replacement STEVE modem but the issue still existed.  They sent me another DSL modem but the VALERIE model & the issue has been resolved.  Some background on our issue that was causing the "DNS name resolution failure" on both STEVE & VALERIE modems, one of my phones is always connected to the internet at home & its from China so there are these Chinese apps that I installed while in China- these are trying to resolve their DNS to China domain names.. well Mainland China has a firewall so I suspect its blocking these DNS requests & flooding the router's logs with "DNS name resolution failure" entries.  The STEVE model cannot handle this but VALERIE can, so if this ever happens to you, request a New VALERIE modem.