Hello, i'm hoping someone could offer advice on a problem with my new 7800dxl. Purchased it a week ago after a thunderstorm wrecked my Netgear 6100 I'm very happy with it. On my long dsl exchange line I have been able to force a 3dB SNR and am getting 7-8 meg, almost twice I was getting before. However, the 7800 dxl is emitting a high pitched whine which is driving me nuts. Sounds a bit like tinnitus or when you have water in your ears. I can hear it right across the room and its definitely coming from near the centre of the casing, not aerials or power supply. Has anyone else experienced this or is it a duff unit? Fed up because I love the router but can't cope with this noise. Wondering if it is worth swapping out or if its a characteristic of this model. Any advice appreciated.
Am I right in thinking that the 7800DXL is a router-only model and therefore not capable of connecting, on its own, at VDSL speeds? And do I assume, therefore, that you're getting this whine in ADSL mode? If so, could it conceivably be the same kind of issue that a contributor to the 8800NL forum recently submitted? In his/her case, a high-pitched noise appeared and remained when the 8800's operating mode was changed from ADSL to VDSL.
The matter was discussed in that forum quite robustly, but the contributor was adamant that the noise was coming from the device itself (as opposed to its power supply brick) and did not exist at all when, prior to the changeover to VDSL, he/she was running the device at a much lower, ADSL speed. I don't think that contributor (whose forum name escapes me for the moment) ever resolved the problem.
It's beginning to seem as if there's a definite electro-mechanical resonance problem with some of the 7800 and 8800 series models (and, who knows, maybe the 8900 series too!), in which case 'billion_fan' should be notified ASAP so that the matter can be fed back to the Billion developers and eventually a solution found.
Hello, thanks for the reply gatekeeper. The 7800dxl is the combined router modem. I am on adsl and experimenting today the whining stopped when the adsl cable was taken out of the back. When plugged in again the whining restarted as the adsl line was 'renegotiating'. The whining is most definitely from the router not from the power supply which is some way away.
My advice would be for you to drop billion_fan a line about this, using the Private Messages facility in these forums (see top of the Billion UK Forum webpage). Point out its similarity to the 'high-frequency noise' reported by jrawle in his "8800NL - high pitched noise" discussion of 16th March. Urge billion_fan to report the matter ASAP to Billion, as quite clearly some models are now exhibiting this behaviour.
My gut feeling is that this could be an unanticipated side-effect that is probably caused by some sort of electro-mechanical resonance of one or more onboard inductors that have not been sufficiently resiliently mounted.
At what sync speed (download speed) are you connecting?
Something worth trying as an experiment would be for you to use the SNR adjustment feature built into the 7800 to change the sync speed. It might be that the noise you're getting is a resonance that happens at only exact multiples of a specific sync speed. Increasing the Target SNR, eg. from your present 3dB to, say, 6dB or 9dB, will bring the speed down. I'd say aim for 7dB or 8dB. I wouldn't advise you decrease the Target SNR any further below 3dB, though, because, generally, doing that on a long line will usually result in the device disconnecting more often. If necessary, I or others can give you some numbers to plug in. If the experiment doesn't change the noise, then you'll not have lost anything; you can simply put your 7800 back to your current 3dB target.
I meant to also ask if you're getting this noise only when you're connected wirelessly to the 7800. I mean, what happens if instead you connect your computer/devices via Ethernet cables? Do you still get the whining noise?
Something else to ask yourself is whether you consider that the quality of your home's telephone wiring is at all questionable.
Hi, I've tried switching off each of the wireless bands in turn, it has no affect on the noise. Wiring is fine as we've had some BT engineers check it over recently due to poor line speed. There are no phone extensions, straight forward set up. As noted in my last reply, the noise appears only once the modem has, or is in the process of, negotiating an adsl connection. Fairly sure this is a modem issue. My query is whether it is worth swapping for another or if the problem will be the same with a replacement
hermit wrote:Hi, I've tried switching off each of the wireless bands in turn, it has no affect on the noise. Wiring is fine as we've had some BT engineers check it over recently due to poor line speed. There are no phone extensions, straight forward set up. As noted in my last reply, the noise appears only once the modem has, or is in the process of, negotiating an adsl connection. Fairly sure this is a modem issue. My query is whether it is worth swapping for another or if the problem will be the same with a replacement
hermit
You are the first to report this issue on the 7800DXL (I saw your ticket) with only one other report on the 8800 series,
I have tested our test 7800DXL here, and can't here any abnormal high pitch noise (during sync, and when in sync), so might be a duff unit (your serial has been logged from your ticket so once the device is returned through the official channels we can investigate)
On the assumption that this is a genuine hardware fault that's likely to replicate across several different models, I think you need to be careful when accepting returned units for assessments, as it could be all too easy for Billion Technical to quickly conclude that there's no problem. But they could easily misjudge this because of one or more of the following:-
(i) the room shape of the returnee is likely to be different to that of the Billion lab, causing the noise to sound more prominent;
(ii) people's hearing ability can vary quite widely; even if the noise is in the middle of the audio spectrum, let alone higher than middle, a good many people may be incapable of hearing it, including Billion techies;
(ii) the assessment may have taken place in a busy lab and therefore ambient noise could well mask the problem noise.
EMI and second-order issues that occur with high-frequency electrical kit of this kind can be notoriously difficult to resolve sometimes.
gatekeeper wrote:Billion_fan, hermit, and Billion Technical,
On the assumption that this is a genuine hardware fault that's likely to replicate across several different models, I think you need to be careful when accepting returned units for assessments, as it could be all too easy for Billion Technical to quickly conclude that there's no problem. But they could easily misjudge this because of one or more of the following:-
(i) the room shape of the returnee is likely to be different to that of the Billion lab, causing the noise to sound more prominent;
(ii) people's hearing ability can vary quite widely; even if the noise is in the middle of the audio spectrum, let alone higher than middle, a good many people may be incapable of hearing it, including Billion techies;
(ii) the assessment may have taken place in a busy lab and therefore ambient noise could well mask the problem noise.
EMI and second-order issues that occur with high-frequency electrical kit of this kind can be notoriously difficult to resolve sometimes.
Thank you for the swift response, very reassuring. I will return the unit to the seller and ask for a replacement unit. I will then post again my findings re: high pitched noise. I do have sensitive hearing (can hear bats etc), but I have checked with other family members and they can also hear the noise so not imagining things! It is loud enough that i can hear it from at least 6 metres away in a quiet room. The pitch is also extremely irritating . Will post back once i have replacement, thanks for all the input.
I'm very happy with it. On my long dsl exchange line I have been able to force a 3dB SNR and am getting 7-8 meg, almost twice I was getting before. However, the 7800 dxl is emitting a high pitched whine which is driving me nuts. Sounds a bit like tinnitus or when you have water in your ears. I can hear it right across the room and its definitely coming from near the centre of the casing, not aerials or power supply. Has anyone else experienced this or is it a duff unit? Fed up because I love the router but can't cope with this noise. Wondering if it is worth swapping out or if its a characteristic of this model. Any advice appreciated.
. Will post back once i have replacement, thanks for all the input.