new plusnet account shows sync but no connection to server

[#1]

Hi,
I've just switched across from metronet (part of plusnet) to plusnet extra for the 60GB monthly limit. All was running fine until I put the new username and pass into my netgear DG834 router and lost my internet. Lots of double checking later I decide to revert to the metronet login/pass temporarily but that is no longer working either. I've been through all the basics with several lots of plusnet phone help and am currently awaiting a response to the line checking process yesterday. Yes, username and pass are correct and plusnet changed the pass to see if that would help too.
I don't get any further using the bt_test logins either (tried 2 or 3 variations recommended by plusnet phone advice) , they make no difference to using my normal plusnet login.
The router syncs very quickly when rebooted (all the required settings were the same as my metronet setup) and I see
Modem Status: Connected
Downstream Connection Speed: 8128 kbps
Upstream Connection Speed: 448 kbps
The ADSL port shows a MAC address and Network Type as PPPoA but no entries for IP address, subnet mask, gateway IP address or domain name server.
The line is fine according to plusnet fault testing I've had to go through but I knew that as it was all working as it had been for months till the fateful 30 secs when i entered the new username and pass. Line attenuation 24db downstream and 6db upstream, noise margin 7db downstream, 24db upstream.
Router shows negotiation as "LCP is allowed to come up" but then I get no authentication, "CHAP authentication failed".
Lights on router show a quick sync and then a long steady period. Occasionally it will blink for s plit second after 30 secs, then again about 10 times at 2.5 sec intervals and back to 30 second steady. Yes, I have been spending far too much time looking at this sort of stuff!
I've looked for similar problems on these forums (very slowly on an old 56k dialup modem!) but none of them seem to have a clear resolution, the threads just end. I found a tip about enabling debugging and getting a PPP log from the router which shows a challenge from "ERX17.Sheffield4" then permission denied to my correct username and a message "Failed to authenticate ourselves to peer". I've copied the log below (minus my username), it repeats this over. I don't have the tech knowledge to truly understand this sort of stuff. I can see it's added a couple of spaces after my username (before the close quotes) and I've checked they're not in the router settings where I enter the username but doubt this matters.
I'm very worried as I've seen archived problems showing days and even weeks with this type of connection problem - good sync but no internet.
Can anyone suggest anything to help or a direction I can point plusnet in when the get back to me? I thought they'd recognise the symptoms but all seems exciting and new to them...
PPP log follows:
Options file - /etc/ppp/options.0.38.
setting line discipline hook
connect_pppoatm_ses...Enter
connect_pppoatm_ses: socket created fd - 0x7.
connect_pppoatm_ses: setsockopt called.
connect_pppoatm_ses: connect successful.
Calling line discipline hook
Setting pppoatm line discipline.
vc encaps.
using channel 6
Using interface ppp0
Connect: ppp0 <-->
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <magic 0xfd99a333>]
rcvd [LCP ConfReq id=0x34 <auth chap MD5> <magic 0x5b5c53bb>]
sent [LCP ConfAck id=0x34 <auth chap MD5> <magic 0x5b5c53bb>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <magic 0xfd99a333>]
rcvd [LCP ConfAck id=0x1 <magic 0xfd99a333>]
Untimeout 0x4092ac:0x1000a7c0.
sent [LCP EchoReq id=0x0 magic=0xfd99a333]
rcvd [CHAP Challenge id=0x37 <b16f1446dbefd5b68f86993276a4eeec>, name = "ERX17.Sheffield4"]
sent [CHAP Response id=0x37 <9a9b0fea607553d3bdd29ba71c2b109f>, name = "*********@plusdsl.net  "]
rcvd [LCP EchoRep id=0x0 magic=0x5b5c53bb]
rcvd [CHAP Failure id=0x37 "permission denied"]
Untimeout 0x414838:0x1000aa70.
Remote message: permission denied
CHAP authentication failed
Untimeout 0x40e704:0x1000a7c0.
Untimeout 0x414838:0x1000aa70.
sent [LCP TermReq id=0x2 "Failed to authenticate ourselves to peer"]
rcvd [LCP TermReq id=0x35]
sent [LCP TermAck id=0x35]
rcvd [LCP TermAck id=0x2]
Untimeout 0x4092ac:0x1000a7c0.
Connection terminated.

[#2]

We're still seeing connection attempts on your Metronet username (which has now been closed hence not connecting), can you try factory resetting the router and reentering your Plusnet connection details?

[#3]

From my PPP log:

Quote

rcvd [CHAP Challenge id=0x29 <e9116f4cb9b765e7d3931712b3cee95a>, name = "ERX16.Kingston3"] sent [CHAP Response id=0x29 <717056dcc35457982830d6208870fbfe>, name = "*****@plusdsl.net"]

There's no trailing spaces on the login - I'd rule that out first (it may be your browser remembering the entry and putting it back with the spaces).

[#4]

Good spot Jelv

[#5]

If the ERX thinks the login domain "plusdsl.net  " it's not going to send the request to the Plusnet radius server so you wouldn't see the login attempts.

[#6]

Thanks for the speedy help guys, really impressed how quick you came back, I've been fighting computers since. The factory reset tip was very useful, as I mentioned in my post I couldn't get rid of the 2 spaces after my username but after a factory reset and re-entering everything I got rid of them. I'd done numerous reboots and re-entering details with no success on that front before.
Now I'm connecting, CHAP authentication goes through, I'm getting an IP address and DNS servers from plusnet, all good. The Netgear router test page will even come up to tell me I'm on the internet but I can't connect to any other pages. Some sort of DNS problem (I'm wildly guessing as I really know nothing about this stuff) I suppose as I can use the router diagnostics to lookup google or wherever and if I then type the IP address into Firefox I can load the page fine.
I've tried letting plusnet assign DNS servers, manually using the DNS servers on from the settings page on here (slightly different IPs to the auto assigned ones) and also the free Google DNS servers, 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4. Numerous reboots, etc. Unfortunately this is typed on dialup again. I'll experiment with getting the IP address for this forum to use broadband for future posts...
Anyway, I'm obviously nearly there now, the big dead internet problem has been solved so many thanks for that but any great ideas for the DNS thing?
Modded: IP trick doesn't work for this forum, can get a grindingly slow load of main plusnet page but no way through sign in.

[#7]

Can you run the following command and post the output please (you need to do this from the command prompt):
ipconfig /all

[#8]

Just had to run off to a diff computer and learn how to copy from the command prompt window as I'm doing this from 2 different Macs on OSX!
IPConfig /all on my PC gives this:
Windows IP Configuration
        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : asus-a8v-deluxe
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : ASUS 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Card
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-D8-A9-E4-8F
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.4
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 10 June 2010 20:58:46
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 11 June 2010 00:58:46
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010 PCI
Gigabit Ethernet Controller
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-D8-A9-BE-C1
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:
        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth PAN Network Adapter
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-67-5A-A3-8F

[#9]

Wow, thanks for all your help, Jelv, I'm back on broadband. When I did the ipconfig thing you suggested and started thinking about that. On my OSX Macs It led me to add the plusnet DNS servers manually to the DNS tab of the Airport (wirelessly connected to the router) part of the Network in System Preferences.  Presto, back on the internet. Then I added the plusnet DNS servers manually to the TCP/IP pane of the properties of my wireless card in my PC and now that's online too. I think originally (although as I said I don't really understand this stuff) the router had the DNS server addresses and everything else took the info from the address of the router on the local network. Now each computer seems to need the DNS servers adding manually but it works so it's all fine in the end. I guess when I did the router factory reset I lost some setting that allowed my linked computers to use the DNS info in the router itself. Now the ipconfig /all command shows the addresses of the plus.net servers I put in manually. Couldn't have got this far without the help on this community forum, very impressed and thanks again.

[#10]

Hi sparekey,
Glad to hear you're sorted and even more that you're finding the forum useful, thanks! Hope you stick around, there's plenty of fun to be had here even if you don't have a problem that needs solving

[#11]

Quick addendum for anyone in future trying to solve similar probs. I've solved the problem of having to add the DNS server addresses to each computer instead of them getting them from the router as before. My Netgear router is linked by ethernet cable to my Airport (just Apple brand name for wireless) basestation which then broadcasts to all the computers in the house, Mac and PC. All the router settings were correct but I discovered that the basestation had an entry for DNS servers in its setup and it still had the metronet servers in there (been running so long I can't remember what I did to set it all up). I deleted them and put in the plus.net ones and now the client computers don't need the individual addresses, they all get them from the wireless basestation. I had in my head that the router had the DNS servers listed and the basestation got its info from the router automatically. Clue was in the address format 192.168.1. etc for the router's network (ie just the basestation connected by wire) but the 10.0.1. etc for the basestation's wireless network. Ah, and it's just dawned on me that I can just put the router's IP address into the basestation's DNS server field so in future it will get any changes of DNS server automatically from the router when I change things there. As previously stated, I'm clueless about this stuff, lol. Cheers all.

[#12]

I thought it was strange when you posted the IPconfig results that the network was 10.0.1.* when the default on Netgear routers was 192.168.0.*