Sunday, March 25, 2012

Light Posting

Between work and home, I feel like I've been in an unending game of Whack-A-Mole for the last week, and it's not over yet. The power supply for my router died, probably from leaving a trash can sitting on top of it until it overheated, and the replacements don't want to work.

Routers should be as close to plug and play as anything in the computer world, but the replacements, after announcing that they have been successfully installed, then apologize for being unable to see the modem and warn you that connection may be degraded. As in non-existant.

They also have no clue as to how this might be remedied.

Burger and beer lunch reward for the first working solution.

4 comments:

Cincinnatus said...

Assuming your DSL or Cable modem is a separate box. Some routers will take the 10BaseT connection to the cable modem or DSL modem in any port. Some require it to be in a specific WAN labeled 10BaseT port. Check where you hooked it up.

Billll said...

Problem solved. It seems the "modem" is in fact a router in its own right, and as such won't be connected to another one. What was required was an Ethernet switch, which I just hooked up.

The earlier setup apparently had the router configured as a switch.

jed said...

Glad you got it working. Though I was sort of looking for a favor chit to keep on hand for later, when I'll be wanting to true the ends of appx 7" of 4" PVC pipe. ;)

Back-of-the-head question is why you didn't just replace the power supply, which might be that particular flavor isn't easy to find at WalMart.

Also, why is it that my 1st try at the CAPTCHA is never correct? Odds are that it should be at least some of the time, but it has never happened since Blogger switched to this new scheme.

Billll said...

I can help you with the PVC job any time.

The power supply is 5VDC 3.0A and has a unique 3-prong plug. If you think you can find a power supply, you can have the router. I bought a very similar unit at MEI remanufactured for $15. It had fewer blinky lights though.

CAPTCHA is annoying enough that a lot of people are turning it off. I just ask for something more legible until it comes up.