How I Spent My Evening

My older daughter & I have been sharing a wireless router; more properly, my connection is hardwired, and hers is not.

It was a Linksys setup, which worked GREAT when we first got it. We were both running Windows XP (don't get me started - better bloggers than I have sounded off about its "new & improved" replacement), and we never had a problem. Her access speed was only a tick slower than mine.

Then (you knew there was a problem coming, didn't you?) through subsequent failures of the Dell PCs we were using, we upgraded. And in Gatesworld, upgrades mean Vista. A thing of beauty is a joy forever, or so the old saying goes ... obviously, the inventor of that saying never had to had to use Vista, in any of its iterations.

Daughter promptly lost her great, locked-in wi-fi signal. She's a good kid, and was conscientious about downloading the Vista update for her wireless receiver. It was an epic fail, and her system kept telling her that the router was turned off. No signal available.

I should point out that her bedroom is directly under mine, and her antenna at this point was about 4.5 feet vertically below the transmitter. Should be no problems, right?

She had to reset the connection each time she turned the computer on. After awhile, she managed to convince the machine not to automatically switch to the new driver only because she deleted said driver, and reloaded the original from the installation CD. It worked - after a fashion, for awhile. Lately, it's gotten much worse, and her lag time & slow connection speed were so bad she was starting to sound like me on a bad day, muttering to myself.

She convinced me that we should upgrade the router/receiver gear. I played innocent for awhile, though, and told her there was no need since my signal was fine. Besides, I said, all that Internet stuff could be bad for a young 'un, so why did she need it, anyway? After I pulled her down from the ceiling and waved away the steam that was coming from her ears, I said, "Why not?" What a dad, huh?

Long story shortened slightly: the D-Link, Vista-compatible equipment arrived yesterday. Yesterday after work, we began. I followed the friendly on-screen setup instructions, and everything was cool. That is, until it came time to plug the DSL modem back in. The router's next logical step is to sign into the DSL service, and pipe teh wonderful intarw3bz through the system.

Nope. Can't help you. It ain't happenin'. No dice.

Bad password. I tried everything I knew, including several variations on the log-in name & password, using all my standard versions.

Nada. Zilch.

The co-worker who helped me set up the network originally was kind enough to suggest that perhaps I should have the phone company reset the password. I had actually thought of that before I received her e-mail, so see? The age of miracles isn't over.

So, three hours after starting, I was able to access the cortex again, and the world's a shinier place for now. Of course, I hadn't watched the news once I got home ... so I decided to let it go. After all, I was able to work at the new hardware for over 3 hours without losing my cool, so why add stress to the mix?

Thanks for stopping by!