Networking

Milady and I decided over the past few days that we needed a second computer. With two dedicated users in the family and with my daughter in college, having a second computer is .... not a necessity... but certainly would help with scheduling.

So, we climbed on the motorcyle and went computer shopping. We wanted a laptop, and thought it would be nice if it fit on the motorcycle. After shopping a couple of stores, we found one we wanted, got a wireless router to attach, and I took Milady out to supper.

Once home, I broke everything out of the box and read the instructions. (Really, I am an instruction reader. I even read the owners manual when I buy a car.) The general consensus of the various salespeople was that we should hook up the router and configure it before we turned on the laptop. I hooked up the little box with the antennae, and turned on the main computer, following the insructions diligently to get the router configured. Then I took the laptop out of the box and turned it on. Went through the initial setup and configuration, and a little window popped up, telling me that I was connected through the wireless router, so I decided to check email. Five minutes later, I still have nothing on the screen.

So, I went to the main computer and tried to check email. Nothing. Got a little window telling me that my connection was slow or nonexistent. I fiddled with it for a little bit, then turned everything off and disconnected the router, then rebooted the main computer. Then I get this little window telling me it can't find my network. No kidding, Sherlock. I have disconnected it.

I called my ISP and had them walk me through the setup process on the cable modem, then rebooted everything. I have good solid high speed access through the main computer, but the router is back in the original box.

I know that I did something wrong, or configured something wrong. Tonite, I'll be home alone, and I will sit down and hook everything up again and see if I can figure out where I went wrong. I'll have the ISP service number close at hand and I'll have the router service number close at hand, and sometime tonite, hopefully, I'll enter the wireless information age.

More likely, I'll spend time cussing like a shipwrecked sailor.