Technology Is Hell

We have a desktop computer physically plugged into the Internet, and we have a laptop computer connected via wireless router. I had the wireless connection working for almost a year until three months ago when I took it down because I wasn’t using the laptop. This week, I set up the laptop as a second computer in the house, and I set up the wireless Internet connection again.

The wireless set up worked fine for several days, and then one morning it just wasn’t connecting to the ‘net. We couldn’t get Web pages or check e-mail. So I did the normal (for computer tech) first steps to correct the problem: I unplugged the cable modem and wireless router, and then plugged them back in. That didn’t help. I shut down the computers and restarted them. That didn’t help. I tried various combinations of shutting down and restarting everything. That didn’t help.

I sent and e-mail through my desktop connection to my gaming buddies to see if they had any ideas (two of them are tech-heads). One told some things to try to determine the problem, and dammit if all the things worked just fine. There was no reason why I shouldn’t be getting through to the Web.

My desktop got to the Internet just fine, and when I called my ISP, they were no help because my service was fine. I called the router tech support, and spent two hours on the phone to India, with two different techs trying to figure it all out. Nothing was making a difference.

Everything about the set up seemed to be correct: the modem was working, the wireless router was working, the laptop showed connectivity with the router—everything was right. Except, I couldn’t get a Web page or e-mail on the laptop.

I went to Target and bought a new wireless router, but when I hooked it up, it was no different. Everything looked right, but I just couldn’t get to the Web. So I took the new router back for a refund.

Then I called a family friend and asked his advice. He suggested completely resetting the wireless router and reinstalling it from the beginning. I tried that twice and it changed nothing.

I’ve spent several hours over the past two days dealing with this damn situation, and I still don’t have it working. I don’t even know why it’s not working—everything still looks right. I even took the laptop out around the city to WiFi hotspots to see if I could get online somewhere else, and I found I could get online in some places but not in others.

It just makes no sense. It’s driving me crazy. I can’t stand this kind of problem. Everything about the set up is correct, but it just isn’t working. It’s so *^&%$%^& frustrating I want to scream. I don’t even know what happened to cause this problem to come up.

I’ll probably have this aggravation haunt me in my dreams.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com