Argh!. Technical difficulties today. Went to use the upstairs computer rig and found that my Wi-Fi connection was down. Proceeded down to the cellar to check the cable modem status. Rebooted the cable modem checked the wired access on the downstairs rig which was okay. Then checked the dining room Dell laptop Wi-Fi connection and there were still problems. Sheesh. Twelve hours ago everything was working fine. So I reboot the Dell Wi-Fi router and still have problems with the laptop. I finally try changing the channel on the Wi-Fi router from eleven to six. Recheck the laptop and everything starts working.

Back to the upstairs rig which is a bit tricky since I use an identical Dell Trumobile 2300 as a wireless bridge. I try resetting to defaults and then load up saved config file. Still no dice. I try resetting again but nothing happens? I start to notice that when I plug in router that after a brief flash of the LAN led's that no lights appear for power, wireless, etc. Start to wonder if the router is somehow hosed?

Finally call Dell and tell them about the power issue and they agree that it sounds like the router has gone bad. How do these things go bad all of a sudden? There are no moving parts? Anyway, they're going to overnight a new one. Given this state of unconnectedness upstairs, I pull out an SMC USB wireless adapter. This fires up quite easily and once I get the config with my wep enabled network I'm on the net again. Since it's only 802.11b and my net is now 802.11g, I think about an upgrade. I notice a nice 802.11g USB dongle at the SMC website and check out some prices. I find one at J&R for about $40 after rebate. So I order it.

I think I'll bag the wireless bridge for a while since it can be a real hassle to debug sometimes. I will test out the replacement Dell router and then set it aside as a backup for the main router. I think this is a cleaner simpler setup.

I have to wonder how everything went haywire in the span of twelve hours without any obvious causes? I did notice when I was scanning for my wireless network that a second network was showing up intermittently. I suspect it may be my new neighbor trying bring up their own Wi-Fi net? This may be the reason I had to switch channels?

[Listening to: Track 2 - Unknown Artist - The Dowland Project: Care-charming Sleep (03:57)]