The Vent and Rant Thread

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

I need to get out of this town. I need to get out of this town. I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS %$&*^@ TOWN!

Whatever it is, it sucks, mate, and I'm patting you on the shoulder and saying "Take it easy, fella. It'll pass. It's Friday night [it is here] so let's go get us a drink at Adrian's, hey? Talk about it. Or not. Whatever suits you.".

Which is to say, I'm sorry to hear something's getting you so aggro, Dylrob. Vent like a volcano if you need. Wish I...wish all of us in the Lounge, could be there to actually do the above.

Cheers,
Marc

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

(I'll tell you sometime about how my cheapo Belkin router earned the nickname "Lazarus")

My standard advice for fixing problems with Belkin routers involves a hammer (and a quick trip to the shops for a WRT54g).

[GeoffC]

bang went the fairy god-mother .

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

I need to get out of this town. I need to get out of this town. I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS %$&*^@ TOWN!

With a name like "hellko Nevada" I can understand.

Hope things are a little more tolerable this AM......hug.

[Slite]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

With a name like "hellko Nevada" I can understand.

Hope things are a little more tolerable this AM......hug.

I could really do something with that name... since ko is the swedish word for cow

[Catire]

Being at work sorta drunk is not fun

[pshrynk]

How can work be fun any other way?

[kennyc]

Dang it! Why do they release movies in three different formats! 2D 3D 3D-Imax!! Sheesh I have to buy a whole second set of tickets!

"No Refunds, No Exchanges!"

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Dang it! Why do they release movies in three different formats! 2D 3D 3D-Imax!! Sheesh I have to buy a whole second set of tickets!

"No Refunds, No Exchanges!"

That happened to us with the movie "Bolt". I ended up getting the movie in 3D which the rest of the family liked but I had trouble seeing through the silly 3D glasses thanks to my monovision contact lens! I thought I was just buying the tickets for the regular movie and wondered why they were so expensive.

Are you going to see Avatar?

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

My standard advice for fixing problems with Belkin routers involves a hammer (and a quick trip to the shops for a WRT54g).

Only had one die on me and further investigation showed that it was my fault by virtue of the power outlet it was plugged into. That outlet is also responsible for the death of an 80GB hard drive that was only 6 months old. Old house wiring + new electronics = fail, especially on the same circuit as the refrigerator.

The second one (which I still have) gave me the opposite problem Dennis is/was having; I could only see the machines on the LAN but not get out onto the Web, after my ISP dropped connection in a major way. I retired the Belkin to the pack-rat room until on one occasion when I needed to isolate a couple of machines on a separate LAN; it was in perfect shape for such a thing. Got it all running, and it decides to get back on the Web again. I chose not to argue.

On the other hand, I personally have yet to see a Linksys router do anything right since about 2002.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

My standard advice for fixing problems with Belkin routers involves a hammer (and a quick trip to the shops for a WRT54g).

In my case, it's a WRT54GL these days.

Up through hardware version 4, the WRT54G used an embedded Linux kernel. Because it was Linux, the firmware was open source. Various people grabbed, hacked, and spun enhanced versions. I ran one called Tomato.

Hardware v5 and above halved the memory and shifted to VXWorks as the OS, and are unhackable.

The WRT54GL still uses Linux. The plain WRT54G is VXWorks. No, thanks.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

Do you (normally) let the routers' DHCP function assign IP addresses to your individual machines, or do you assign the IPs statically? What you are describing would happen if the DHCP server is off on either of the routers and it was just being used as a hub (they may default to this if reset depending on make and model)...When you said you "reset" the router, do you mean power-cycling it (unplugging the power and waiting a few seconds), or pushing the little pinhole-button on the back that resets the router to factory defaults?

I did a pinhole reset and a power cycle. (A pinhole reset doesn't reset to factory defaults unless pressed and held for X seconds.) I did not do a hard reset to restore to factory defaults at that point. I have since. I think it's an ex-WRT54G...

I hadn't made any changes to the network config on the router or the desktop. I just had network connectivity die on me.

I also refuse to believe both routers simultaneously expired, though I've seen stranger things happen (I'll tell you sometime about how my cheapo Belkin router earned the nickname "Lazarus"). I would try assigning an IP statically to one machine, 192.168.x.y, where 'x' is usually a 0, 1, or 2; then try getting into the router again. If that works you can make the required changes. If not, try a hard reset (the pinhole-button deal) but be careful: each make has a slightly different way of doing that. The hard reset will bring everything back to default factory settings.

That's what I had to do for the Belkin.

Previously, the Linksys had been the main router, using WPA2 encryption. But I had a PDA I wanted to connect occasionally that only did WEP. So I connected the Belkin to the Linksys, and configured the Belkin as an access point. It was set to do 128 bit WEP, with MAC address filtering to restrict access to only the PDA and my desktop. The Belkin simply passed everything thought to the Linksys, which handled IP addresses via DHCP and let the PDA connect. The Linksys treated the Belkin as a trusted host, so the PDA could connect via WEP when everything else was WPA2. When the PDA wasn't connected, the Belkin was powered off. It wasn't perfectly secure, but it was secure enough I wasn't concerned.

I'd forgotten about the access point config, and had to hard rest to get to a point where I could access and configure it. Doing that required a call to Belkin support. The manual stated the reset hole was on the bottom. It lied. It turns out the rest hole is next to the power connector, but tiny enough a strong light and a good magnifying glass is helpful in finding it.

Up and running now, via the Belkin. It's not the Linksys, but it will do until I can get a replacement for that.

I hope this didn't appear "dumbed-down" but I'm tired ATM; hope I was of some help. And of course by all means ask more questions if you feel the need-

No, that's fine. You have no way to know my level of expertise. As it happens, I've been in IT in one manner or another for about 20 years, starting on IBM mainframes and working sideways and down. Most recently it's been Solaris and Linux admin among other things, and I have Win2K, WinXP, Ubuntu and Puppy Linux up at home. So I do know a little about this stuiff...
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

On the other hand, I personally have yet to see a Linksys router do anything right since about 2002.

About the time Cisco acquired them?
______
Dennis

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by kazbates

That happened to us with the movie "Bolt". I ended up getting the movie in 3D which the rest of the family liked but I had trouble seeing through the silly 3D glasses thanks to my monovision contact lens! I thought I was just buying the tickets for the regular movie and wondered why they were so expensive.

Are you going to see Avatar?

Just back. Great moving. I don't think it's an academy award winner but might get special effects. Well worth seeing. We did see the 3D version and just ate the 2D tickets.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

In my case, it's a WRT54GL these days.

The WRT54's sold these days you can easily install Linux on anyway. And to be honest, even with VxWorks, they're pretty reliable little routers. I also prefer OpenWRT to DD-WRT or Tomato.

I personally use a Asus WL-500g, which is on similar hardware to the WRT54g, but has certain advantages (like a USB port), and has Oleg's Firmware, which is pretty good. You can't get them new these days though.