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Several months ago, the house experienced a loss of power that turned my D-Link router into a brick of rather inefficient design, despite the fact it was plugged into an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). A couple of days ago, a middle-of-the-night power loss caused the UPS to start squawking, and upon checking out what was going on, I assumed (that word again) that the power loss would be of short duration.
I lay on my bed in the dark (the network electronics on the other side of my closet door) and tried to fall asleep to the rhythmic beep-beep-beep of the alarm, but failed to do so because after about 5 minutes, the alarm stopped, whereupon I got up and confirmed that the UPS had shut down, shutting down everything that was plugged into it.
In retrospect, it was the following morning that, for some reason, I lost my laptop's wireless connection to the home network. After fiddling with wires for a bit, I cycled power on the router and everything returned to normal. This dance was repeated on a daily basis until this morning, when it became apparent that the wireless network was coming and going, in a way that suggested to me the kind of electrical problem that involves an intermittent contact resulting from some kind of damage.
Curiously enough, the Raspberry Pi I set up to hang off the router as a separate access point was not affected. (This separate network is the one our Airbnb guests use, eliminating the need to give out the house network password.) After a few minutes of thought, I concluded that perhaps it wasn't the entire router that was on the fritz, just the wireless part. I hooked up my laptop to the router using a network cable, and connected immediately.
So it turned out the crazy-expensive router I bought just a little while ago (granted, at a reduced price because it was factory refurbished) had apparently gone to join its ancestors.
A quick look online suggested a likely DD-WRT-capable replacement was available at Fry's (just down the road near I-45) for—ga-a-ack!—twenty bucks. Reverse sticker shock. Can such a low-cost unit do the job? I decided to risk a double sawbuck to find out.
While I was at Fry's, I bought a replacement UPS, too, just in case it contributed to the demise of my hardware. In any event, it was long past the time when it should have been replaced.
Once I got home, I spent some time moving the hardware out of my closet. I then flashed DD-WRT onto my new TP LINK TL-WR841N, and the process was a real snap, thanks in part to a well-written web how-to that I've since Evernoted and bookmarked. Once the router was running DD-WRT, I carefully reconstructed the router configuration from notes made copiously the last time I had to do that.
That done, stuff seems to be working. That said, this year's hardware budget has taken a real beating, yes indeed-y! :)
As a result of today's peregrinations, I only got 1/.3 of the way through the one remaining item on my plate. I hope to get it done by Wednesday.
Cheers...
I lay on my bed in the dark (the network electronics on the other side of my closet door) and tried to fall asleep to the rhythmic beep-beep-beep of the alarm, but failed to do so because after about 5 minutes, the alarm stopped, whereupon I got up and confirmed that the UPS had shut down, shutting down everything that was plugged into it.
In retrospect, it was the following morning that, for some reason, I lost my laptop's wireless connection to the home network. After fiddling with wires for a bit, I cycled power on the router and everything returned to normal. This dance was repeated on a daily basis until this morning, when it became apparent that the wireless network was coming and going, in a way that suggested to me the kind of electrical problem that involves an intermittent contact resulting from some kind of damage.
Curiously enough, the Raspberry Pi I set up to hang off the router as a separate access point was not affected. (This separate network is the one our Airbnb guests use, eliminating the need to give out the house network password.) After a few minutes of thought, I concluded that perhaps it wasn't the entire router that was on the fritz, just the wireless part. I hooked up my laptop to the router using a network cable, and connected immediately.
So it turned out the crazy-expensive router I bought just a little while ago (granted, at a reduced price because it was factory refurbished) had apparently gone to join its ancestors.
A quick look online suggested a likely DD-WRT-capable replacement was available at Fry's (just down the road near I-45) for—ga-a-ack!—twenty bucks. Reverse sticker shock. Can such a low-cost unit do the job? I decided to risk a double sawbuck to find out.
While I was at Fry's, I bought a replacement UPS, too, just in case it contributed to the demise of my hardware. In any event, it was long past the time when it should have been replaced.
Once I got home, I spent some time moving the hardware out of my closet. I then flashed DD-WRT onto my new TP LINK TL-WR841N, and the process was a real snap, thanks in part to a well-written web how-to that I've since Evernoted and bookmarked. Once the router was running DD-WRT, I carefully reconstructed the router configuration from notes made copiously the last time I had to do that.
That done, stuff seems to be working. That said, this year's hardware budget has taken a real beating, yes indeed-y! :)
As a result of today's peregrinations, I only got 1/.3 of the way through the one remaining item on my plate. I hope to get it done by Wednesday.
Cheers...
