0900: I turned up to work yesterday morning to find the skylights in the office had been left open, and as sods law states, it peee'd it down all night soaking everything under them. One of these things being the server cabinet.
How on earth nothing was blown up was beyond me, but the only casualty we suffered was the ageing 2wire BT router, no power getting to it at all, tried a new power pack, different socket etc.... nothing.
0930: Bit the bullit and called BT's technical support number, an hour later, i got through to the correct person who informed me, as the router is older than 1 year, they cant replace it. Our only options are to either ring the sales department and order a new connection (for the same price), and they'll send us a new router, but it'll take 48 hours, or we could buy our own modem.
1045: We opt to buy a cheap as chips modem to tide us over the 48 hours. I call maplins which is a 10 minute walk away and ask about their cheapest modem, 19.97 the guy replies, OK i'll take one, be there in 10 minutes.
1050: I frog march the boss to the bank to give me £20 and set off to maplins
1100: i arrive at maplins, ask for the £19.97 modem i just enquired about. 'our computer says we have 400 in stock, but we cant find them'. Ok, i'm in a rush, what's your next cheapest on i said. '£30', ok, i'll take it.
It's made by a company called addon.
1115: i get the modem back to the office, plug it all in, seems to work. Follow the instructions to set it up, get to the login as admin bit. It doesn't accept the default login password. F*ck! try resetting it, nothing, try login in through USB, nothing.
1135: i call maplins and get some monkey who doesn't know what a router is, i give up and say i'ts knackered, i'm bringing it back.
1145: arrive at maplins again, pickup replacement addom modem/router
1200: arrive back at work, plug it all in, same ******* problem
Ok, it's got to be me i think, i try the router in a different pc that's not the server, same problem
1215: i call maplins again, this time i get someone who knows what they're talking about, he says he'll get in touch with his technical department and call me back.
1225: to my surprise, he calls me back and tells me the problem is because i'm trying to install the modem on a pc that already has had a modem installed on it. Ok, i humour him but point out that i've tried it on my client pc which has never had a modem installed on it. He admits defeat and gives me the number of his technical department.
1235: i call the 'technical' help department, but it's an 0906 number and is blocked at my work. I decide to take the modem back to maplins.
1245: walk back to maplins, discuss the finer points of 'addon' with the clerk who convinces me just to spend a bit more and get a known brand. I choose a Linksys broadband router and wireless adapter pack which is on special offer for £50
1300: get back to the office, unwrap the modem, looks good. Hook it all up, turn it on. IT WORKS
1315: set about setting up the router to work on the server, it takes me 45 minutes to realise the login name the dozy receptionist gave me is wrong.
1400: call bt to get the correct login name and password.
1440: 40 minute queue, get correct login name.
1445: logged in on router, everything connected. server now has an internet connection and i download all the emails to exchange as quick as i can before setting about getting the rest of the network setup.
1500: being the network noob i am, i dont know how to get the rest of the network connected, i figure it's some kind of ip/DNS issue so set about running ICW, this doesn't work, all i achieve is to mess everthing up. Start again from scratch only this time i go into the management console for the router and change it's ip to the same ip the old router used to be.
This royaly fecks everything up
1545: Realise i cant log onto the router anymore and the quick setup software cant find it. It's essentially vanished from the network. Time to do a hard reset.
1550: I take my trusty reset pin and hard reset the modem, power lights go off, come back on but dont stay lit, now i've got a flashing power light and no DSL connection light.
1555: I now spend about 15 minutes trying in vein to connect to the modem and trying again to reset.
I give up and slowly cry in the corner.
1610: i call the linksys helpline (note, never ever, ever. . . i repeat, ever! call linksys)
1700: i'm on the phone for nearly an hour before i get anyone. I go through the usual process of resetting, tryign to log on with the advisor on the phone, all to no avail and he comes to the conclusion the modem is broken. Gives me a reference number and tells me to take it back to the shop
1800: go home thoroughly wee'd off. but take the modem with me to go to maplins the next morning to swap it.
today.
0900: Call into maplins on the way to work to find i've earned myself a nickname 'Oh, it's you. The ADSL guy'. I explain the issue, shout a bit, pick up another router (the same linksys model), and storm out of the shop.
0910: I get to the office, open the router, instantly notice that this one has already been opened and scruffily put back in the box. I plug it all in and switch on the power. Almost predictably, the power light is flashing. I try to log onto the admin page but keep getting page not found error.
0930: i get back in the car and head back to maplins for a 4th time, this will be the 5th router in 2 days.
I get there to meet a sour faced clerk, so i accuse him of having a laugh with me! why give me a router that's already been returned. He says he knew it'd been returned but didn't know why.
I said, right, i've had enough, i'll have my money back and i'll go somewhere else. He said, 'i cant offer you another modem anyway, you've already broken 3'
I shove my fists in my pockets to prevent myself knocking the little scrote out!
0950: i get in the car and drive across town to PCworld (we have a business account there).
1010: The cheapest router they have is a wired netgear modem/router for £45. I take it and stick it straight on the businees account.
1030: Get back to the office and spend over 3 hours setting it up, everything works perfectly, but i still cant get the rest of the network connected.
1330: I realise the new modem has downloaded new DNS servers from BT, and as such, my network is getting lost somewhere. I update the DNS servers and everything works as it should
1400: post message on GSV forums explaining my ordeal
Hope you enjoy the read, i certainly havn't enjoyed the last day and a half!
