« Biker vs. Police | Main | Fort Jennifer »
March 28, 2009
Network Problems Resolved
Well, I managed to get my network cobbled back together this morning. The problem is that my house is just too dry this time of year and I lose a lot of equipment to static electricity. Plus, with the snow storms, the power is up and down and there are spikes in the power. I think I need to build a separate computer room in the house at some point with a UPS and controlled environment. But it's not something I can do today.
The most recent problem was caused when my D-Link DGS-2205 Gigabit switch died on me during the snowstorm. I replaced the switch with a 4-port Belkin "My Essentials" ME1004-R wireless 802.11(g) router I found lying around.
Of course, it took me a few tries to get it working properly, because although it is technically a wireless router, I didn't want it to act like anything but a switch, so I had to get into it and reconfigure it. I turned off the wireless functionality and disabled the DHCP server and the NAT translation, etc. Eventually, I saw a feature called "Use as Access Point", which I enabled and then assigned it a static IP address.
After that, the only trick is getting the cables plugged in correctly which always confuses me. The trick is to plug a cable from the Modem port of the Belkin router into one of the numbered ports in the Linksys router. And, of course, plugging anything into the Uplink port on the Linksys router brings the network to a screeching halt. But for now, all is well with my little network.
Now I have to replace the bad video card in my server...
Posted by Rob Kiser on March 28, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Comments
Lesson: Have two of every network device, pre-configured. In event of emergency, simply swap out the bad one for the good one.
When the excrement hits the oscillating air conditioning device, and there's a blizzard outside, is not the time to drive down to Best Buy for spare parts.
Fortunately you had a spare laying around. As I usually do, but not always.
Posted by: Robert R. on March 28, 2009 at 5:47 PM