Back in August I pissed and moaned about a few computer issues. After weeks of research, bugging all my tech-savvy friends and family for advice, and throwing too much money at the problems, I managed to beat a few of them down.
The most important of these victories is the network one; my computers could no longer “see†each other. Running the DOS command tracert shows you the path that a network request takes from one computer to another. Typing in tracert TELETRAN1 should show a request that originates from my PC, goes to the router, and then to Nadia’s computer. Instead, the request would hit the router, leave the network, and goes to who knows where on the Internet.
Before you say it, I could have updated my host file. However, I was not willing to accept that as an answer; the network broke for no good reason. I didn’t want to patch it; I had to fix it!
I harassed every techie I know, read countless forum threads, called support lines and chewed off the ears of MS MVPs. Nothing. The network was broken, and there was no explanation for it.
I hobbled together an ugly setup that sorta worked. My Vonage adapter became my network’s main router. The Linksys router that once served as the main one became an access point. The Belkin router I bought to fix the problem became another access point once I realized that it fixed nothing. After getting that mess set up, I got my wireless devices connected to the network again and the traffic worked as it should have. But Nadia’s computer was still unreachable via RDP (remote desktop)!
Nadia and I were in the PX today, and I decided to take a chance on another router. Maybe this one (my fourth router) would do the trick, and I am happy to report that it worked! Network traffic was back to normal. All PCs could see each other. Remote Desktop worked. The server could properly backup the PCs. A host of other problems I did not go into above also went away. I’m pretty happy right now because of that.
Nadia mounted my new Linksys WRT310N Wireless-N Gigabit router to the wall to give the network devices a bit more room, and to make the setup look kinda cool.
Router, phone, modem, Vonage adapter, 10/100 switch
Each cable is labeled for easy identification
I’ve got quite a few things connected there.
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My personal desktop
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My work desktop
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Nadia’s desktop
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My Xbox 360
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Slingbox
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Vonage adapter
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Home Server
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Cable Modem
I’ve got a number of other devices that connect wirelessly, including another 360, Zune, notebooks, and my phone.
My Linksys G and Belkin N routers
Now I’m left with two devices that work just fine as access points, but no longer serve as reliable routers. I am looking to use them to extend the wireless network’s range to blanket the house.
