I feel like an idiot

[lordlundar]

Yesterday, I woke up and fired up my computer to do my morning browsing. Slight problem though; No net connection. The modems linked and the routers showing no problems, but not getting a signal. Bypassing the router did no good either. I powered cycled both, as a similar incident it simply needed to be reset and rebooted my computer for good measure.

No dice.

So I place a call into the ISP tech support. They walk me through all the basic stuff and did inform me that my signal level was low. That one baffeled me as I was getting a decent signal the last time it dropped on me after the tech visited. So a service call was made and I was telling my family no net for the day.

MY sister decided to challenge me on that and tried to bring up a page. Much to my confusion and surprise, it worked. After trying out a couple of other devices, all succeeding, I found out the problem; somehow, my NIC in the machine dropped the connection. After resetting it and connecting a new Cat5 cable, it worked.

I always tell people to never ignore the simple stuff, and what do I do? I feel about 3 inches tall.

[MadMike]

I know the feeling.

A few years ago, when I was still new to the wonderful world of broadband, I went to get on the computer, and found I had no network connection.

I checked all my settings, and everything looked fine. So I called tech support, which I hate doing because I don't like admitting I don't know what I'm doing.

They had me verify some settings, and everything looked OK. So the escalated me to the next level of support, who had me check some other settings, and still could not find a problem. So they told me they'd have to schedule a visit in a couple days. Great, not only would I have to take time off from work for that, I'd also be without internet for a few days.

Shortly after I hung up the phone, I happened to glance over at the modem, and something didn't look right. A closer look revealed that the network cable had somehow work its way loose. I pushed it back in, and my connection magically came back.

I called them back to let them know I was an idiot and they could cancel the visit. Then again, I have to wonder, shouldn't that have been the first thing they had me check?

[otakuneko]

Check is power management for the nic is enabled. If it is, disable it. This silly power management problem was the culprit in many of my calls as a tsr.