I owe Linksys an apology. Well--not completely.

After my tiraid yesterday morning I went home and set up my poppin fresh D-Link BRW-2310. When I got my DHCP address I saw it was a 192.168.2.x IP. I know this doesn't mean anything to most people but as a tech that seemed like a weird subnet to assign. Then again I though this was my first D-Link so that must be how they do it. I then went to open up the Web Interface and saw "ZyXel" as the brand name. Once again this should be a D-Link but what ever. Turned on the NAT to forward to my IP address and boo-bam I could connect just fine to Dirks XLink Kai server. Sweetness. My XBOX 360 connects through WIFi along with my Wii. I needed to get the both up but for some freaky reason the GUI had no wireless setting so I figured it should work fine. WRONG. The D-Link comes with this funky third party software called "Network Magic"(that is such a 90's software name) that is supposed to let you configure the router. It couldn't find the freggin router. What the hell?? After about 30mins of fiddling I figured I'd give D-Link a call. The lady and I tried all kinds of crap for about 45mins when she finally said "lets unplug your DSL modem." That shouldn't have an effect but what ever. Unplugged the modem, reset the router and boom I got a 192.168.0.x subnet. I went to the web interface and it was D-Link. To lay it all out what happened is the Embarq 660R (ZyXel 660r ADSL) modem is also a router and firewall. Sure would have been helpful for Embarq to send some documentation that said that.

So I said all that to say this. The problem was in the Embarq modem all along. I'm gonna post after this one how I actually had to get everything running, but I did wanna say ummm, well, I'm sorry Linksys. Don't get me wrong you have given my hell before but this time it wasn't your fault. Friends?? lol (Send me some free swag Linksys guys lol)

Here is the story of Matt Harding on GMA

Wow I so want to do this. That would be so great.

Where the Hell are Matt's Outtakes

For some reason I just really like this.

Edward's Super-Powered Wifi/GPRS laptop

Edward---you are a Wardriving legend buddy lol.

I bricked my router

Last night I decided to hook up with Dirk and Lance to play a little Halo 2 on through this program named XLink Kai. Setup seemed easy enough. Downloaded installed found Dirks server. And as I tried to connect it booted me because the connection could not be established. No biggie probably just need to open up the port. Didn't help. Oh maybe it is the Windows Firewall so I turned that off--no luck. Maybe my PC is just screwed so I will try it on my Mac. Same deal. Keep in mind this is not the first time I have had such an issue with my Linksys - - so I decided to update the firmware from Linksys. No dice. So at this point I have nothing to loose. I decided to try a third party firmware I had found online. It supposedly opens up the router to act like a $600 router. Sweet should solve all my problems. I told Lance and Dirk "I'll see you on the other side" and did the update. Well--time of death 11:30pm lol . I have purchased a new D-Link WBR 2310 to take its place because in all honesty I have kind of lost faith in Linksys. I use to love the company especially because they were an off shoot of Cisco. I have lost faith to the point that I am returning the brand new 16-port Linksys switch I just bought Monday, selling my Linksys Cable modem, and re-quoting a networking job I have.

I just cant deal with crap like that anymore. It isn't the old days of make it work anymore. network gear is relatively cheap so companies can't rest on their names and hope for consumers to follow suit. Screw you Linksys and thanks for the numerous link drops, lock-ups, programs blocks, and lots of restless nights of sleep!

BTW
In case I start getting any of those comments about saving my router. I already know I can, but if you are looking for a resource here ya go: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Recover_from_a_Bad_Flash I'm just done with my router ,and though I am probably going to bring it back from the dead, I am only going to use it as a network extender.