So, having bought the Linksys WRT54G2 router together with a USB adapter, I opened the package up a few days ago and proceeded to setup. Nothing could have prepared me for what was about to come. I’m fortunate I’ve acquired patience for computer troubleshooting all these years. Little did I know that this wireless setup would be testing my patience to its limits.

OK, I open up the box, and there’s the black Linksys router, together with a setup CD, Ethernet cable, a brief installation guide, a power cable and adapter. I look at the CD; it has a bold sticker saying Run CD first before connecting cables. Well, who am I to argue with that, so I pop the CD into my DVD-ROM drive, and it does a couple of diagnostics, tells me to connect the Ethernet cables, plug in the router’s power supply, and here I go on the home stretch—at least that’s what I thought. Remember Murphy’s Law—“If something can go wrong, it will…” And it did—up pops an error message at the end: Error 322: Your router could not be configured correctly. Please check the cables, blah blah blah. I exit the setup, and repeat the whole process again, and again. Error 322 keeps popping up! At this point, ordinary mortals would probably have picked up the router and thrown it out of the nearest window. But remember—we’re dealing with a computer geek here, and us geeks never give up!

The number one rule of computer troubleshooting is—if it fails, try something else. Alright, enough of that darn CD. I take out the router and test my Internet with my existing D-Link DSL500G ADSL modem. The Internet works—good. Connect the Linksys into the picture, ensuring the cables are properly connected, and—Internet fails. OK, I’m getting somewhere now. Remembering that my D-Link was configured with a static IP address, I go into the Linksys web configuration page (using Internet Explorer) and enter a few settings. Then I test—no Internet. Change this—test. Change that—test. The internet was dead as a door knob.

What do I do when things don’t work out? I go swimming. Or make some strong coffee. It’s important to take a step back and not get so caught up that you could really throw the stuff out the window—besides, I could hurt somebody, right? And end up paying for more stuff. Anyway, here come my two good friends online for some friendly banter and chat: Doris and Uncle Ian. It’s nice to chat with fellow geeks, exchanging our failures and successes. Not only that, I called the shop up, where I bought the router from. They gave some advice regarding the router settings, but unfortunately that didn’t work.

At this juncture, I’m like taking two steps back. I re-evaluate my current settings:

1. My D-Link router was configured for a static IP address, and worked when the Linksys was taken out of the system. In other words, I could access the Internet.
2. I did a factory reset of the Linksys. Opened up the Linksys web configuration page, and configured it to have a static IP address, together with a subnet mask, gateway, and my ISP’s DNS addresses.
3. In Vista, I opened up the Network and Sharing Center > View status > Properties. Opened up Internet Protocol Version 4. In the General tab, I chose Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically. Previously I had specified the IP address and DNS addresses (which did not succeed in allowing me to connect to the Internet). I just had to try every option.
4. Click on OK and close all those windows. And what do you know—it works! The Internet is accessible once more, wonder of wonders.

Now please, don’t ask me why it works—I’m just glad it does! Which goes to show, perseverance and patience does pay off, even if it is a little delayed. Now excuse me while I go configure that USB adapter for my male offspring. That’s another story for another post.

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