MAH INTERNETZ ARE BACK OMG

[floatingleaf]

This is just a brief check-in post to notify anyone who might care that I had no internet access for the past two weeks. The ethernet port on my cable modem gave up the ghost, and it took me this long to figure out the problem and get it fixed. Needless to say, those two weeks have not been fun. At first I thought I had done some damage to my lovely new PC, because I was using it during a bad thunderstorm, and that's when my connection went dead. There was a loud clap of thunder - so loud and so close that I literally jumped up in my chair - and the screen went dark. When I rebooted the PC after the storm, everything seemed fine again - except for the fact that I had "no network access", even though all the lights on the modem were on, telling me I was "online". My first conclusion was that the network cable needed replacing - but I didn't manage to buy a new one until the next day, and when I did, I found that it didn't solve the problem. So I thought it must be an issue with the PC. So I spent the next few days exchanging messages with a random guy on the online HP support forum (during work hours, obviously), as well as hunting for a USB to ethernet adapter, which he advised me to buy (so I could connect to the modem through a USB port on the PC, because he thought it must be the ethernet port on the PC that got damaged during the storm). As it turned out, such a device is extremely hard to find in a store. I traipsed around half of Chicago before I finally located one at MicroCenter. Alas, I wasn't able to make it work properly (either it wasn't compatible with Windows 7, or just refused to cooperate for some other obscure reason). So there followed more message exchanges with Mr. Random Guy - until I finally lost my patience and bought another networking device, this time ordering it online (I thought I was saving time and money by looking for it in local stores first - but I still ended up paying a ridiculous amount for shipping, just so I could have it delivered the next day by UPS). And guess what? The new device, according to my computer, was "working properly" - but I still couldn't connect.:/ So, more message exchanges with Mr. Random Guy, who was quickly running out of ideas on what else might work. Finally - FINALLY - we came to the conclusion it can't possibly be the PC that is at fault here. And that it must therefore be the modem - even though it tells me I am connected. So I left the HP forum in peace and switched my desperate appeals for help to Comcast. I spent about an hour on the phone with their customer service representative last Thursday night, trying to troubleshoot my connection. Nothing worked. So today I had an appointment with a handsome young technician, who promptly diagnosed the problem and switched my old modem for a new one. And... that's it. Problem solved. It was the modem all along. I wasted two weeks, and about a hundred bucks total, just because I was: a) clueless, b) typically reluctant to make a phone call. Yeah. C'est moi. *headdesk* HOWEVER, right now I am just so deliriously happy to have my internet back, I don't even care anymore.:D

Btw, I have only been back online for a few hours and haven't had a chance to look at much. I do plan to scroll back through those two weeks of flist and catch up with everyone - but, of course, that will take some time. So if anything momentous happened to any of my flisters since August 20th, I am blissfully unaware of it for the moment. Of course, I was able to check my private email at work - but LJ is simply one of those sites I never access from the office (just to be safe, since I have very little privacy due to my computer screen at work facing the open space between the cubicles, as well as the corridor). So I have been utterly deprived.:/ Same goes for all other fannish stuff. So if I'm quiet again for the next week or two, it probably means I'm busy catching up.:)

Not that I could keep from posting for too long - as this entry clearly proves (I barely got my connection back, I have TONS of stuff to read/look at/respond to, and what do I do first?... make an LJ post, of course :D). Yes, it's an addiction, and yes, I felt absolutely miserable without it. I don't even want to go into the amount of anxiety I experienced from not knowing how or when I was going to get my internet back. It would be ridiculous if it wasn't rather sad, really. But that's a topic for a whole another post. Now I have a huge pot of vegetable stew simmering on the stove, and my stomach is growling. So I'll be back later. *scurries off*

Comments

[surreysmum.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! There are lots of lovely pics floating around of Viggo in his tux in Venice last night. Don't miss those!

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

As well as lots of lovely pics of Viggo groping his male colleagues, apparently.;) Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Wouldn't want to miss it for the world...;P

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

Glad to see you back sweetie! I was wondering what had happened and hoped you were ok.

**hugs**

PS. Veggie stew -- yummy!

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I am still buried under a backlog of emails, but it's clearing up slowly. It feels SOOO good to be back online...:P