So, I been having my share of little problems with my router. After doing lots of test, I decided to give a firmware update a try. It reset my settings back to factory as exspected, and so I reconfigured as I had before. Now, at that same time, I had bought a wireless printer, and I had set that up with WPS. No sweat. All the computers in my network were online and running fine. What could possible go wrong. HA!
So a few days later, my brother tells me he can't go online. I take his laptop, look at it, delete the wireless profile and re-enter the network settings. Boom, back online. Give it back to him and he is good for a couple days. Later, he says he can't go online again. Now when I installed the printer, I had to install a IP printer driver manually (don't ask) and messed around with some registry keys. So when he started having intermident wireless issues, I thought, damn, time to go regedit diving. I spent hours, pouring through it and the group policies. And no matter what I did, I could not get it to stay online after rebooting. So I think maybe it's some service that is acting up that isn't allowing AES, so I turn the security down on the router to TKIP...then WPA, then WEP...still, doesn't solve problem. So I turn off the security, and it connects, but sometimes looses the IP. But as soon as I set up the network in anyway, it gives me issue in connecting at all. This is on multiple computers now, so I know something is up.
So I reset the router to factory. Then I scan for available network, see the one marked d-link and connect. But then I see something else. I see my old network name. Huh?? Ok..maybe a old wireless profile, so I delete all of them. Still see it..maybe some underground wireless client? So try another computer..and another..they all still see my old SSID. Then I thought maybe the router is..well something with WPS and NIMO? Producing two networks? So I unplug the power from the router exspecting both network to drop out..ofcourse right? No. It still FRAKIN there??? So..I am really grasping at straws? Maybe the printer driver is working as a ad-hoc network? So I turn off all the computer except one. Still there. Maybe my modem has a wireless client magically built in? I unplug that, still there. So I am like..ok, time to get serious. I fire up my naughty slackware box. Custom build I did with a linux distro specifically to sniff packets and monitor my and other networks. This is no rouge shadow of a network. This is broadcasting..trafficing..this is a real network. So I start getting paranoid. Maybe my neibor tried to copy my network somehow. But 100% signal strength? So anyone know what the issue was? Anyone want to guess?
Let me give the moral of the story before I tell. When you buy a new router, don't give your old one to your roomate as a gift. So yes, as a gift, I gave my old router to my roomate, thinking one day he would make use of it. What I didn't know, was two weeks ago, when he couldn't he couldn't get online, he had the brilliant idea of plugging the old router in and putting it inside his desktop. Yes..he put the router inside his tower. No..I am not lying. I could not make this up. When I set up my new DGL-4500, I copied the SSID over to decrease the impact of the change. By him plugging the router in, it was broadcasting the same network, which had the duplicate SSID as my new network. I did not find this out until I dragged my friend over with very exspensive signal tracking equipment to find the wireless network I thought some stalker had installed in my house.
So yes. There it is. When I found out I laughed for 10min straight. I thought everyone, including the Mods, could use a good laugh. Just goes to show you, the simplest explanation, no matter how strange, is usually the correct one.
Author
Topic: Funny story about issue with DGL-4500 (Read 3159 times)