UPDATE: Computer help needed following router disaster.

[John Schmidt]

I installed the router, spent some "quality time" (?) trying to get it to work, to no avail. So, I called the service provider, another 40 minutes of "quality time" and finally got it to work....somewhat. My wife's new Kindle did work with the WIFI function. However, each time I went to log on the internet, regardless of browser, I had to go through a malfunction search/repair process. Then, we lost the phone service so it was back with the service provider for another 20 minutes. It was a new experience talking to them, I actually got their Tech Service from the local office....both times. When I asked where they were located I also tested them by asking what is the name of the crossroads immediately east of their office and where does their road lead to after that intersection. A bit tricky but both nailed it, something an outsider would not know. So, we went to bed last night happy with the idea that all's well that ends well when it came to routers and WIFI on our system. Got up this morning, had to go through the same "search/repair" function again and only got the phone back after rebooting both the router and modem. I finally told my wife the router is coming out, which I did. Now, everything works fine except....NO SOUND ON ANYTHING. Now what?

I wish I had never installed the router, it gave us nothing but headaches from the start. And now the sound problem. I even "restored" back to an early December date, again....no help. All cables are in place and I can't find any settings messed up. When the router was giving trouble, none of that was ever touched so I'm at a loss at this point. I'm open to any suggestions.

UPDATE: When I removed the router, I apparently got a little ham-fisted. I have a power strip and the router was plugged into it. While searching for loose cables and such under the desk, I noticed the power strip with the on/off switch not lit, I must have hit it when I unplugged the router. I was on Skype at the time, I switched on the power strip and voila....I have sound. The router is staying out of the system, caused too much trouble so we'll just do without WIFI. Lived this long without it, don't need it to survive. 

[Robert]

Sent you a pm

[MarkT]

I have two wifi LANs, for redundancy in case one fails.  One is incorporated into the multiplexed DSL modem from Qwest, the other is a Sisco, plugged into the DSL modem - yeah I know, still a single point of failure on the DSL but I can activate the cell-phone modem from Sprint if I have to.  Uptime on the DSL line is over 99%, while it's "broadband" is rated D- by speedtest.net, at only 5MBps D/L and 0.70Mb U/L.  Still enough for most things - just forget doing much with videos.

Anyway, both wifi routers have never failed - just the incoming DSL line once in a while.  Setup was somewhat cryptic but not really a challenge for a retired software engineer.  I'd say, grab a local teenager and offer him a video game on his favorite gaming platform if he will admin your wifi setup.  My bet is you'll be up in no time.

[Patrick]

Well, thats too bad. Hate to hear that. And, I understand your frustration. This stuff can be a royal PITA.

[Mgbringo]

Go back and read my advice from your original post. I Recommended getting the 3G Kindle and not messing with wifi. Wifi is not for the unexperienced. It can be very difficult ,especially when you dont need it.  I just retired after 42 years in IT and rarely have met wifi that is simple. It also ends up exposing your home network to the outside world which can be harmful if not secured correctly.

I still recommend purchasing the Kindle Voyage with wifi and 3G. No set up needed, it just works almost everywhere.

[John Schmidt]

We made the weekly library run for my wife today. While there and she was looking for a new batch of books to read(goes through nearly 1/2 doz. a week), I had the gal in the reference dept. show me how to set up the new Kindle. Since it's for my wife, I used her library card and email, kinda neat once she showed me how it was done. I called my wife over and she chose one book to start with, they have nearly 1500 freebies in the fiction section that she can download. I'm going to give the router hookup one more try, see how it works out for us. I can get WIFI from our cable provider but the thing that bugs me isn't so much the $6/mo. extra, it's the lousy $50 one time charge just to change the modem that has WIFI in it. Cable companies have the upper hand it would seem, and since it's what my honey wants for now....that's what we use. When I was living alone quite a few years back, all I had was a big antenna with a rotor and could pick more stations than I ever needed to watch. Now, I go along with the flow....so to speak.   

[cookiedough]

Wouldn't surprise me if you might have the same or similar issue like I have.  TDS, telephone data system,  HAVE TO get the DSL so-called high speed internet thru them only decent choice we have.  The problem since Wednesday is their servers are junk and outdated unable to handle the volume of users on their servers.

they emailed me on Wednesday as well stating they are converting all from gmail thru google which is no longer supported thru TDS to mail.tds.net  thru them.  My best guess is TDS has a bunch of idiots in IT working there now being 3 full says cannot convert all of users all at once and is crashing their servers.  PLus,  TDS is too cheap to care and do the right thing and upgrade to new servers/cabling to be able to support all of us end users.  They admitted they are overcapacitated several years ago and is ONLY getting worse now to the point of might as well not have anything.  Calling yet again Saturday morning like I did today on hold for 30+ minutes as well as called on Wednesday.  Going to keep calling harrassing them until they either get out of business also going to better business bureau or they give me free internet for life until they can fix this issue been going on for years.

Why would anyone pay for 5 or 15 megs of service when all you get is AT MOST 1.0 meg and at times like now only 1/3 of 1 meg which is a total joke.  Kids cannot do netflix is useless now and youtube and pics are useless can't even open email is too slow crashes their server.  Nice 3-day conversion going on - UNREAL.