First let me say that I am glad to be back on the 'net. I have been with internet service since early Tuesday morning and just got it back. It all started early Tuesday morning when I decided to move the computer desk in the shack from the north-west corner to the south wall in order to allow for a larger operating position for my ham station.Since the telephone line connection was on the north wall and not wanting to string a line along the floor I decided to run a new wire in the basement and bring it up behind the new computer position. No big deal right? Wrong. This is where I must state how much I hate it when people use the wrong type of goods/tools to do a job. 
I measured and drilled a hole up thru the basement ceiling into the south wall of the shack exactly where the computer was to be and even managed to snake the wire up thru the junction box on the first try. All seemed good. I then strung the wire out across the basement ceiling to join up with an existing run of telco line. I carefully cut the insulation from the telco quad wire revieling the green/red/black/yellow wires which I carefully spliced into and wrapped up so as to not short anything out. I was hoping nobody would call right then as 90 volts at 20 Hertz does not feel good at all especially while perched on a step ladder with one's head up between the floor joists. I was lucky,the phone rang only moments after I cleared myself from the line. Back up stairs I went to connect the new line to my DSL modem and check the net. Hmmmmm............. no WAN link. I rebooted the modem and still nothing. I checked connections and tried again. Nothing. I checked the modem on the old line and nothing.I checked the phone in another room and heard a CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! on the line as well as dial tone. WTF?? I asked myself. As I sat there pondering each step I had done it hit me. I had spliced into a telco type quad wire but was it really the telco wire? Answer: NO! IT WAS THE FREAKING POWER SUPPLY CABLE THAT POWERS MY HOUSE ALARM SYSTEM!!! Apparently it is common and standard practice to run typical quad wire for low voltage applications and I had placed full power supply voltage directly on the input of my DSL modem frying it.A call to tech support and two days and $60 later I had a new modem on hand. Setup today was another story. When talking to tech support I prefer to use a regular hardwired phone as it is easier to hold and type at the same time as well as enter numbers while jumping hoops thru menues. First I simply plugged a phone into the old computer jack location. I had dial tone as well as a loud HISSSSSSSSSSS!!!! Opps, I forgot that line was unfiltered for the DSL connection. No problem I had a couple spare DSL filters on hand and plugged one in. Hmmmm..... no dial tone at all now. WTF? If it weren't for bad luck I would have no luck at all. I thought I would try the other filter instead. The filter was stuck in the jack and would not come out. After lots of choice words it eventually came out but not before breaking the lock tab. I plugged in the second filter and checked the phone. AHAA!! Dial tone. Now to call tech support and have the modem setup. GREAT! The keypad on the bloody phone does not work! I ended up saying the hell with it and used a cordless phone and all the inconveniences that go along with it.
Tech support walked me thru everything but nothing worked. I still could not get a connection. I refreshed my IP address a couple times but nothing. I made the mistake of mentioning I had a four port router inline and was told to get the router sorted out first and call them back as they felt that was the issue even tho I told them it was out of the system and the modem was connected directly to the computer. Working on a very empty stomache and being somewhat pissed off I checked the settings one last time and said "I wonder what will happen if I reboot the computer?" Well I'll tell you what happened,this post is what happened. The settings were refreshed and I got my internet connection back. I go back to work tomorrow and i hope things are better there then they have been here the last couple days. :sad:
Forgot to add that on a good note, I managed to get my ham station back onthe air with a modest inverted L antenna but it's better than nothing.
I measured and drilled a hole up thru the basement ceiling into the south wall of the shack exactly where the computer was to be and even managed to snake the wire up thru the junction box on the first try. All seemed good. I then strung the wire out across the basement ceiling to join up with an existing run of telco line. I carefully cut the insulation from the telco quad wire revieling the green/red/black/yellow wires which I carefully spliced into and wrapped up so as to not short anything out. I was hoping nobody would call right then as 90 volts at 20 Hertz does not feel good at all especially while perched on a step ladder with one's head up between the floor joists. I was lucky,the phone rang only moments after I cleared myself from the line. Back up stairs I went to connect the new line to my DSL modem and check the net. Hmmmmm............. no WAN link. I rebooted the modem and still nothing. I checked connections and tried again. Nothing. I checked the modem on the old line and nothing.I checked the phone in another room and heard a CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! on the line as well as dial tone. WTF?? I asked myself. As I sat there pondering each step I had done it hit me. I had spliced into a telco type quad wire but was it really the telco wire? Answer: NO! IT WAS THE FREAKING POWER SUPPLY CABLE THAT POWERS MY HOUSE ALARM SYSTEM!!! Apparently it is common and standard practice to run typical quad wire for low voltage applications and I had placed full power supply voltage directly on the input of my DSL modem frying it.A call to tech support and two days and $60 later I had a new modem on hand. Setup today was another story. When talking to tech support I prefer to use a regular hardwired phone as it is easier to hold and type at the same time as well as enter numbers while jumping hoops thru menues. First I simply plugged a phone into the old computer jack location. I had dial tone as well as a loud HISSSSSSSSSSS!!!! Opps, I forgot that line was unfiltered for the DSL connection. No problem I had a couple spare DSL filters on hand and plugged one in. Hmmmm..... no dial tone at all now. WTF? If it weren't for bad luck I would have no luck at all. I thought I would try the other filter instead. The filter was stuck in the jack and would not come out. After lots of choice words it eventually came out but not before breaking the lock tab. I plugged in the second filter and checked the phone. AHAA!! Dial tone. Now to call tech support and have the modem setup. GREAT! The keypad on the bloody phone does not work! I ended up saying the hell with it and used a cordless phone and all the inconveniences that go along with it.
Tech support walked me thru everything but nothing worked. I still could not get a connection. I refreshed my IP address a couple times but nothing. I made the mistake of mentioning I had a four port router inline and was told to get the router sorted out first and call them back as they felt that was the issue even tho I told them it was out of the system and the modem was connected directly to the computer. Working on a very empty stomache and being somewhat pissed off I checked the settings one last time and said "I wonder what will happen if I reboot the computer?" Well I'll tell you what happened,this post is what happened. The settings were refreshed and I got my internet connection back. I go back to work tomorrow and i hope things are better there then they have been here the last couple days. :sad:
Forgot to add that on a good note, I managed to get my ham station back onthe air with a modest inverted L antenna but it's better than nothing.
