This post has nothing to do with SEO. instead, it’s all about the perils and and agony of using a D-Link DIR-655, upgrading the firmware to the version 1.31NA update, and connecting to a Comcast Cable Modem

So here I am at home, working away and wishing I had more storage on my network. I have a fairly normal home network – 2 Dell Studio laptops, 1 Dell Latitude laptop, a Dell XPS desktop, 1 HP Officejet 6500 Wireless AIO printer, 3 Nintendo DS’s, 1 Nintendo DSi, a Nintendo Wii and a 500gb Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive.

I connect it all wirelessly (except the Seagate) via my D-Link DIR-655 Wireless-N router, and I get Internet from Comcast via cable modem.

I absolutely LOVE the D-Link DIR-655 Wireless-N router – it works flawlessly, it’s small and elegant looking, and it is very powerful.

I used to be real happy with my network because I could share a bunch of stuff from the Seagate FreeAgent to all my computers – I have it hooked up to my Dell XPS desktop via eSATA so it’s fast. I run Network Magic on all my boxes and it makes file sharing super simple.

When I switched from Zone Alarm to Norton 360 I lost the ability to share easily – I’m at my minds firewall limits I guess. But really, this is the ONLY downside to Norton 360 that I’ve found. I LOVE that app, absolutely.

But I digress – on to the point of my story….

So – I wanted to connect my Seagate FreeAgent to my D-Link DIR-655 and use the D-Link SharePort Utility to create some network storage. I’ve used SharePort kinda successfully in the past and checked for an update to the software on dlink.com. It looked like a simple update to the router’s firmware.

What could be so bad, right?

I follow D-Link’s directions like a good boy, hard wire my laptop to the router and back up my router’s .gws file. I download and explode the patch file, and then install it on the router. I reconnect to the router, login, upload the patch and….

No workee.

OMG

Try it again, then again and again, then omg again, and I know that I’m in for an hour of completely reconfiguring my router. Fun. But not SO bad cuz I’ve done this before.

Ha.

I get everything reconnected to the router wirelessly in short order, I’ve done this before many times and I understand the whacked out D-Link interface. Success! All hardware connects to the router wirelessly and I am ready for Internet! I connect to the Internet and…

No workee #2.

Bigger OMG.

4 hours later, I’m frantically using 2 blackberries to find discussions on how to connect the stupid D-Link DIR-655 to a Comcast cable modem. It’s a Saturday and I have 3 kids pissed off that they can’t get on Club Penguin, Yahoo IM and YouTube. I finally hard wire the laptop to the cable modem, copy the IP address and all the network settings, and hard code that into the router as a static IP connection.

I have Internet!

Ahhhh, yes. Victory. Nobody can defeat me, I am the master of all that is home networking!!! Witness my Glory!!!

Fast-forward 5 days to Thursday night, 8pm. ‘Dad, the Internet is broken!’

OMG #3.

I lost my IP address from Comcast. They do use DHCP after all.

I’m frantically looking for help again on 2 Blackberries, I even call Comcast support to see if my connection is bad and of course, no, it’s not, they connect to the cable modem, check it out, it’s all fine, And no, Comcast doesn’t support the D-Link DIR-655 router so they can’t help me. (Oh, and don’t get me started on how fricking hard it is to get through to their tech support on the phone!!!! After 15 attempts and always getting sent to the pay my bill option I stopped selecting anything, and tricked their automated phone system into giving me tech support…)

6 hours later, I’m totally at wit’s end. I give up and call D-Link’s Dir-655 warranty support number – 1.877.453.5465. I get a super nice woman on the phone, I explain my predicament to her and we get started. (yes, I could have called them 5 days previous, but I’m a guy and I don’t EVER ask for directions OR help….)

She has me connect the router to the modem, hard wire my laptop to the router and login to the router. We go to the ‘Setup’ tab and choose the ‘Manual Internet Connection Setup’ button. Now we’re on the WAN screen, and she has me change my connection type to ‘Dynamic IP (DHCP)’, clone my PC’s MAC address, leave any other settings in place, and choose the ‘Save Settings’ button.

After that she had me go into the ‘Wireless Network Setup Wizard’ but I had that all working so I didn’t make any changes.

She told me to reboot the router which I did happily.

And when it comes back up I’m online.

Just as simple as that.

But it worked. All I to fix this problem was to simply go into that Internet Connection Setup screen, choose DHCP, and submit the change.

Simple.

And I am dumbfounded. Still am.

charlie

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