Well it looks like my server has hit a small patch of bad luck these past 2 days and just wanted to give out a heads up on the crazy things that have been going on and maybe get some insight (if there is any out there) on a router problem.

I am not sure exactly what time it went down yesterday but I am pretty sure it was around midday (forgot to check the log). We had a good run of thunderstorms come thru the area and by the time I made it home from work I realized the power had gone off. Well no big deal right......reboot server machine and restart UT. Problem solved.......or so I thought. I never thought to check and see if the server actually posted for other people to play last night and went on my merry way. About an hour after I rebooted everything I finally sat back down to watch some car videos on Top Gear Broadband (BBC car tv show). This is when I started to notice some router problems.

The router is a Linksys (sorry trying to remember it) BER41 or something close to that number and the first thing that led me to believe something was wrong was a loud humming noise that lasted only about 2 seconds but when this noise happened I also noticed the server computer sitting on the windows desktop showed the little network connection unplugged icon down in the bottom right along with losing connection to the video I was watching. This happened about 3 other times but always seemed to pick up the video so I just ignored it and contiued then crashed for the night.

Well this morning I get up and while putting on my shoes to leave for work I sat down and check the server. Well that is funny.....still sitting on start up map. This is when I realized it had not shown up for others to play. Shutdown .... reboot.....restart UT. Booted up second computer to see if it was showing and still a no go. I booted out of both machines and checked the router settings. The router had reassigned the local IP stuff so I had the port settings wrong......fixed them......restarted everything. Get everything back going and for some reason it is still not showing up. Since I had to leave for work I just turned the lot off. I will look into the problem tonight after I get home from work and see what the deal is.

Back to the router thing real quick. When it would make a noise a red light would show up and the 2 computers connected lights would go out. After 2 seconds reappear and back to normal. Any clue what would be causing something like this. Never seen a router do this. And does anybody else's router hum? If the router is just plugged in by itself with nothing else connected it makes a rather loud electrical hum which it has been doing for at least 6+ months....maybe longer but that is the first time I noticed it was 6 months ago. Hope the damn thing isn't going bad on me but luckly they are pretty cheap to replace if I can't get this one figured out.

Anyway just wanted to fill everybody in. Sorry for the novel.

|<idcapri

Hey Kid it good to see your still among the living. Personally i think your router is on it's way out. That series of thunderstorms that rolled through may have done the trick. Do you have your system set up to an APC battery backup system. If not do you at least have a surge protector in use. The $20 walmart versions don't count. I have a linksys and have never had any noise coming from it.

Yup I am still amongst tha living bud. Was wondering if you dropped of the face of the world myself. Give a bro a buzz sometime.

I think you told me once before you had the same model router I have and a friend of mine has the same one also......neither of which make any sort of noise at all. That's what I have been thinking about all day and pretty sure it's the problem.

As for Surge protectors......have 2 of them. One on each computer just to be on the safe side and these are not the cheap ones from walmart. My father was into ham radio when he was alive (me to for awhile) and with all the equipment he had around after it was sold off when he passed away I took the surge protectors. Remeber him bitching bout them being a pretty penny to buy so I am sure they are pretty decent.

Think Death has an extra router laying around his house so I might steal it for the time being until I can make it up to one of the Big Name Stores to get a replacement. So hopefully I will be back up and running this evening if I can get it from him this evening.

Please bear with me.....I'll get it together soon.

|<idcapri

A few things:

I had that same router. I used it for almost 2 years. It was on a UPC too to protect it from bad current and everything. I came home one day and smelt something burning. I quickly went into the computer room to find my Linksys BEFSR41 router on fire! Mine was a Rev 1.1

It never made a sound and still was functioning perfectly while it was on fire. GET RID OF YOURS!!! It should not humm. It shouldn't make a sound.

I noticed your server wasn't in my list as of a few days ago. Looks like your trouble may have started back then. I figured you were working it or something. Let us know when you have the new router and the server is back up. We'll need the IP too. Good luck and hurry. I LOVE YOUR SERVER.

Man Herm....didn't realize you had the same router that went up in a blaze of glory. I remember you saying something about it awhile back but had no clue it was the same model. I will definately have to keep an eye out. Thanks for the props on the server. I love it too now that I actually have it running decent.

Well I finally got home and got to messing around with everything. While I was at work today I left everything unplugged to kinda give it a rest and to give me some piece of mind while I was gone.

First thing to try out was.......plug in the router.

Well I'll be damn.......it isn't making a electric humming noice. INTERESTING.....

Next order of business was to check the local IP numbers for the computers to make sure I had the right ports for the right computer set.

Well I'll be damn.......they changed back to the way it was before everything went crazy.
INTERESTING.....

Next on the list was booting up UT and praying it works.......Well......

IT WORKS!

So everything is back up and running for now. I am gonna keep an eye on this router. Let me know if you see anything off the wall happening with the server. Thanks for the support guys and I hope I don't have to worry with my router becoming a fire hazard. If it does the crazy stuff again I will be marching straight to Best Buy and picking up another router of some sort.

|<idcapri