Sometimes it is good to forget

I tried to set up a small home nework so that I could be babysit both my mama and I with the Internet at the same time.

Mr. Jackass Arizona had not come back to claim this laptop that was, once upon a time, state-of-the-art technology while today could barely run windows XP.

What is left is also a linksys router, which I have been using every time mama comes to visit.

Used to be, all that I had to do was to connect the network cable between the cable modem and the router as well as between the router and the computer...

Voila! Simple as that... the job is done and everyone in my rat nest online.

Tonight, I thought--- since all that I really accomplished today was figuring out how to print out some beautiful name tags and, as of 6-7 o'clock, my head was still not really running, one thing I could do to boost my self-esteem up a bit would be to set the network up.

Ended up, the task at stake was not as straightforward as I had thought... (sounds like my life's story... lol 8-X)

So I hooked up the modem, router, and, one of the laptop.... with simple wired connection, I still could not get the laptop to go on line.

I pondered to myself...

Could it be that the router is malfunctioning? Can't quite tell...

Then, I took a look at the Motorola SB5101 cable modem.... and I found that... although the cable modem was hooked up to the router and router to the laptop, the light indicating PC activities on the router is off....

As an attempt to rule out it was not the new modem that was contributing to the network error, I got myself online again and did a search about setting up a home network with Motorola SB5101 cable modem.

I clicked on the first link that I thought might be relevant and found a plausible answer in the third posting in a discussion forum....

So the tip goes...

"Turn off the Motorola SB5101 cable modem off for at least 15 minutes so that it could forget the last mac address it was connected to. "

So, I powered off the cable modem and the router as well.

I impatiently waited till the 15th minute to come (and after a few minutes, I decided to watch the food channel instead of staring at the desktop... lol).

Almost 20 minutes later, I powered on the cable modem and the router....

This time, the orange light indicating PC activities is on and blinks at me...

I turned to the laptop and test to see whether the computer is now online...

And, I went...

Hooray! Now I got one job done!

Then, I thought... how would I have known it remembers?

Then, I thought... how wonderful and aweful it would be to forget all things in life and be reset in 15 minutes?

At the same time, perhaps, sometimes it is good and needed to forget.