Computer hardware with lazy, short-sighted instructions.
This weekend I've had the wonderful task of installing a router modem, to allow multiple machines to share the same broadband Internet access. It's all the rage, everyone's doing it. And mainstream = easy, right? Ha.
First of all, the Quick Start Guide takes you step by step through the process of replacing your old modem with the new Belkin ADSL Wireless Modem Router. All's going well ("place the new Modem-Router next to your existing modem") up until step 5, which says to switch the Ethernet cable from the old modem to the new one. The old one doesn't
have an Ethernet cable; it's connected to the computer via USB, which this guide makes no mention of. Not to worry though, an Ethernet cable is included in the box, so I just use that. Nor does the old one have its own power supply to remove as instructed. But no big deal.
Incidentally, the PDF manual on the included CD-ROM is full of notes "to the designer," such as "[insert Ethernet symbol here]."
Professional.
So without too much problem, I get everything wired up as it should be, in spite of the printed directions, but according to the lights on the new router, it isn't registering a connection to the computer. The instructions don't account for this, instead expecting all the correct lights to be on and merrily whisking you ahead to the next step.
So now I have to play around in the Windows Control Panel to eventually activate the network connection through trial and error, making the green LED light up at last. The PDF manual helps a little in doing this, but the screens it illustrates are accessed in a different place to the way it describes. I check again that I'm reading the section for Windows XP - I am.
During this process, I encounter a footnote that says if an IP address has been entered in a certain box (which it has), this should be noted down as it will need to be used in the later set-up stages. Like a good little boy I do what I'm told.
Finally the next step works, bringing up an HTML set-up wizard in my web browser by typing the default IP address provided by Belkin. Except it's not actually a set-up wizard, as pictured in the Quick Start Guide. Instead it's a list of settings and links to change them. One of the first is IP address, so like an idiot I go ahead and change this to the one I was told earlier that I'd need to use. Consequently, I find I can no longer even access these settings pages, as typing neither the new or old IP into the browser's address bar will work. Hurrah.
So I do the only sensible thing, which is to randomly mess around with a few more options in Control Panel, and in the process manage to lose the number that the modem must dial in order to connect to the broadband provider. A call to the ISP's helpdesk in India clears this up later, but not before they tell me to enter my own landline number into this box, as if making the modem call my phone is going to help. Unrelated to this, my web browser suddenly decides it can access the router settings pages again using the new IP address, for reasons still unknown.
So now I've got the old modem hooked up again, and am no closer to getting the new router to work. I accept that my untrained meddling, while a saving grace at times, caused more trouble at others. But there'd have been no need for any of it if Belkin's instructions didn't have such a narrow view of what people's computers were like. I'll be tackling it again, most likely with a call to
their Indian helpdesk, but for now I'm just happy to have an Internet connection that works. Because how could you lot survive without such captivating posts as this?
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Topic: Things That Make Me Angry (Read 54180 times) Share