Problems With Your DSL Router? Check The Obvious First.

Although I don't consider myself a computer expert, I do have some general knowledge, and build my own PC's. I can solve most problems that arise but occasionally I have to ask a professional for help. Anyway, when you have this affiliation with computers it's like anything else. Word gets around and in come the favors. If you know about car mechanics the same thing happens. People love to ask for help and save themselves the cost of a qualified professional. Generally, I don't mind. I like working with computers and when my friends call me to ask for help I am happy to oblige. I never charge, (except maybe a drink) and this is perhaps where my problem is. Just recently so many people have asked me for help that I now have 5 computers sitting under my stairs and 3 or 4 visits to make. One in particular had trouble with his DSL router. Although I use DSL I have to say that networking is not my strong point and I was a little worried about taking on a problem that might take me weeks to solve. The DSL router was being used to share an Internet connection between 2 computers. Nothing strange about that.

The problem was that one computer, (downstairs) connected successfully, and the other computer, (upstairs) wouldn't connect at all. I didn't like to say no, and therefore agreed to have a look. The first thing I did was to check that all the software was installed and that all the appropriate cables were in the right place. I did not immediately check the DSL router itself as I had a sneaking suspicion this wasn't the cause of the problem. I figured that if one computer connected every time then the fault was likely to be with the 2nd PC.

Having tested the network card for obvious faults I decided to have a closer look at the software. I un-installed it and re-installed, only to find the same problem. At this point I began to regret saying "yes". Anyway, not one to back out of a challenge I looked at the firewall installed on the system. It all seemed fine and I could not see any real issues but thought I would disable the firewall and try connecting to the DSL router once again.

Hey presto! It worked immediately. At this point I was relieved but also angry. As a reasonably knowledgeable computer buff I should have made sure that this was the first thing I checked. I may not be an expert in networking but I should know that if you have a problem with your DSL router then the most likely cause and the first thing to check is of course the firewall. Anyway, I re-enabled it and played around with the settings a little and after an hour or so everything was running fine.

So the moral to this story is 'always check the most obvious check the most obvious causes first'. If it's your DSL router, check your firewall isn't blocking it.