As If The Earlier Fun Weren't Enough...

... my router decided it was a good day to die.

I tried everything. I figured out it wasn't my internet service or the DSL modem, because each of the computers is able to connect to the internet individually, if I take the router out of the chain (and remember to manually re-configure the IP address on each machine, since it was obtaining it from the router before).

It also isn't my laptop's wireless capability, because I was able to get online via a neighbor's unsecured connection that the laptop sniffed out.

I did a factory reset of the router, then painstakingly re-configured it from scratch, after I figured out that to get to the router's setup screens, the computer I'm using to do so has to have its firewall turned off.

Zip. Zilch. Nada. It's hosed. Bricked. Busted. Ka-blooey. It's a doorstop with pretty blinking lights that go nowhere and do nothing.

So I'm off to Best Buy to see what they've got.

This was not how I wanted to spend my weekend.