There's no place like home

I've been back for a bit over 24 hours, and I won't be leaving again anytime soon. I've missed my family so badly, and they've missed me. Not just my wife, the kids and the dogs; but my parents and sister as well. I've visited everyone except my sister (who, ironically, is in Toronto this week) and I'm anxious to see her too.

Last week, I purchased a wireless router so that the computer on the second floor of our home could be connected to the internet without having to run cables upstairs. To make sure things would work, I tested the router by connecting it to the upstairs computer (where the cable outlet is) and creating a wireless network to my Windows Me machine downstairs. Everything worked OK. In practice, however, it is the downstairs site that now has the original cable modem, and I am trying to transmit upstairs.

Wouldn't you know it. The XP upstairs "detects" the wireless adapter in a way different than the Windows Me machine, and it's detection method is not working properly. In order to discourage signal theft and hacking, I set the wireless modem to not broadcast its' presence. Instead, the wireless PCI adapters send signals to the router. What I'm seeing on the XP is that the machine is sending signals out, but nothing is coming back. In the Windows Me configuration wizard (run from CD), I am able to customize a large number of parameters (I don't like using default values, as this is insecure). The customizations match those made on the main router. However, the XP configuration wizard is built-in to Windows. I can't force it to use the configuration utility on the CD, so I am unable to tweak the parameters to the same degree. So far, this means that the base and remote nodes are not talking to one another.

At least the wired ports in my office are working. I have tested the VPN connection, and all seems good to go. I can't wait for tomorrow morning!