Can you say "Oy"? If you can, then let's say it together with lots of emphasis. Are you ready? Then let's say it : 3.....2....1..... "OY"!
We make this exclamation because - shudder and horror of horrors - the dreaded Red Light came back on a little while ago on the modem at Pearl's. That's the service light, the same one I was having trouble with last week that resulted in no Internet for six days, and a whole lot of hours waiting for and dealing with ATT technicians, both in person and on the phone. It was a nightmare, and I thought it was overwith when Jimmy the Awesome Technician finally got me back online last Tuesday. But this afternoon, the computer first began to run very slow. Then, I couldn't get webpages to load at all. The little wheel would just spin and spin.
Then finally I looked down at the modem, and the green service light was blinking.
And then it turned to solid red. "No Service".
The nightmare has returned.
Now, because both the modem and the tray at the ATT Central Office are both new (replaced when Jimmy was at the house), I thought that maybe I could get it to reboot by unplugging/replugging the power cord. I did that, and it worked.
The Green Service Light came back on and stayed solid.
I was too chicken to turn my computer back on, though. I though, better save it for later tonight, when I am writing my blog, because there is a fair chance it might go Red on me yet again. Something is obviously very wrong with the system at Pearl's house. I just now did some Googling and found some people who had the exact same problem : Broadband light is on solid green, all connections are good, and yet the service light keeps going Red. All of these people (about a half dozen) were also with ATT, and all of them described the same unending hassles that I have experienced, resulting in a lack of concrete diagnosis of the problem. Some of the folks say that hacking might be a problem, or somebody using an illegal box of some sort in the neighborhood that is causing your wi-fi to cancel out. Another person said that it could be mice having chewed an underground line, but in my case I believe the ATT techs checked all the lines and found nothing.
I have wondered if maybe my computer is causing the problem. Both of my Chromebooks are out of date as of last June, and no longer receive security updates (which I guess means firewalls, but really I know nothing about this stuff). When the firewalls stopped updating (which happens on Chrome after five years), at first both of my Chromebooks would crash over and over again, all day long. I'd have to restart each one - at home and at Pearl's - many times during the day. This went on until about September, when I finally figured out that if I cleared all the tabs before shutting down, the Chromebooks stopped crashing. So that solved that problem. But when I was on the phone with one of the ATT techs (this one was very competent and had been a programmer for the military during the Gulf War), he noted that I was no longer receiving security updates (which Chrome does automatically for a five year period, and which, again, I believe means a firewall). This guy told me that what happens is that the system (Chrome, I assume) keeps trying to update, keeps sending the updates, but my out of date computer rejects them. He said that it could be causing a chip inside the modem to fill up with memory and that that could be what was causing the shutdown.
Perhaps. But if that is the case, then why am I having no problem with my even more outdated (by a couple months) Chromebook here at home? This one I am writing on now stopped receiving security updates last April or May. At first I thought "better buy a new one", but I am always trying to avoid unnecessary expenditure, and so I thought, "well, let's see if it will keep working even without the security updates". It did continue to work, albeit with all those daily crashes for a while, until I figured out about closing the tabs before shutdown. And now, it works fine - Chromebook One, that is, the laptop I have here at home - and I have had no problems with the modem or service light whatsoever.
All of this makes me think that that problem at Pearl's is not related to my outdated Chromebook Two at her house. I mean, it could be related, and I was tempted to run over to Best Buy tomorrow to buy a new Chromebook (I like 'em because they are inexpensive, they work great and all I use them for is the Internet). But now that I have Googled the "Red Light/No Service" problem, and have found several others with the same problem, and all of them describe the same nightmare in diagnosing the problem, and some of them mention hacking and illegal boxes used by neighbors, I am thinking twice about rushing over to Best Buy. What if I buy a new Chromebook and the same thing happens again?
So at the moment, I am in limbo as far as having future computer service at Pearl's. I mean, I have to have it, because as I have said I am inside the house for 17 hours a day, and I will go nuts without a lifeline to the outside world. I can't watch the TV all day, and as much as I love to read, I can't do it all day either. I have to have some kind of social contact, even if it's only on Facebook and writing my blogs.
I am sure that Pearl's daughter, ostensibly my "boss", would be agreeable to pull the ATT service and go with a different provider if it came to that, but it would be an enormous hassle because all of the service at Pearl's - internet/phone/cable is all bundled together, so I'm assuming we'd have to chuck the whole thing and start over from scratch. I'm already dealing with a non-stop daily invasion of ants in the house as I moaned about last night......
I obviously realise that both of these problems are small potatoes, but still.
And I can deal with the ants. I just spray 'em with non-toxic Orange Oil which stops 'em for a while until they figure out another entrance, and then I spray 'em again. Ant control, rather than ant elimination. It's a hassle, but I can deal with it.
But I can't deal with having no Internet service, and it's clear after today that the problem has not been solved. At this point, I'm not sure that ATT can solve it. And I am reluctant to run out and buy a new Chromebook to use at Pearl's if the problem is being caused by a hacker or some joker with an illegal wi-fi box.
Sorry about the rant. Really it's supposed to be an explanation, written early and from home, in case I am unable to write to you later tonight from Pearl's as I normally would. As I said, the Green Service light was on "solid" before I left there for my evening break, because I did a reboot of the modem. But it could go down again when I return to Pearl's in a little while, and it almost certainly will go down at some point in the near future.
I will try to write again later tonight nonetheless. Wish me luck, and let's hope for a real solution to this hassle, so I don't have to worry every night about whether or not my Internet service is gonna work.
Thanks for listening. Now I am gonna watch a movie, not sure what, maybe a Western. See you later tonight if the light at Pearl's stays green, or tomorrow afternoon if it goes red. Fingers crossed. ///
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxooxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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