Nagging Network Nastiness

Hey, I'm online--sort of.  This PC has Internet access (at least for now).  I'm not the brightest when it comes to "geek-speak", but I can usually hold my own and am not too afraid of trial and error when dealing with electronics.

I may have to rethink that position.  My home network has now lost the ability for any of the components to speak to one another (reminds me of a family feud, actually, the more I examine the problem).  Last year, I updated my wired-g router to a wireless-g to add a laptop running Vista to the home PC (running XP) and the work PC (also running XP).  When I then upgraded my printer to a wireless model, I had no problem hooking it into the same network.

Now, my granddaughter has inherited the old e-Machines desktop (the one that ran XP), and my new HP desktop running Windows 7 was--I thought--added to the original network.  Boy, was I wrong.  To add insult to injury, in trying to make everything talk to one another last week (updating various drivers to be Windows 7-compliant, etc.), I managed to lock the laptop and the printer out of the original network somehow, and as it was password-encrypted on multiple levels, that network is out in cyberspace but I can no longer connect to it.  I could not even get any of the PCs to connect reliably to the Internet via the ethernet connection with the router.  (I'm sure some of you can hear my screams of pain and frustration; even though I am old enough to remember manual typewriters and rotary dial phones, I choose not to return to those days LOL).

Obviously, I have to work my day job, so I finally just unplugged the whole mess.  My work PC and VOIP phone are hooked directly into the router and the network connections restored to my job.  The home desktop has the printer connected temporarily via a USB connection (what a waste of resources and memory that is), and my laptop has a temporary wireless connection to the wireless router.

Hence, this post after many days of being unable to connect.  My writing has been scarce and sparce, but some has occurred because of course I still had Word; and my research has become dependent once more on the printed page.  Actually, that has been the silver lining to the cloud--I hope to post soon on some wonderful writing references I have been privileged to read this past month.

So, with a wondrous Sunday afternoon ahead of me, I will end this.  I have read the networking tutorials online for my router and will be unplugging everything and resetting in an effort to rebuild a working network from scratch.  New wireless-n routers are calling my name and one would probably be the easiest way to go, yet my pocketbook is screaming in protest.

The challenge begins--can I actually set up a new network that works with the equipment I have and give my purse the victory?  Or will my geeky, electronics-junkie alternate personality (that I try desperately to keep under control) win out and have me buy a new router?  Stay tuned for the results...