Friday, June 17, 2022

Thanks Loads!

 Ok, it's last Friday, we've had guests in one of our guest houses for a few nights and they've asked for a late checkout because they need to run into town and pick up a few of their purchases they'd made on their shopping spree.  Normal checkout is 10AM.  We've got guests checking in to stay the weekend, normal check-in is 5:30.  They had asked to check in at 4PM.  We talked to our cleaning crew and they said "No Sweat".

You know where this is going doncha'?

The guests leave, the cleaning crew arrives, we see that she is loading up to leave, so we head down to check on things.  (We do this under the guise of dropping off the welcome basket and picking up dirty laundry, both of which are my side of the responsibility. In reality, Mrs. J is the primary reason.  She inspects the house.  Quite closely I might add. Personally, I think she was a boot camp drill Sergeant in a prior life, Yes, that closely.)

In any case, I'm coming back in the Cabin after loading the dirty laundry and I see Mrs. J and the cleaning lady futzing with the TV controls. I ask what's the problem.  No audio, they said.  I start checking connections, all is as it should be.  Perform the patented juvat fix to all things electronic.  Turn it off, wait 60 seconds, turn it on.  Works 90% of the time.  

We score in that remaining 10%.  I pull out my phone to look at the network and realize the Router is pointed to the cabin next door and is only showing 1 bar of connectivity.  Hmmm.  It's not a TV problem, it's a network problem.  Look for the proper network on my phone (which is a PITA in itself).  Nowhere to be seen.

Turn it off, wait 60 seconds, turn it back on.  Nada.  It's now 1+45 til the next guests arrive.  I figure the router had died in the T-Storm we'd had about 10 days before.  I tell Mrs. J  I'm running to Wally World to get a new Router (About $50).  Do so, RTB and we're down to T-1 hour.  Set up the router with the Network name, Router Password, Login Password and turn it on. 



Voila' It's working!  Now I have to put it back in its operational location.  That would be on top of a kitchen cabinet near the ceiling.  All but completely out of sight and certainly out of range of accidental touching.

Except as I put it up there, I accidentally push the WPS (W-ifi Protected Setup) button.  This button is intended for people that use the same equipment on the network all the time.  The Router and the Phone, for example, "Know" each other.  Therefore, you don't have to use a password to get on the network.  As soon as the Router sees your phone (or Computer, Or Picture frame) you're logged in and doing what you need to.

  

The WPS is the blue button just to the right of the internet connection.  That slot is where the internet is connected to the router.  Fine design to put them 1/4" apart.  Also there isn't any kind of "Are you sure you want to reset your entire network" dialog going on.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work, when your guests change 2 or 3 times a week.

What pushing the button does is erase all your settings and resets the router so that your network is not visible to non-pre-authorized devices.  The PITA part of all this is if you're handling the router, pushing that button is pretty easy.  Nigh on to impossible to push it if you're not handling the router.

So my question is "What were my guests trying to do by climbing on a chair to reach the router in the kitchen?"

In order to fix it, I've got to hook a laptop up directly to the router, push the reset to Factory specs button for a minute then shut off the router, but leave it plugged in, for 10 minutes then restart it, check that the reset worked, If not, start over and try again.

Fortunately, I've got the cabin back up on the other cabin's network with sufficient signal strength for the TV to work (It required rebooting also)..  Spent a good part of Tuesday, trying to get the situation Reset.

I wish people would realize that yes, they pay to stay.  No, they are not owners. Stay away from things YOU KNOW you shouldn't be touching, and let the owner's know if there's a problem.  It's not hard, it's common sense and it's good manners.

Fortunately, the two ladies that arrived at 4 were a bit older, not interested in TV, just wanted to shop and catch up with each other. So things worked out better than we had a right to expect.


24 comments:

  1. Not germane to your story, but I remember being at a motel near the Great Lakes Training Center to watch our son graduate.
    We were checking out, but a family couldn't check in having traveled forever and a day and they wanted to shower and clean up before their son graduated. We had more time before we had to check out, so we hung around and let them use our room.
    They were evidently from India. as I talked to the dad, I found that he was a Baptist pastor in India come here to see his son.
    I felt good that day.
    My parents ran a motel and also had a rental. I vowed to never be a landlord. I was talking to a guy running a motel in Connecticut and
    he was of Indian immigrants and had actually moved there from near here, Canton Mi, an Indian enclave.
    I told him what I just told you and he said, "That's our business opportunity. Doing the jobs you won't do.".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We do provide job opportunities for several people around here. AC installers, Fence installers, Guest Cabin cleaners and a Monthly deep cleaner for our house. Not enough hours in the day/too old/getting lazy are all reasons.

      Delete
  2. Touch a button?!? A button that shouldn't BE touched??!? "D'oh!" (Homer Simpson exclamation). Some people are like cats pushing items off shelves......why?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nylon, I have to bring a short ladder with me to retrieve that router It's that high up on top of a cabinet. Standing on a chair would be a reach. Not sure there's enough curiosity in the world to motivate someone to overcome that. Evil however...

      Delete
  3. Crusty Old TV Tech here. To quote a famous aerospace operational guru, "There are no problems in spaceflight we can't solve! Except for IT problems." I hate integrated Layer 2 routers and WAP's, their user interface is usually verstunken, and you have to stand on your head and recite the Bagavad Gita in Sanskrit to get them to configure how you want them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. COTT, Worked IT at the local school district. There's a lot of truth in that statement. But it would be a lot easier all round if they just fessed up.

      Delete
  4. As a serial motel user, I have found a few things in my day. Scored a decent book that got pushed back on top of a cabinet. I could just see it up there. But I don't have the four leaf clover. My neighbor found an old double barrel 12 gauge under his mattress at a motel once. And a coworker found an entire drawer full of the most interestingly shaped latex space probes (designed for Neptune's twin) along with vinyl and leather "apparel". He asked for a different room.

    Curiosity is a curse and a boon. Find something once and you want to keep looking every where you go. If I ever got a metal detector I'd be ruined.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. STxAR,,,,EWWWWWW! Fortunately, haven't found anything like that. Found a few things and mailed them to the folks, no books, guns or other...

      Delete
  5. Juvat, my guess is this was some guest that thought they could "easily" resolved some issue. I will kindly assume that they had the best of intentions and did not know that they managed to kill the system (but yes, Dear Lord: If it is a rental, call the person in charge).

    I had never really thought that much about "product design" until I read the biography of Steve Jobs and all the effort that went into the Apple Devices. Suddenly things like what you describe seem like foolishly enforced errors (but probably cheaper to design and build by far).

    (And great job on the regular posts this week!)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah yes, people touching stuff. Great fun when testing on the ship, yes, even "professionals" do it.

    "Oh, I can't do this while you're doing that?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was usually the case in the school district. "What were you doing when you noticed the problem?"


      "Nuthin"

      Delete
  7. BZ to Juvat for picking up the slack while Sarge and his Muse are amusing themselves somewhere. Thanks for stepping up to make this a DAILY family event. (Tuna and Beans too.)
    John Blackshoe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JB,
      Had help from the gang, so it wasn't too bad. Pretty sure Sarge is going to have to give us a raise.

      Delete
  8. Perhaps making some sort of cap to go over the stupid button and taped on might solve that problem from fingers futzing with said button.

    (A soda cap with some of the rim cut out to slip over the back, or a nice little wooden cover or...)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beans, I went for a more fool proof option. I bought another router, one not made by Linksys. Took me about 15 minutes to get it up and running.. No, it doesn't have that little reset button.

      Delete
    2. I once suggested in a 'temperature war' at work that a thermostat controlling multiple offices be set at the temperature you want, then loosen the setscrew on the dial. Others can adjust it all they want...

      Delete
    3. Don,
      I like the way you think. Diabolical!

      Delete
  9. Guest-proofing your guest house (at least a little) seems in order, although that sounds a little unhospitable. You need to name your place Catch 22.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm still waiting to find a 12 gauge under the bed. That would be nice. But...you're right, The new router should be a bit more resilient.

      Delete
  10. Loved having Midshipman aboard for their summer cruises.
    One of the first things the CIC gang would do is indoctrinate them.
    We'd sit them at a radar scope, actually called a repeater.
    Then we'd show them what knobs they could touch and how they worked.
    Next we'd remind them not to touch anything else or make any adjustments.
    After a couple of minutes someone would check up on how they were doing, also, remove the slo-blow fuze, and walk away.
    Then we'd watch as the screen went wild before going absolutely dark.
    It was a good lesson and a little fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What's good about your posts, Juvat, is that they're an easy read, as are the Sarge's... NTTIAWW Beans' or Tuna's posts

      Delete
    2. Skip,
      Liked the midshipman stories good training example of how things can go bad in a heartbeat, and good for boredom alleviation. Thanks.

      Delete
    3. Skip,
      You're making me blush. But...I appreciate the compliment. Thanks

      Delete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

NOTE: Comments on posts over 5 days old go into moderation, automatically.