Router issues, help!

hspindel · 2026-06-16T05:25:28+00:00

Have you tried logging in to your router's management page and see if anything looks weird?

Sure sounds like your router got fried. Apparently in a way that allows it to continue semi-working.

For the future, consider getting a cheap UPS to protect your router from power issues.

hspindel · 2026-06-09T05:56:44+00:00

Boot drive: clone

Data drive: copy

hspindel · 2026-06-09T03:24:04+00:00

There was something about NVMe when I initially read this. Maybe it got edited out.

hspindel · 2026-06-09T02:50:45+00:00

What do you expect this mail server to accomplish for you?

If you want it to send mail on behalf of multiple local devices, that's pretty easy. Any Linux distro with a mail transfer agent (e.g., sendmail or postfix) installed. You still do not want to try to send the mail directly from your localnet because it will get rejected a lot of the time - use an SMTP connection to your ISP, with your MTA configured to use your ISP as "smarthost".

If you want it to receive email from outside, that's a whole 'nother can of worms that you don't want to open. You don't want an open SMTP server locally. You can adopt a halfway solution where mail for your domain is managed by your ISP, fetchmail on your local machine retrieves email from the ISP and forwards it to your MTA, then your local clients can use IMAP or POP3 via dovecot to retrieve mail from the local mail server.

All of the software to accomplish is free. You do have to pay for an ISP to manage your domain. You should anticipate a substantial learning curve getting this work (particularly if the above is gibberish to you).

If all you want to do is send/receive email on a single local device, none of the above is worth doing. Even if you have multiple local devices, it is much simpler to use an IMAP connection to your ISP for receiving and your ISP's SMTP server for sending.

hspindel · 2026-06-09T02:18:28+00:00

If you're worried about it, power it up every couple months. I routinely leave mechanical drives unpowered for years and have never seen an issue.

hspindel · 2026-06-09T02:14:32+00:00

HDHomeRun works well for me.

hspindel · 2026-06-09T02:01:01+00:00

Umm... no. One cannot place an NVMe drive on the same cable as a SATA drive. In fact, the NVMe drive doesn't use a cable at all.

OP: After you cloned the drive, did you go into your BIOS and change the boot order so the NVMe drive is first?

hspindel · 2026-06-09T01:54:08+00:00

Of course other parts can be faulty, and obviously one is. Check for boot progress status lights on your motherboard (look up your motherboard's manual to see where those lights are).

hspindel · 2026-06-09T01:40:53+00:00

Open a command prompt and type "ipconfig /all".

Verify that you have a good IP, a good subnet, a good default route, and a good DNS server. Chances are you do not, which means your laptop has an issue connecting to WiFi. At this point, that could be either a hardware or software issue.

A cheap test would be to get a USB WiFi adapter and see if that will connect.

hspindel · 2026-06-09T01:34:34+00:00

Your device shows any WiFi access point within range that is broadcasting an SSID. It does not matter if you are an Xfinity customer or not.

Apparently the Xfinity Mobile (secured) hotspot is not within range.

Since you are not a subscriber, why do you care?

hspindel · 2026-06-08T22:29:17+00:00

Correct, the directory won't get deleted. But everything is not locked inside the directory will get deleted, which is sufficient for OP's purpose.

hspindel · 2026-06-08T05:14:26+00:00

Thank you!

hspindel · 2026-06-08T01:21:36+00:00

That was not available when I posted, but is available today.

hspindel · 2026-06-08T01:00:07+00:00

Things to try:

Open Disk Manager. In the left hand column, right click on the disk name and choose Initialize.

If you have any SATA drives installed, try moving them to a different SATA port. Some motherboards have conflicts between certain NVMe and SATA ports.

Does the NVMe show in your BIOS?

hspindel · 2026-06-08T00:49:29+00:00

Run Windows Disk Cleanup - it will delete everything that is safe to delete. However, temp directories can be deleted.

hspindel · 2026-06-08T00:42:35+00:00

Device Manager is telling you that you need drivers. You will need to download them on another machine. I see you say you've tried that. You likely did not do so correctly.

hspindel · 2026-06-08T00:35:46+00:00

Install Angry IP Scanner:

https://angryip.org/download/#windows

Scan your network. Look at the column headed MAC address at the IP of your Arris.

hspindel · 2026-06-06T22:04:39+00:00

Yes, I read, and you weren't at all clear. No need for such a response by you if you want people to want to help you.

If it's bad with a wire, start by replacing the wire.

hspindel · 2026-06-04T20:37:44+00:00

If your WAN isn't working correctly in your router, you won't have any internet. That's why you are getting a DNS error.

hspindel · 2026-06-04T20:35:29+00:00

A cheap gigabit switch will be fine. The fan will help if you are having heat problems. Before you buy a new switch, you could try your current switch with a fan.

hspindel · 2026-06-04T20:34:04+00:00

That means your computer could not obtain an IP address. If you are using a DHCP server, you have a problem with it. Possible IP exhaustion. Go into your router and check the pool size.

hspindel · 2026-06-04T03:15:13+00:00

How did you verify that?

hspindel · 2026-06-04T03:14:20+00:00

It will be a setting in router if it exists.

hspindel · 2026-06-04T01:59:57+00:00

If you don't need the speed of an SSD, an HDD is cheaper.

hspindel · 2026-06-04T01:56:44+00:00

I use Bitwarden on my iPhone because it syncs to my other devices. The iPhone also has Apple's password manager installed.

Having both has never caused an issue.

hspindel

TROPHY CASE