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Right now, I’d be at the point of tossing out the wireless router and just starting over…if I hadn’t already tried that earlier in the week.

I suspect it’s some minor setting, of the modem or router or firewall — or all three — and I thank everyone for suggesting possibilities. But I’ve been completely unable to diagnose which setting, and I’m still unable to access the internet except on the computer in my parents’ bedroom.

Back in early May, I attended a conference for work in Washington, D.C. I spent most of the 5-6 days I was there on my feet, either selling books or walking around the enormous convention center. And it was around that time that I started noticing a very slight numbness in my big right toe. It was very slight, to the point that I was unsure if I wasn’t just imagining it, but it was a little disconcerting. I resolved to stay off my feet as much as possible when I got home and to buy some new, more comfortable shoes.

The numbness, though, never went away. It’s intermittent, and I can move and put pressure on the toe without any discomfort. I’ve never lost feeling in the toe completely, and I have no trouble walking on my foot. The toe has just just felt slightly different since D.C. — enough that I thought maybe I’d pinched a nerve, or suffered a hairline fracture, or something.

A few weeks later — I’m not sure exactly when at this point, but I know it was after I returned from the conference — I started experiencing pain in my left side, in the upper rear thigh and thereabouts. It felt a lot like what people have been telling me a pulled hamstring feels like: sharp, painful twinges in the muscle when I sit down, stand up, bend over, or stretch out the leg while sitting down. I’ve been trying to keep off of it, applying ice and heat and Aleve, but it’s been tough. Sometimes it seems like it’s (very slowly) getting better; other times, not so much.

It was actually what I was most concerned about when I went to see an orthopedist yesterday afternoon. The toe is…well, weird and unnerving. But it’s the leg that actually hurts. And I don’t remember doing anything that would have pulled the muscle in the first place.

They took a bunch of x-rays, took a look at the legs and tested my reflexes (which are apparently a little off on my left side), and then the doctor said he wanted me to see a neurologist about the toe and get an MRI of my lower back to see about the leg. Then I’ll see one of his colleagues in the same practice, the back specialist, and go from there.

Which isn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. It’s still probably nothing — at worst, a pinched or damaged nerve in my foot and a pulled muscle in my thigh. But obviously what I wanted to hear was, “oh yes, that’s what it is, absolutely nothing to worry about.” Or, failing that: “definitely worry about it, but here’s what you need to do to make it better.” Instead I’m going for an MRI on Monday and worrying over the possibility, however small, that it’s not a pulled hamstring but something worse. I have an appointment with the neurologist in mid-July — the first appointment I could get at a mutually convenient hour — but again, it’s the leg that’s the biggest concern.

Which is just another reason why sitting hunched over a computer screen, trying to figure out why my cable modem and my wireless router won’t talk to one another like they used to, is low on the list of things I want to be doing.

Can I just say how much I hate technology? I’m running in circles here with the wireless router, except when I take a break to run into a brick wall.

It seems, now, that I can connect with my notebook to the new network I set up. And I can log into the router setup when it’s hooked up to the computer. But I still can’t get online on either computer when the router is plugged in.

Seriously, this is starting to annoy me.

That whole “up and running in minutes” promise on the side of the box? They lie. I am still without a wireless internet connection and no closer to figuring out why this new router doesn’t work, why the old why stopped working, or if those are in any way connected.

Although, the first router did set up very easily. It just, y’know, stopped working with the cable modem.

I envision more wading through tech support forums and trying to decipher instructions beyond my tech-expertise tomorrow.

I bought a new wireless router today. It still doesn’t work. I can get online only on the main computer, and only when the cable modem is connected directly to the computer.

I’m still hopeful I can figure this out, but the Linksys website isn’t much help, and their forums are an overload of information that might be of us, if only I could find and decipher it.

If anyone could steer me in the right direction… It’s a Linksys Wireless-G broadband router, WRT54G. When I run the set-up, I get either “new router not detected” or “no internet connection detected.”