So for a week my server kept going up & down. And up & down. It would connect to the ‘net for 10 minuts, and then go down for 10 minutes trying to resolve domain names. I thought it was the server – having only been up for two weeks I was convinced my lack of knowledge around the firewall had to be the culprit. Plugged the Linkys router back in and still went up and down, but not nearly as often. (Linux servers must ping RR a bit more for current information than routers do).

So I broke down and called Roadrunner, and sure enough, they see power problems with the modem. Since I was the first person in Chaska to get Roadrunner service, I asked for a new modem (as Jason’s had been replaced a year or two ago, and the tech at the time claimed the new one was faster), but RR didn’t bite on the new modem.

So the cable tech shows up 2 days later (we’ll be there between 11 and 2, shows up at 2:45, but anyway) looks at the setup in the den and then in the basement, and does a double take. He’s shocked I even have service as my cable modem has a power rating of -10. Since I don’t have cable TV, he disconnects the coax from the house distribution and plugs the line straight into the cable modem. Then he’s pretty confident what the problem is and goes out to the gray box at the curb, and sure enough, the cable inside is completely corroded through. He tells my wife it looks like the box has been flooded, which she responds to “6 or 7 times” as the box sits between my neighbor and myself, right where the water flows down our property line when it rains.

Now my cable modem has a power rating of +4. Not that power ratings mean anything to me, but it’s working perfectly now. (Which is why you can even see this page!) But I still didn’t get a new cable modem. The cable tech claimed they used those during beta testing of RR service, but it was given to me when I got service. He asked my wife if we had gotten at Circuit City, and she laughed and said she was positive we hadn’t.

Fazin fixed the music server page not loading yesterday, so now I’m really happy.