Connection Issues

I got a new laptop for Christmas. I'd been wanting one for years now. Primarily it's for the novels that I work on all the time (but don't really talk about all that much), but with technology the way it is, I wanted the laptop to be able to do other things.

Okay, so the new laptop should connect to the Internet, right?

I went out and bought a router. My brother was kind enough to try to hook up the router. Notice I said "try". Turns out the modem would not connect to said router.

Right, so I tried just connecting the laptop directly to the modem. No dice.

Well, I needed a new modem, so why not get a modem/router? I didn't know such a thing existed, but then again, the term "router" was new to me too. The place I bought the router was very nice about doing the exchange (I learned from my days in retail--always save receipts), and so I brought my new device home and tried to get it to work.

The problem with technology today is that many times they expect us to know more than we do. There was barely any paperwork/instructions in the box, so I was basically flying blind. I easily hooked the modem/router up, and my desktop connected to the Internet lickety-split. But connecting the laptop?

After trying everything I could think of, I frantically called my kind brother who told me what I had forgotten to do (set up the wireless connection). I got that up and running, but while the laptop could see my wireless connection and while it was actually connected to the network (or so the computer said) I could not get anything to come up in my browser. This is where I lost my mind.

After running everything I could think of (the "help" went through to diagnose the problem, told me that the problem was fixed, and then said that it would send something or other to somewhere or other when I was "connected to the Internet"...hmmm...I thought that's what the stupid thing was trying to fix!), I finally gave up and had dinner. I turned everything off.

Now, understand one thing. I did restart my systems over and over again. Really. That's the one trick I know--restart the system and magically bugs get worked out.

So, after advice from kind brother (to make sure that the computer could actually connect to the Internet), I plugged the modem directly into the computer. Voila! Internet.

Then, feeling adventurous, I unplugged the modem, and tried the Internet again. And it was still on! And it's still working now (I'm actually typing this on my new computer). Success?

Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed. Hopefully whatever glitch I hit has been cleared up.