This all starts off as simply connecting a Motorola Surfboard SB5101 cable modem onto a Belkin N Wireless Router. The wireless router was configured in about 5 minutes flat, no real problems there. The pain started as I tried to get the wireless router to connect back to the SB5101. The next step should be just as quick “Plug the yellow Ethernet connection into the modem“. The port is 10/100 Mbps with auto crossover detection. There should be a 100baseTX full-duplex connection …
After much hair tearing and testing across several machines and several good Ethernet cables, it would appear that the Ethernet connection on the back of the SB5101 is totally dead. A bit of a problem as this is required to link with the wireless router.
Connections to the internet via the USB patch work, although grabbing the drivers and installing them onto my laptop gave me no management tools for changing the configuration of the unit. I had thought that there maybe a soft-switch to change between the USB/Ethernet outputs, a quick read over the manual suggests that they are both on at all times so this isn’t the case.
It would appear that a replacement Motorola Surfboard 5101 is c.$99 and a second hand unit c.$50, what are the chances that a second hand unit’s UTP connection is going to be good? Another issue is that the modems are locked to their network of origin BigPond/OptusNet; a quick chat with Optus support and they confirm the modems are locked their network but they can have a new modem delivered and checked by a tech for $90 including delivery.
Watch this space …
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