Customer calls, saying she thinks her adsl modem has failed.

She said it made a loud pop, and the optus tech said it probably needs to be replaced.

When I get there, the modem lights seem ok (power, adsl link, usb).

Its a windows 98 system, so I take a short while to re-orient myself… I’ve gotten very familiar with xp now…

I can connect to the modem via a browser, and the settings look fine… I disconnect the adsl connection, then hit the connect button, and I’m told “the current connection is still busy”.

It looks like it should work, it detects an adsl line, so nothing is obviously fried.

After spending 10 minutes trying to convince it to connect, I eventually try a new adsl modem… and it works perfectly.

I also spend some time updating her outdated antivirus.