How Not To Plug In A Plug

You would think that plugging in a plug is one of the more easy things to do in the 21st century wouldn't you?

Well. Last night my "Homeplug v2.0" turned up so that I could connect my TV to the Internet so that I could watch stuff on iPlayer - like the last episode of the series of Doctor Who.

The small piece of paper labelled "How to add another Homeplug to an existing network" gave five steps:
  1. Plug in the plug.
  2. Press and hold the security button 10 seconds
  3. Wait until the green light stops flashing.
  4. Press the same button on number 1 for 3 seconds.
  5. Press the same button on number 2 for 3 seconds.
"Wait one minute and you are now networked!"

What really happened:-
  1. I can do that by reaching behind the TV and plugging it into the power strip. The lights come on and then off again.
  2. I can do this too by stretching over the TV, catching my ribs on the top of the TV and winding myself.
  3. The lights stop flashing and then they all go off.
  4. Number 1? Ah, this one is upstairs behind my desk. Go upstairs moved the cr*p that's in the way, lie on the floor, climb under the desk, bash my head on the radiator, press the button.
  5. Number 2? Back down stairs, stretch behind TV, press button, light comes on briefly but nothing else happens.
  6. Read rest of sheet. "Do all this within one minute".
  7. Re-read sheet and interpret item 2 differently, "...press button for 10 seconds on the other unit..."
  8. My son asks me why his Internet has gone off.
  9. No lights are on any of the three units.
  10. Go downstairs, unplug unit 3 from behind TV, bash ribs again.
  11. Plug unit 3 into socket next to the other one behind my desk and hit head on radiator again.
  12. Spend hours on Internet finding 24 page user manual for the units.
  13. Read the bit about "plugging all units into a device first". Connect spare unit to laptop, not charged, spend 20 minutes finding charger and booting it up.
  14. Press and hold ALL buttons for 10 seconds. Lights come on but no "home network lights"
  15. Read manual "briefly press button to exchange encryption keys". Press the button on all three units. Try factory reset with a paper clip.
  16. Nothing happens
  17. Repeat 14 to 16 a lot.
  18. Read bit about only pressing two of the buttons at any one time.
  19. Go downstairs for a cup of tea & sympathy. (No sympathy, eat the pie; sorry, an old joke)
  20. Press button 1 on 1 and then button 1 on 2, all lights on!
  21. Press button 1 on 1 and then button 1 on 3, all lights on - Bingo!
Now I realise that I have a working network, but unit 3 is now behind my desk and not behind the TV. Have another cup of tea working out how to unplug the unit and not have it lose power. Can't work out how to do this and move plug back to behind TV again anyway. Lights go on and then all off again.

Turn on TV, go to 901 (iPlayer) - "You are not connected to the Internet".

Have a glass of wine.

...time passes along with another glass of wine...

Vaguely remember something about networks in the TV setup menu. Fiddle about in the sub-menus for some time and the lights on the unit suddenly come on without me touching it.

Find iPlayer and watch Doctor Who.

 It wasn't worth it.

Finish bottle of wine watching NCIS.

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