Before You Over-Engineer, Check the Power Adapter

True story here

Engineers are a special breed.

Give us a small problem and we’ll design:

• A full architecture

• A backup architecture

• A disaster-recovery version of the backup

• And a future-proof version for 2032

That was me… over a router.

The Incident

My ZTE fiber router suddenly went dark in spirit.

• No Wi-Fi

• No LAN

• Just blinking lights and emotional damage

Immediately, my brain entered Level 10 Over-Engineering Mode:

• “It’s probably RF module failure.”

• “The Ethernet switch chip might be cooked.”

• “Could be silicon aging.”

• “We might need a new ONT.”

• “Let’s plan a new network with VLANs, Guest Wi-Fi, and future scalability.”

In my head, I had already:

• Declared the router dead

• Diagnosed hardware failure

• Started pricing a TP-Link Archer C50

• Even reached the guest network design phase of grief

I was already living in the future.

Meanwhile… Reality Was in 5 Volts

Out of pure frustration, not wisdom, I changed the power adapter.

Same router.
Same fiber.
Same setup.
New charger.

Everything came back.

• Wi-Fi

• LAN

• Internet

• My pride shattered

No firmware.
No burned chip.
No network redesign.

Just a bad power adapter.

The Real Lesson

Before you:

• Redesign the system

• Blame hardware

• Curse the manufacturer

• Message your ISP

• Add VLANs

• Draft a network upgrade budget

Check the simplest thing first.

Because:

• A weak adapter can still light up LEDs

• But it won’t power the CPU, Wi-Fi radio, or LAN switch properly

• So everything looks alive… but nothing actually works

That’s how you end up debugging a ghost.

Engineers Love Complexity, Even When Simplicity Is Guilty

We like:

• Deep root causes

• Rare failure modes

• Complex explanations

Sometimes the problem is not:

• Thermal degradation

• Surge damage

• Flash corruption

Sometimes the problem is just:

“This charger is tired, boss.”

Ocheverse Moral of the Day

Before you over-engineer:

• Check power

• Check cables

• Check adapters

• Check the obvious

Because not every problem needs:

• A new router

• A new architecture

• Or a ₦50k solution

Sometimes it just needs:

• A ₦3k charger to retire quietly.