Worked all day yesterday with various telnet, ftp and TivoWebPlus sessions. Wasn't doing anything with any system files...the most invasive I got was mounting the system read/write so I could upgrade the zipper delivered TivoWebPlus 1.x with the recommended 2.0. That went fine and had two 2 different http session from 2 different PC on the home network.

This morning there is no sign of connectivity - beyond the fact that the lights on both the adapter and the router's front panel are lit - no ping, telnet, ftp, TWP - no line in the route's DCHP table.

 I tried:

Release/Renew DCHP
Powercycling the Router (wrt54g)
reseated the cables (lights blinked - belkin F5x blinked red then steady yellow)
Rebooted the DTivo (RCA S2)

Short of small animal sacrifice, I'm outta ideas. Wait....it just occurred to me (and boy does the cat look relieved) to  swing by BestBuy to pick up a serial cable.

What can cause this and what do I look for after getting the cable?