We have determined that if this is down, and NOT turned off, the wifi upstairs running on this router, goes down too.

If this is OFF, totally, I can run the Wifi off the same router.

And my husband's VPN connection will run alone, on this router. But not when
this unit is "on".

This first long down we had back around Dec 6th, we ran off the laptop down here...using the wifi portion.

My son wants us to disconnect the router entirely and run the modem and this only and see if it goes down. That is the next test.

I have noticed that my "clicks" from the mouse sometimes have to be done
twice. That's been going on for a while now before this problem.

Next is enticing my son to come here and actually see what is happening..for himself. Let him work on it --the hardware. Fresh eyes so to speak. It is just getting him here..if you know what I mean? sigh