Many thanks for that link! I never doubted you. When my newly-purchased router arrives I'll let you know how things work out.

Hey jephree, thanks! -- you jogged my thinking with that last reference. I forgot (because I'm no networking whiz) that these Ethernet devices always seem to have some built-in scripting (on PROM?) that is accessed via browser at the conventional address of 192.168.1.1. Yeah -- I forgot! So that means that my Versalink 327w might yet be revived by going into its setup script and resetting if necessary the parameters that it has stored. I've got the Verizon Help Center to assist me. I'm now thinking that the power surge cleared some vital setup data and it simply needs to be reentered. I'm just getting started looking at this possibility. I'll post with any news of progress or snags with that.

Wow, success!!

Many thanks to jephree and other posters who offered their kind assistance!

Actually, I was unable to get to the setup script for the Versalink 327w, because it demanded a name and password that must've consisted of real (but unknown) values. I could not get past the secure login. This seems a bit odd because I know that I did several hard RESETs of the 327w, using the little button on the back. So it shouldn't have demanded an actual password, right?

But that's of little consequence. When I finally looked up after multiple attempts to guess at a generic name/password combo (eg. "admin" and blank), I saw that the Internet indicator light was on a steady green -- haha! 'Not sure what triggered the unit's revival, whether it was my attempting to enter the setup script or maybe just the fact that the device had been cooling on the shelf for 4 or 5 days. But it works just great again now.

I wasted $16 buying a router. No biggie... yet another piece of electronic gear destined for basement storage.

Thanks for the update. Glad all is well.

Now that you mention it I should have thought of that myself.

I have had the same problem after power failures. It has only affected modem/router combos in my experience. I have never had this issue with stand alone modems or modem plus router setups.

Anyway the exact same symptoms: after resetting I would always get the password prompt that refused to clear. As in your case I wish I knew how this was overcome but I do not.

Again my experience was very similar to yours. It was constantly prompting for a password and then all of a sudden it was working fine.

I am not sure of the mechanical workings inside these combo boxes but one could suppose that there is an internal bridge setup that failed. I assume this because you would get the same behavior from an unbridged router.

Again even if this were the case I wish I knew what fixed it.

Update: Ever since then, the Westell Versalink 327w is delivering the internet to my two computers. A couple of power outages caused it to again go on the fritz, but each time I was eventually able to revive it. But never until *TODAY* had I actually ever been able to login to the device's firmware Control Panel, which gives me total control over the device's various functions and wireless security measures. Yes... I re-searched the internet for forum topics about just WHAT the default username/password might be for that box. I had previously gotten BAD info from another site (portforward.com) wherein it claimed the username is "admin" and the password blank. But I found a mention in a different forum today that the default password for that box is actually "password", and that turns out to be right!!

Again, many thanks. You can bet I'll be back with more headaches to whine about some time.