Thank you everyone for your suggestions, time, and general helpfulness. Great list! Thomas came up with the goods, ran the recovery, and I've just got it back up and running. So that's a relief ... I was rather dreading having to come up with more cash. Yes Riba was right, it was a DSL "modem" from the provider but I use the router instead. I didn't know the DSL thing is not really a modem. What is it then? I had the following from the Netgear online support: "... apologies if the wrong message was communicated by the support team. They may not have fully understood you only had Mac machines available with which to run the Recovery Utility. I have discussed the Mac issue with engineering and they have confirmed no current plans to provide specific Mac upgrades. ..." Best wishes to you all Helen