Thanks for your extensive report on how you fixed the &%*()#$@*(&! thing. I've spent quite some time on it, so far, and it reacts differently from what you describe:
in step 4, I never say a TFTP response coming in on the console of the TFTP Boot utility (yes, firewall is off). Using Wireshark, I saw that it keeps trying to obtain a DHCP address, which it does not get since it is connected directly to my laptop and only to my laptop (which has address 192.168.1.11, indeed). It gratuitously starts using 169.254.255.237, which is actually pingable. No web interface. Blue status light blinking frantically, function key is not lit. repeated this a couple of times, with an XP and a Vista (64bit) laptop, same result.
NASnavigator sometimes found the thing at the 169.254.255.237 address, with strange strings LSUpdater likewise, no updating poosible?
Can You (Buffalo) help me out or should I return it? Seems to be a problem t6hat occus more often, can I trust this product?