Cisco CCP Write Configuration borked my 871w config while I was trying to setup port forwarding.
I went through the basic steps to reconfig the router. I looked to see if I could just reset the router. Nope. I tested the 871's flash memory with fsck to see if there was hardware failure. Nope. Then I rewrote the minimal config for TFTP (which is the same for Cisco's CCP app.).
Thne, I successfully uploaded a previously working running-config from Win Vista using SolarWinds TFTP Server, unfortunately the restore was not entirely successful. The old running config was saved to the 871's startup-config and I can login using console port. Some other things that are working are the hostname and welcome message but that's about it.
Startup shows an error SETUP: new interface NVI0 placed in "shutdown" state after tftp. The missing light on the access point modem for ethernet link show the 871'a outside FE4 is not working.
SO...what's the possible problem with reloading a previously working config (approximately 4 months with the same config) via TFTP? Is there something I can look for on the 871 to verify the config? Or on Vista to validate the config file itself before I transfer it? Or, is this there a common TFTP issue?
UPDATE. I missed the instruction from Cisco's TFTP page to delete aaa lines from the config (although a video from a SuperUser user didn't make this point in his most excellent demo). There were several lines of this sort, I deleted them and uploaded again. However, they're back. I assume they're added automatically? [nope, see answer]
UPDATE 2. The reload of previous settings was successful, but this error remains. I don't even know now if it was there before or not. It seems irrelevant to the question.