Calling all Network nerds

[Woods]

I need some advice on a two router set up that has gone bad on my home network....

I have a Netgear router in my bedroom where the DSL modem is, in this setup I'm going with it would be called the "Base Station". There is a cable connected in a LAN port, that runs down to the basement to another Netgear router and is connected to the WAN port. I would basically have two wireless networks in the house, the upper level and the lower level. This set up worked perfectly when there was a DirecTV splitter in the middle of the two routers. Networking devices wasnt really my point of this set up. It was just getting connected devices (Blu ray players, smart TV's etc) to the internet. I kind of preferred this set up so I would know for certain the basement devices, were connected to that router.

DirecTV came out and installed new equipment yesterday, the splitter is now gone. There is a direct connection from the LAN port of the base station to the WAN port on the Basement router, now it no longer works. Before the Directv guy left, he re-capped the ends of the wire and hooked some tool up to both ends to confirm that it was good.

I did some researching online, and came across some forums were folks basically said my set up above, wasnt the best way to do it. They said to run the cable from the LAN port of the base station to the LAN port in the basement. Also on the basement to set a static IP of 192.168.1.2 (since the base station is 192.168.1.1) and to turn DHCP off of the basement router. Finally make it the same SSID as the base station with the same security type (WPA2) and password (Im not telling!) I tried this........nothing.

I tried both setups numerous times throughout the day in case i missed something the time before, nothing.

I hardwired my laptop in to the cable to make sure it really was a live cable, it works fine.

Thanks for any help/suggestions you have.

 

[Schmidtaki]

It's not a difficult setup but it's not easily explained over text as it would require a semi-decent understanding of networking.

basically you need to make sure your first router in the chain is set to 192.168.1.1 for example, the second router needs to be 192.168.1.2 and have DHCP and its firewall disabled. On the first router you will want to make sure that the DHCP addresses start at 192.168.1.3 or you will run into issues where the DHCP server is handing out the IP for your second router. You will want to setup the same SSID on both routers and make sure the passwords are the same using WPA2 if possible. You will also want to make sure that you are running a single cable from LAN port 1 on the first router to the Internet port on the second router.

If your routers are semi-decent they should work in this configuration otherwise you will have to go to the routing tables and setup static routes.

 

[Ares]

It's not a difficult setup but it's not easily explained over text as it would require a semi-decent understanding of networking.

basically you need to make sure your first router in the chain is set to 192.168.1.1 for example, the second router needs to be 192.168.1.2 and have DHCP and its firewall disabled. On the first router you will want to make sure that the DHCP addresses start at 192.168.1.3 or you will run into issues where the DHCP server is handing out the IP for your second router. You will want to setup the same SSID on both routers and make sure the passwords are the same using WPA2 if possible. You will also want to make sure that you are running a single cable from LAN port 1 on the first router to the Internet port on the second router.

If your routers are semi-decent they should work in this configuration otherwise you will have to go to the routing tables and setup static routes.

Ah this would make sense then.... I bet you when he first set this up he got lucky and none of the IPs handed out were 192.168.1.2 but this time around not so lucky perhaps.

 

[Tater]

Can't answer your question but hopefully someone else will. If not this is a great forum with many active gurus on it: http://www.majorgeeks.com/

 

[Woods]

It's not a difficult setup but it's not easily explained over text as it would require a semi-decent understanding of networking.

basically you need to make sure your first router in the chain is set to 192.168.1.1 for example, the second router needs to be 192.168.1.2 and have DHCP and its firewall disabled. On the first router you will want to make sure that the DHCP addresses start at 192.168.1.3 or you will run into issues where the DHCP server is handing out the IP for your second router. You will want to setup the same SSID on both routers and make sure the passwords are the same using WPA2 if possible. You will also want to make sure that you are running a single cable from LAN port 1 on the first router to the Internet port on the second router.

If your routers are semi-decent they should work in this configuration otherwise you will have to go to the routing tables and setup static routes.

Those two things, I did not do yesterday.....I know for certain it's plugged in to port 4. I will switch that, and set the DHCP on the main router to start at 192.168.1.3 when I get home tonight....thanks!

 

[Woods]

Ah this would make sense then.... I bet you when he first set this up he got lucky and none of the IPs handed out were 192.168.1.2 but this time around not so lucky perhaps.

My thoughts too.....

 

[Schmidtaki]

Those two things, I did not do yesterday.....I know for certain it's plugged in to port 4. I will switch that, and set the DHCP on the main router to start at 192.168.1.3 when I get home tonight....thanks!

Port 4 should work as well, I just specified port 1 as a personal preference. I think the big issue though after re-reading your post is that you need to make sure the firewall is disabled on your second router as it thinks anything outside of it is the internet and is blocking all the common traffic that would normally come through a LAN network like DHCP requests.

So just make sure your firewall is disabled on the second router and it should work if you have the configuration setup remotely in the way I specified.

Don't disable the firewall on your first router though as that is protecting you from the outside world.

 

[Woods]

Port 4 should work as well, I just specified port 1 as a personal preference. I think the big issue though after re-reading your post is that you need to make sure the firewall is disabled on your second router as it thinks anything outside of it is the internet and is blocking all the common traffic that would normally come through a LAN network like DHCP requests.

So just make sure your firewall is disabled on the second router and it should work if you have the configuration setup remotely in the way I specified.

Don't disable the firewall on your first router though as that is protecting you from the outside world.

Got it.

The first thing I'll do is probably reset the second router back to default settings. So when I do that, and log into it under the basic settings tab the first thing it wants to know is connection type.

I should tell it my connection doesnt require a log in, right? Then set it up static with 192.168.1.2 IP, 255.255.255.0 Subnet, 192.168.1.1 gateway and my ISP's DNS servers. Or do I tell it to obtain everything automatically?

 

[Schmidtaki]

Got it.

The first thing I'll do is probably reset the second router back to default settings. So when I do that, and log into it under the basic settings tab the first thing it wants to know is connection type.

I should tell it my connection doesnt require a log in, right? Then set it up static with 192.168.1.2 IP, 255.255.255.0 Subnet, 192.168.1.1 gateway and my ISP's DNS servers. Or do I tell it to obtain everything automatically?

Nah specify that manually but tell it to use 192.168.1.1 as your DNS as it will forward all requests to your ISPs DNS through your first router.

 

[Dogstar]

Got it.

The first thing I'll do is probably reset the second router back to default settings. So when I do that, and log into it under the basic settings tab the first thing it wants to know is connection type.

I should tell it my connection doesnt require a log in, right? Then set it up static with 192.168.1.2 IP, 255.255.255.0 Subnet, 192.168.1.1 gateway and my ISP's DNS servers. Or do I tell it to obtain everything automatically?

^^^^ What Schmid said ^^^

I'd set it up as static with the addresses you have. For the DNS servers you could use the ISP's DNSs or just use 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (Google's DNS servers) Personally I do both. Google's DNS is my primary and my ISP's DNS is the secondary.

 

[Woods]

Thanks guys! I'll be back later tonight/tomorrow with results.

 

[LordKOTL]

This might help:
http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/ukp.aspx?pid=80&vw=1&articleid=3733

I would personally say I would got for a LAN/LAN type of cascade. If I needed a Cascade/Bridge in my apartment I don't think it would matter which router I was connected to--but it would matter that each device can see every other device.

 

[Woods]

Still striking out. When I do this I can tell by the signal strength that the basement router isnt what Im connected to, and it's flaky connection.

When I enter all the static info, it resolves itself in the LAN TCP/IP as 10.0.0.1 and sends me a pop up about manually changing the IP on my laptop..... Should that be happening??

On top of that, the ranges are set on the main router.
DHCP is disabled on the second router
Firewall is turned off on the second router
SSID and WPA2 are the same on both

All the lights lit up on the netgear are green, power, wireless and I(with the circle below it.

 

[Schmidtaki]

Still striking out. When I do this I can tell by the signal strength that the basement router isnt what Im connected to, and it's flaky connection.

When I enter all the static info, it resolves itself in the LAN TCP/IP as 10.0.0.1 and sends me a pop up about manually changing the IP on my laptop..... Should that be happening??

On top of that, the ranges are set on the main router.
DHCP is disabled on the second router
Firewall is turned off on the second router
SSID and WPA2 are the same on both

All the lights lit up on the netgear are green, power, wireless and I(with the circle below it.

sounds like your routers are configured to use 10.0.0.1 so try setting your second router to 10.0.0.2 and your DNS server for it to 10.0.0.1

 

[TCD]

worst thread ever

 

[Woods]

sounds like your routers are configured to use 10.0.0.1 so try setting your second router to 10.0.0.2 and your DNS server for it to 10.0.0.1

Still nothing......Of course unless I'm directly connected to the router upstairs.

This is soooooooo frustrating. WTF can it be???????

 

[Woods]

Let me ask you this, when Im connected to the network name and do an ipconfig......

Should I see the main routers gateway address 192.168.1.1 or the second routers address 192.168.1.2 (or perhapes 10.0.0.2)

?

 

[Woods]

Well I have somewhat of an ending to this fiasco. But it still doesn't make sense. To just test something out I brought the basement router up to my living room where I have a cat5 hookup. Fucking thing connects and is online in 30 seconds with no settings really at all, everything is set to obtain auto, so I set the wireless settings and am leaving it there for now. The smart tv in my basement connects to it with good signal as does the blu-ray on the opposite end. Both streamed a show fine.

But riddle me this....
Router hard-wired to basement....No good.
Laptop hard-wired to basement, Same cable, port etc...good.
Router with the exact same settings hardwired upstairs, good.

I cannot figure out a rhyme or reason to any of this. BUt at least it's working.

 

[Dogstar]

But riddle me this....
Router hard-wired to basement....No good.
Laptop hard-wired to basement, Same cable, port etc...good.
Router with the exact same settings hardwired upstairs, good.

When you have the router upstairs, what are you plugging it in to?

Plugging a switch/router into another switch/router may require a crossover cable if neither of the devices has auto (MDI-X) sensing port(s). Look at the ports on the back of the routers. If you see something along the lines of "uplink" or "auto", that's the port(s) you want to be plugging into to connect the two routers.

 

[Woods]

When you have the router upstairs, what are you plugging it in to?

Plugging a switch/router into another switch/router may require a crossover cable if neither of the devices has auto (MDI-X) sensing port(s). Look at the ports on the back of the routers. If you see something along the lines of "uplink" or "auto", that's the port(s) you want to be plugging into to connect the two routers.

So before my basement was finished, I ran cat5's from my router in my bedroom (My DSL modem HAS to be on this specific jack btw) through the floor, down along the joist's and up into my living room in two different spots, and one to where I planned to have my equipment set up in the basement.

So when the router is connected to the cable in the basement, it doesnt connect. When it's connected to one of the two in the living room, it connects.

The cables should all be the same. I looked at the wire color layout on each end of both, they appear to match.