Basic home networking questions

[RoamDog]

Just switched to a new cable modem.
Attached to the cable modem is a Linksys EZXS88W 10/100 8-port switch.
Attached to the Linksys are 2 computers (one desktop [computer A] and one laptop [computer B]) and a D-Link DI-624 802.11g Wireless 108 Mbps 4-port Router.
A third computer [computer C] uses the wireless feature to connect (or theoretically connect) to the network.

Computer A works fine. Computer B does not successfully connect. Computer C does not successfully connect.

What I have already tried:
1. Switching the ports on the Linksys into which computer A and computer B are plugged. [A still works and B still does not].
2. Disconnecting (and unplugging) the D-Link. [No change].
3. Using the Windows "Network Connections" Repair feature on computer "B". [No change].
4. Opening a CMD window and running IPCONFIG /RELEASE * and IPCONFIG /RENEW * [No change].
5. Switching the ports in the wall that computer A and computer B are plugged into. [A still works and B still doesn't].

I don't get it? What am I doing wrong? I have been using a cable modem + router combo for years with different providers and different pieces of hardware and have never had a problem. My wife has been without Internet access for several days. Not good.

Please help.

 

[jlazzaro]

does your cable modem have a built in router? if not, you'll need to go

modem > router > switch, not modem > switch > router

most likely Computer A is getting your WAN address, and since you only have 1 ip addresses its the only one that can connect. the router isnt in the loop, hence there is no NAT being performed. post the results of an "ipconfig /all"

basic home networking

 

[robmurphy]

You have it connected the wrong way round. You need to connect the router to the cable modem, and then connect the PCs to the router. From the number of ports you are using you do not need the switch.

The reason 1 PC works and the others do not is that generaly the cable modem will only give out 1 IP address over DHCP. If you want to share the internet connection you need to use a router. The router gets the IP address from the cable modem on its WAN side, and gives out IP addresses on its LAN side.

Chances are you will have to power cycle the cable modem when you connect the router to it.

Rob Murphy

 

[JackMDS]

Network should look like this, http://www.ezlan.net/network/router.jpg

The MAC might need to be cloned to the Router, http://www.ezlan.net/broadband.html

 

[RoamDog]

Doh!

I knew that. Really I did. I think that the fact that I had one machine (and the same machine) working almost no matter what blinded me to the word switch instead of router. So, I have inserted my Linksys BEFSR41 Etherfast Cable/DSL Router in front of the Linksys EZXS88W 10/100 8-port switch.
And...
Computer A (hard wired) still works. Hooray.
Computer B (hard wired) now works. Hooray.
Computer C (wireless) not connected.
Computer D (wireless) not connected.
Computer E, F, G, H (hard wired) all work. Hooray.

So, the next question is how do I get my second router (D-Link DI-624 802.11g Wireless 108 Mbps 4-port) working. I have read conflicting advice.

What do I need to change on my first (Linksys) router?
I am pretty sure that I need to assign a static IP to the second router from the first router. But how do I do that? Unfortunately, my current (most up-to-date) firmware does not match the screenshots/descriptions in the manual that I have. Nor does the firmware actually match the screenshots/descriptions in the manual that is online at Linksys (they are all close but there are several fields that are different).

What do I need to change on my second (D-Link) router?
I am pretty sure that I need to turn off DHCP on the D-Link but how do I do that? I think that the factory settings come with it on and as soon as I connect the second router I will have conflicts wont I?

Originally posted by: jlazzaro
does your cable modem have a built in router? if not, you'll need to go

modem > router > switch, not modem > switch > router

most likely Computer A is getting your WAN address, and since you only have 1 ip addresses its the only one that can connect. the router isnt in the loop, hence there is no NAT being performed. post the results of an "ipconfig /all"

basic home networking

 

[bigpow]

http://compnetworking.about.co...ters/f/two_routers.htm

in a gist, you just need to make sure those 2 wifi routers reside on 2 different subnetworks

each router has a static address, like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 etc
change the other router to 192.168.2.1 or something.

each running its own DHCP for wifi clients will be fine (don't have to disable dhcp, just make sure they're not conflicting each other)
dhcp address range is usually fixed, like 192.168.1.100-xxx
make sure the other router dhcp address range is different, like 192.168.2.100-xxx

may I ask you why you have such an elaborate setup?

 

[Mike2002]

I think you're making your network alot more confusing than it really needs to be. I think you can get it to work the way you want somehow but...I would just get rid of your Linksys BEFSR41 all together. Put your Dlink wireless router directly after the modem and use that to perform all of the routing fuctions and provide wireless. Then you can just plug your Linksys switch into a port on the router and it should all work perfectly.

 

[RoamDog]

Only one of the routers is wireless (the D-Link). The other (Linksys router) is hard wire only.

I have 3 computers in the basement (all hard wired).
I have 3 computers on the first floor (2 hard wired and one wireless but the wireless one is not functional (missing parts) yet).
I have 3 computers on the second floor. There are zero wired ports on the second floor.

The cable feed (and cable modem) comes into the house in the basement.
The first router is set up in the basement next to the cable modem. I need a switch as my Linksys router only has 3 ports plus the uplink.
The switch is in the basement next to the Linksys router. I need the D-Link (wireless) router as I have 3 computers on the 2nd floor where there are no jacks.
Even though it has more ports, the (wireless) D-Link router cannot act as the sole router as it still does not have enough ports and more importantly must be installed on the first floor as the signal is too weak to establish a strong connection from the area of the basement where the other equipment is to where the computers are on the second floor.

Originally posted by: bigpow
http://compnetworking.about.co...ters/f/two_routers.htm

in a gist, you just need to make sure those 2 wifi routers reside on 2 different subnetworks

each router has a static address, like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 etc
change the other router to 192.168.2.1 or something.

each running its own DHCP for wifi clients will be fine (don't have to disable dhcp, just make sure they're not conflicting each other)
dhcp address range is usually fixed, like 192.168.1.100-xxx
make sure the other router dhcp address range is different, like 192.168.2.100-xxx

may I ask you why you have such an elaborate setup?

 

[Tsaico]

Originally posted by: Mike2002
I think you're making your network alot more confusing than it really needs to be. I think you can get it to work the way you want somehow but...I would just get rid of your Linksys BEFSR41 all together. Put your Dlink wireless router directly after the modem and use that to perform all of the routing fuctions and provide wireless. Then you can just plug your Linksys switch into a port on the router and it should all work perfectly.

I agree with this. Unless you have a special need for having two networks, just ditch the wired router and put the wireless router in it's place. Or if you really want, disable the DHCP and routing functions on the D-Link and just use as an AP for your wireless folks. Your Lynksis will assign the D-Link an IP, your D-link will connect your wireless folks to the Lynksis router and the rest of the people on your network.

 

[Mike2002]

Okay, I read your most recent post and now i see why you want the wireless router upstairs. I would just disable the DHCP on the Dlink(just plug a computer into your router and nothing else so it won't have any conflicts.) Disable the DHCP server and make sure that the IP of the router is the on the same subnet as your first router is on. ie. if your router gives out 192.168.0.x addresses, then make sure to give your Dlink an address in that same subnet 192.168.0.x. Then plug the cat 5 into the LAN port on your Dlink wireless.

Alright take this with a grain of salt since i'm a noob but thats the basic principal i think.

 

[bigpow]

Originally posted by: RoamDog
Only one of the routers is wireless (the D-Link). The other (Linksys router) is hard wire only.

I have 3 computers in the basement (all hard wired).
I have 3 computers on the first floor (2 hard wired and one wireless but the wireless one is not functional (missing parts) yet).
I have 3 computers on the second floor. There are zero wired ports on the second floor.

The cable feed (and cable modem) comes into the house in the basement.
The first router is set up in the basement next to the cable modem. I need a switch as my Linksys router only has 3 ports plus the uplink.
The switch is in the basement next to the Linksys router. I need the D-Link (wireless) router as I have 3 computers on the 2nd floor where there are no jacks.
Even though it has more ports, the (wireless) D-Link router cannot act as the sole router as it still does not have enough ports and more importantly must be installed on the first floor as the signal is too weak to establish a strong connection from the area of the basement where the other equipment is to where the computers are on the second floor.

Originally posted by: bigpow

may I ask you why you have such an elaborate setup?

It's always best to place your wifi router in the highest place of the house, in your case, 2nd floor. But since you don't have wired connection to 2nd floor, then 1st floor will do.


Basement:
Cable Modem ---> Linksys wire) Router -----> Linksys Switch ----> 3 PC wired, 4 wires going to 1st floor

1st Floor:
3 PC wired, going to basement
1 D-Link wifi router wired, going to basement

2nd Floor:
3 PC connecting to D-Link router in 1st floor via wifi


You've got a good setup there, I think it's only a matter of adjusting the configurations on D-Link wifi router.

You'll eventually have 3 subnets:
1) from cable modem - only shared with Linksys wire Router
2) Linksys wire router - shared with 3 PC, Linksys Switch, and DLink wifi Router
3) DLink wifi router - shared with 3 PC + 3 PC

This is far from a basic home networking question

I would hate to have to configure an Xbox 360 from 2nd floor with all these NATs
nor to configure the firewall settings on each PC and routers...






BTW, jlazzaro, I see that you're still using our old logo as your signature

 

[Brazen]

Just remember, everything you want to use on the Dlink with be the LAN stuff. Just ignore the "Internet" or "WAN" port and configurations. You'll need to disable DHCP and assign an address to the local interface, not the internet interface, that is appropriate for your network (as determined by the dhcp on the linksys router).

 

[RoamDog]

How do I tell the Linksys to assign a specific IP address to the D-Link and how do I tell the D-Link to only accept that specific IP address??

Originally posted by: Brazen
Just remember, everything you want to use on the Dlink with be the LAN stuff. Just ignore the "Internet" or "WAN" port and configurations. You'll need to disable DHCP and assign an address to the local interface, not the internet interface, that is appropriate for your network (as determined by the dhcp on the linksys router).

 

[RoamDog]

I have turned of the DHCP on the second (D-Link) router.
It does not appear like I can have the primary Linksys router "assign" a permanent address to the D-Link. However, it does seem like I can manually assign an IP address using the D-Link menus to the D-Link itself. So, if I do that and that IP address uses the first 3 grouping of digits that the Linksys is using then I should be OK, right? (The only thing that I will have to worry about is if my ISP changes the IP address of the DNS servers (that I would also have to manually assign)??
Or is there still a way for me to let the D-Link dynamically pull an IP address from the Linksys?

Originally posted by: Brazen
Just remember, everything you want to use on the Dlink with be the LAN stuff. Just ignore the "Internet" or "WAN" port and configurations. You'll need to disable DHCP and assign an address to the local interface, not the internet interface, that is appropriate for your network (as determined by the dhcp on the linksys router).

 

[bigpow]

i believe if you connect the dlink uplink port (internet) to the other router, it'll accept an address from the other dhcp server

 

[RoamDog]

Thanks for all the advice.
Unfortunately, I still have problems. My respopnse time has taken a terrible nose dive and all of the wired computers have to frequently click twice to get sites (including big time sites--google, yahoo, etc.) to come up. Seems like the request is timing out. Which lkeades me to believe that I set one of the fields on one of the routers incorrectly and it is causing the routers to consume all the bandwidth just talking to each other (or maybe even talking to the NICs but not really doing anything with the actual traffic).

It looks like I am going to be forced to go get a couple plain Wireless Access Points (of course I am assuming that the setup/configuration for these is easier than for routers so that there is less chance of my goofing it up).

So, can you recommend a model of wireless access point? My wireless router is a D-Link and runs at 108.

 

[novasatori]

nvm