How to wirelessly connect my XBox to network?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
D

Dougmeister

Senior member
Sep 15, 2004
568
2
81
I have at my disposal:

Two (2) Belkin wireless cable/dsl gateway routers (at one time had my ReplayTV connected to the wireless network)

Currently have a Linksys WRT54G as my router/firewall

Also have two (2) Buffalo WZR2-G300Ns.

But I don't think any of that will help me.

My buddy and I have been unable to get the Belkins to talk to the Linksys.

The cheapest solution is to drill some holes in my walls and run a cable from the living room to the upstairs, but that would not be very elegant.

The most expensive solution is to buy a fancy (access point)?

I'm looking for something elegant but on the cheap side (<$50?). I'd love to be able to do it with the equipment I already have.

Can anyone here give me some help? I'll gladly provide more details, just ask. Thanks.
 
K

keeleysam

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2005
8,131
0
0
If you flash the WRT54G with DD-WRT, you can use it in client bridge mode so anything connected to the wired connection will be able to connect to your wireless network. You'll then have to use one of your other routers for router use.
 
D

Dougmeister

Senior member
Sep 15, 2004
568
2
81
Thanks. Is flashing it with DD-WRT a non-trivial task? I did a quick Google and found this

Text

Is there a better one that you know of? Thanks again.
 
D

Dougmeister

Senior member
Sep 15, 2004
568
2
81
I was using the Belkins for a few years, and I think they are pretty much bottom-of-the-barrel. I am concerned with: security/firewall, signal strenght, and GUI.

Based on these criteria, the Buffalo WZR2-G300N would be the better choice for my main router then, right?
 
CptCrunch

CptCrunch

Golden Member
Jan 31, 2005
1,877
1
0
Originally posted by: spidey07
It's a non-trivial task, it's the easiest way to get wireless to your xbox.
Click to expand...

QFT, I did this when I lived at my parents house after I graduated collect and it worked great. No need to run cables from the xbox to the router 100 feet away. I'm currently running DD-WRT on both boxes, and it is easy to install. Just follow the instructions and you'll be set.
 
J

jgonzalez

Junior Member
Jun 19, 2008
13
0
0
Originally posted by: Dougmeister
Originally posted by: Husky55
Be careful. Not all versions of wrt54g are ddwrt friendly.
Click to expand...

How to tell?
Click to expand...

Look under the router. In the model number it will say "WRT54G v#". For example, mine says "WRT54G v4". They go from v1-8. If you have anything from 1-4 you can use full DD-WRT or Tomato. If you have anything after 4 you have to use Micro DD-WRT because these versions have less flash memory. Also, you probably realized this but you will have to use one of your Buffalo routers as your main router/firewall since the Linksys will be used as client where the Xbox is.
 
D

Dougmeister

Senior member
Sep 15, 2004
568
2
81
I have v8. Looking for an older version on eBay, etc.

Is there a simple list that shows what the larger DD-WRT installs would give me that tomato/micro DD-WRT wouldn't?
 
D

Dougmeister

Senior member
Sep 15, 2004
568
2
81
Got it flashed, thanks guys.

Now is it a trivial task to get the XBox working? I have DHCP enabled on my Buffalo router. What steps do I take on the DD-WRT Linksys now?
 
M

Madwand1

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2006
3,309
0
76
Find out the IP, DHCP, and wireless settings on the main wireless router / access point.
Save the WPA/WPA2 key to a text file and copy it to your workstation.

Reset the router to default settings
Disconnect workstation from main network and connect it to the bridge with a LAN cable.

Login to bridge using a web browser at http://192.168.1.1
When asked, supply account name "root", password "admin"

Change the router name (under Setup), password (under Administration) if desired.
Write down the account name & password.
Save, apply settings.

Change the IP of the bridge to be compatible but not conflicting with the main router.
Save, apply.
Try to login to new IP. If that doesn't work, go to command prompt and run:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
or reboot the workstation.

Once you've logged in to the router again,
go to Wireless/Wireless Security
Set the Security Mode, etc. as required for the router.
Don't use mixed WPA/WPA2 on the bridge -- pick one.
Save, apply.

Go to Wireless / Basic Settings
Set the Wireless Network Mode, SSID, etc., as required for the router.
Set the Wireless Mode to "Client Bridge"
Save, apply.

Go to the Status/Wireless page
Wait for a connection to appear in Wireless Nodes
Give it a minute or two.

If it doesn't appear, go back and check the previous settings / try different / reduced security options.
If all else fails, disable security on the main router and the bridge, re-try, and then re-introduce security.

Power off & power on the router.
Wait a minute or so, and try to access the Internet from the workstation.
If it still doesn't work, try giving it more time / re-booting the workstation.
If this still doesn't work, log into the bridge and re-check the settings.
At this point, you might have to manually assign an IP to your network adapter to connect to the bridge.

When successful, re-connect the workstation to the main network, and connect the new client to the bridge.
 
T

Trashman

Platinum Member
Jan 31, 2000
2,040
0
0
Figured I'd ressurect this tread instead of starting new, since I was gettin info to take on such a project here myself.

I have a friend that needs this setup as well
wireless router/cable modem--small existing network upstairs.
needs wired for downstairs, xbox and computer....with a laptop connecting wirelessly in between both up and down.

I have no experience doing this (client mode wireless bridge) but not afraid to take on but he doesn't want to deal with it.

My question is, Madwand1 or anyone willing to share info.
He lives in another state, cant run over and hook it up for him, could i configure this router (LINKSYS WRT54GL probably with the DD-WRT firmware) on my network and then ship to him, sounds stupid but i'd like to save 3-4 hours on the phone walking him through this.

Reading through Madwand1 example it looks like i may have a problem doing that:

Change the IP of the bridge to be compatible but not conflicting with the main router.
won't be able to do that, maybe from my own inexperience im not really sure what that means, a compatable IP or if even necessary.

Thanx
 
M

Madwand1

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2006
3,309
0
76
It's doable, but there would still be some finalization needed on-site.

If you have a wireless router yourself, you could try to mimic his settings on your own wireless router, set up the bridge to connect to it, make good notes on what you did, and then ship him the bridge.

You could also have him install and run LogMeIn or something like that on a computer wired to his router, and review his router settings from that remotely.

You might even be able to connect to the bridge remotely and tweak its settings as long as it wasn't actually bridged and you had a good start with its settings. As soon as it was bridged though, you'd have a problem until you disconnected its wire.

Unfortunately, there are a number of things which can go wrong, so there's a pretty good chance that this would end in frustration, so you'd have to start with some learning, patience, and fallbacks in mind.

Another alternative would be to get an off-the-shelf bridge such as the D-Link DAP-1522 and rely on vendor support to get that working if needed. But even with this, it would be a good idea to set it up yourself on your network first to learn about it and then ship it to him. Moreover, most off-the-shelf devices including the DAP-1522 don't do wireless repeating of client mode bridging, so you'd have to rely on the range of the upstairs router for when the laptop was downstairs.
 
M

Madwand1

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2006
3,309
0
76
Originally posted by: Trashman
Change the IP of the bridge to be compatible but not conflicting with the main router.
won't be able to do that, maybe from my own inexperience im not really sure what that means, a compatable IP or if even necessary.
Click to expand...

Let's say that your main router's IP is 192.168.0.1, and its DHCP range is 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.199 In other words, 192.168.0.1 is the IP you'd used to log into the main router's configuration, and from there, you saw that its DHCP configuration assigns client IPs from the range 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.199. (E.g from the Basic/Network Settings here: http://support.dlink.com/emula...300/Basic_Network.html )

Then a "compatible but not conflicting" IP would for example be 192.168.0.10 -- it's outside the DHCP range, and not the same as any other device on the network with a fixed IP (i.e. not 192.168.0.1). To set this, you'd have connect to the bridge using its original IP, find its configuration page, set it to the new IP, and apply,save, and then re-connect to the new IP.

 
T

Trashman

Platinum Member
Jan 31, 2000
2,040
0
0
I appreciate the info, never thought about remote login, sounds doable.
Thanx again.
 
T

Trashman

Platinum Member
Jan 31, 2000
2,040
0
0
"IP would for example be 192.168.0.10 -- it's outside the DHCP range" i was thinking somewhere along those lines thats what you meant, thanx for pointin that out. :thumbsup:
 
T

Trashman

Platinum Member
Jan 31, 2000
2,040
0
0
Madwand1, just a heads up, have client bridge working...woohoo!!, the only thing i had to add to your instructions, maybe i goofed somewhere or maybe the version of dd-wrt(v24-sp1), but i had to manually add the gateway and local DNS #'s in network setup of 2nd router, which were the IP address of my 1st. Router.
Thanx again :thumbsup:
 
M

Madwand1

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2006
3,309
0
76
Originally posted by: Trashman
Madwand1, just a heads up, have client bridge working...woohoo!!, the only thing i had to add to your instructions, maybe i goofed somewhere or maybe the version of dd-wrt(v24-sp1), but i had to manually add the gateway and local DNS #'s in network setup of 2nd router, which were the IP address of my 1st. Router.
Click to expand...

Congratulations!

It isn't always necessary to set the gateway and DNS (I've confirmed that it works fine with a copy of v24 SP1 here) -- I think the issue is normally taken care with a power off/on of the router. I've also seen really flaky behavior when you skip the "reset to factory defaults" during/after the initial flash of DD-WRT. But who knows -- it doesn't hurt, and if that's what it took to get it working for you, then that's cool.
 
funboy6942

funboy6942

Lifer
Nov 13, 2001
15,368
418
126
I bought a game bridge adapter made by Dlink for $15 shipped on ebay. Unit only. I used my old PSP USB cable and plugged that into the device to give it power off my 360's USB port rather then using another power adapter. It saw it as a bridge, stuck in my routers security pin, and then it was on line for under $20 and under 5 minutes. The bridge adapter I got is the 108MBS one, and it is pretty fast, or fast enough for what I need it to do. In any case it was sure cheaper then buying the $90 microsoft adapter, what a rip off that is :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom