Please offer some help with a really really weird network setup

[mdowlin2]

I have two desktops and a laptop on the same connection here at my home. My wireless router is a Linksys WRT55ag, which I bought because I trusted the linksys brand... not so much anymore. I use a lot of streaming video and bit torrents (legal ones) and the router will not handle it, shutting itself down within 10 minutes from too many connections. To compensate, I have my main dekstop connected directly to my modem and then the router connected to a second ethernet port, which then broadcasts to the laptop and is hardwired to the other desktop.

Here is a diagram:
http://img.photobucket.com/alb...eeseplug/Diagram-1.jpg

I can use all the bandwidth I want this way on my main computer, but I would like to be able to have a lan setup with all my computers, you know, file and printer sharing as well as the ability to play lan games with the other machines, or at the very least with the other dekstop. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get this done.

To work with I have the WRT55AG linksys wireless router, a BEFSR41 Linksys wired router, two ethernet ports on my main desktop and one on the secondary desktop and a motorolla surfboard 4200 cable modem.

Is there any way of using bubblegum and paper clips to get all of this to work together, or will I have to suck it up and get a new wireless router.

Thanks for the help.

 

[drebo]

I've personally never done it, but my recommendation would probably be to flash the BEFSR to DD-WRT and then use the WRT55AG as an accesspoint only. DD-WRT is highly recommended to increase router stability and performance on linksys SOHO routers.

 

[mdowlin2]

I can try to do that, but I am going to need some pretty exact instructions for it, networking isn't my forte. By the way it is a WRT55ag ver.2

 

[hiromizu]

This can easily be done using two nics and network connection sharing.

 

[mdowlin2]

I am encountering a problem now with the BEFSR41 v2. I can get a connection, and lots of packets sent and received but no internet service.

 

[hiromizu]

What did Linksys say when you called them?

 

[mdowlin2]

Well, I have the wired router to the two desktops and a network bridge from the main desktop to the wireless router. It works, and I only have to configure the desktops for lan in games such as Cossacks and Empire earth.

Thank you for the suggestion of the access point

 

[mdowlin2]

I seem to be running into another problem, I have internet connections for all computers, and shared printers and files, but cannot get a lan game to work. I have dmz'd the primary desktop and tried forwarding ports (I am trying to get american conquest fight back and divided nation working) but the secondary desktop cannot see the game that I started, what should I do?

 

[RebateMonger]

Your main desktop won't be able to see (or game) with your second desktop or laptop because of the router. You may have Internet connection issues with the second desktop and laptop, also, because of the doublel-NATing.

Put the router back directly behind the modem (before any PCs) and fix your router issues.

 

[mdowlin2]

Rebate Monger:
That doesn't make much sense to me, as I can see the second desktop and I do have shared files and printers. I just cannot see a game that I create on a lan.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: mdowlin2
Rebate Monger:
That doesn't make much sense to me, as I can see the second desktop and I do have shared files and printers. I just cannot see a game that I create on a lan.

I made an assumption from your sketch that may not be valid. Is your Main Desktop connected to the WAN port of the router, or a LAN port?

I also made the assumption that you are using Window's Internet Connection Sharing to share the Internet across your Main computer (using the dual Ethernet ports).

If connected to the WAN port, remember that Network Address Translation is one-way. You can see OUT of the router's network, but can't see INTO it (with the exception of Port Forwarding, which can direct incoming packets to a single IP address inside the router's internal network).

 

[mdowlin2]

Here is a diagram for what I have now: http://img.photobucket.com/alb...heeseplug/Diagram2.jpg

I can see the desktops on each other, can print off of one another and can transfer documents. My only problem is I cannot get a lan game working.


Edit 2: I probably should make it known that when I was using the wireless router as a primary router before I realized how much it actually sucked, I was able to play lan games with all involved, I just need to figure out how to reproduce the success I had with the WRT55AG v2(The two desktops were hardwired) on the BEFSR41 v2.

 

[RebateMonger]

Under the new network diagram, the two desktop PCs will be able to fully network.

It's still not clear what "cannot get a LAN game working" means. What game are we talking about? Is the laptop included in the game?

 

[mdowlin2]

Edit: Nevermind... I thought, "maybe I should try apply the dmz again"

It worked! Thank you for all the help guys.