Weak signal from WRT54GS

[450R]

Hi,

I'm getting a weak signal from my WRT54GS on the other side of the house. I bought a WAP54G because I thought I could set it up at the half-way point and have it boost the router's signal, acting sort of as an invisible proxy. After a few hours of unsuccessful tinkering, I contacted Linksys' technical support and they told me I would have to purchase ANOTHER WAP54G and set one up in repeater mode, wired to the router, while the other WAP was set to AP mode and was accessible wirelessly.

Is this correct? Because it seems deceiving and asinine. Can anyone confirm whether or not I can access the WAP54G with wireless clients in the same manner I would access the router itself?

Thanks ... hope I didn't make this too confusing.

 

[kehi]

What version of the wrt54gs do you have?

 

[JackMDS]

What you are looking for is a Repeater, and or WDS.

Wireless Network - Configuration Modes.


The Linksys 54GS as is out of the box can not work in either of these modes.

Some versions of 54GS can be flashed with 3rd party firmware and work as WDS.

The link below would show you a comparison of what each one of the major 3rd party firmware can or can not do.

The first on the Table is HyperWRT, it is the easiest to deal with and it is based on the original Linksys firmware.

If what you would like to do is included in (HyperWRT + Tibor), I would recommend it as a first choice.

Otherwise choose another one that can do what you need to do.

If you do not understand some of the terms ask specifically and some one here would be glad to answer.

http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=31

What do I use it for?

1. Boosting the Power Output of the Wireless to 65mW.

2. Using IP reservation within the DHCP range.

3. Qos

4. Some time configure to WDS.

:sun:

 

[450R]

Thanks for all the info!

Jack, if I were to install Thibor's HyperWRT I still wouldn't be able to setup the WAP54G on the other side of the house and use it as I want to, correct? The main advantage (in my case anyway) would be increased power output? The 54GS needs to stay in this room unfortunately.

BTW it's v3.

Thanks again!

 

[JackMDS]

Hmm. It is surprising that the WAP54G does not repeat the 54GS, did you tried to use the GS as G only?
However the WAP54G is WDS capable so I am operating under the assumption that it would work with the GS in G mode when the GS becomes WDS capable too.

Since you already have the equipment you might as well try it.

:sun:

 

[450R]

Hi,

I flashed the 54GS to the HyperWRT + Thibor firmware and adjusted the settings without any success. I think I may have the settings setup incorrectly ... the client connects fine when the WAP54G is physically (CAT-5) connected to the 54GS but once I disconnect the cable nothing works.

Any suggestions for settings? I'm kind of lost in this all but I'll share what I know so far...

WRT54GS is set to Access Point + WDA. WAP54G is set to Wireless Repeater with the WRT54GS' MAC address. Both are set to G-only, using WPA-PSK authentication w/ AES. Both have a static IP. Both are on the same channel.

Can't think of anything else that would be relevant.

I really appreciate all the help! Thanks!

 

[kehi]

Try disabling the security the AP and the repeater to see if they can talk then. This is just a temporary try

 

[450R]

Disabling security didn't help.

Why is it able to wirelessly connect to the WAP when the WAP is physically connected to the router, but not when everything is wireless?

I just spent another $60 on another WRT54G only to find out it's v5 and won't work with Thibor's HyperWRT. What are my options here?

Thanks again.

 

[kehi]

Have you tried just the single WRT54GS and boosted the output power from default?

 

[450R]

Yeah. Best I could get was 17-20% signal strength. Work's VPN consistently boots me out with that poor of a connection.