Wireless Access Point problems

[Adrian_S]

I'm hoping someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong because this problem is driving me insane and I don't know anything about anything.

I have a Sky SR101 router as my main point of connection to the internet in the house. However, there is a Wifi deadspot in an upstairs room that I need covered. I already have a Cat5 cable trailed from the SR101 to the upstairs room ready for a wired connection, but I need wireless coverage instead.

What I am attempting to do is place a Wireless Access Point there, using a Tenda W311R+ connected to the SR101 through that Cat5 cable.

I have read a pages and pages of instructions on how to do this but none of them seem to work.

This is what I have done so far


The Sky SR101 has the following settings:

LAN IP: 192.168.0.1

DHCP range: 192.169.0.11 - 192.168.0.254

WPA2-PSK (AES) security


I connected the Tenda W311R+ to a laptop that had no other internet connection, updated the firmware to the latest version, then changed its LAN IP to 192.168.0.9 and disabled the DHCP server, ensuring the security settings are the same and UPnP is disabled. I kept the SSID different so I could know which connection was being made on each device.

However, when I disabled the DHCP server, the laptop could no longer connect to the W311R+, even after several reboots of both the laptop and the router. My limited reading around the subject has taught me that this is an obvious consequence, as disabling the DHCP server means the router is no longer handing out IP addresses.

I have tried many many times in vain to connect to the W311R+ by giving the laptop a static IP but I must be doing something wrong. Also, I do not know what connecting to it will achieve because as far as I've read, the settings I've changed on the W311R+ are all I apparently need to do in order to get the damn thing to work as a Wireless Access Point.

I've even tried hooking the W311R+ up to the SR101 despite not being able to connect the laptop to it after altering the settings, just to see if it will work. After connecting, I power cycled both routers. Devices can see the W311R+ as broadcasting a signal, but they cannot connect to it - it won't even get to the stage of asking for a network key in order to complete the connection.

Somebody please tell me where I'm making a mistake or what to do next.

 

[QuietDad]

When setting up the static IP on the laptop, point the gateway to 192.168.0.1. Sounds like yor PC has the W311R+ as it's gateway and when you turn DHCP off, it gets no routing info,

 

[JackMDS]

Maybe this can Help.

Using Access Points or Wireless Cable/DSL Routers as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

 

[Fardringle]

The Tenda W311R+ is a router, not an access point. When you connect the Tenda to your existing network using the WAN port on the Tenda and then disable DHCP on the Tenda, there is no service available to provide IP addresses on that isolated network you created.

Keep DHCP disabled on the Tenda but connect that ethernet cable to one of the LAN ports, not the WAN/Internet port. This will let the Tenda act as an access point for your existing network.

 

[Adrian_S]

Thank you all for the replies.

I have followed the linked guide and a dozen other guides to the letter but I still cannot get this to work and I'm out of ideas.

Once again, I have logged into the Tenda router using a laptop connected directly to it via a cable, disabled its DHCP and changed its IP address to one that doesn't conflict with the Sky router. I even managed to log back in to the Tenda after disabling DHCP, which I wasn't able to before.

However, once I have connected the Tenda to the Sky router (via a LAN cable going into the LAN port only, there is definitely nothing connected to the Tenda WAN port at all), I still cannot make an internet connection via the Tenda from any wireless or wired device.

I tried pinging the Sky router from a laptop connected via a cable to the Tenda router when the Tenda itself was connected to the Sky router, but it would not go through.

I don't understand what the problem could be. Every guide and post I've read says using a router as a wireless access point is quite straightforward, and all I need to do is disable the DHCP and modify the IP address on the secondary router, and connect it via a Cat5 cable to the primary router.

Please help.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I tried pinging the Sky router from a laptop connected via a cable to the Tenda router when the Tenda itself was connected to the Sky router, but it would not go through.

At this point, I would double-check the wiring. Sounds like the cable running upstairs is bad.

 

[Adrian_S]

At this point, I would double-check the wiring. Sounds like the cable running upstairs is bad.

I connected the cable directly to a laptop and it connected to the internet without a problem, so I'm guessing the wiring is ok?