WRT300N + 172.16.x.x doesn't work

[SunnyD]

This weekend I'm planning to move my home network over to something less end-user. As such, I am setting up a server to handle DHCP, which means I need to turn it off on the router, which is a WRT300N. I originally intended on using a 172.16.x.x address range for my internal network, but for some reason the router simply will not have anything to do with it. With DHCP turned off, I can assign it a 192.168.x.x address, or a 10.x.x.x address and it is quite happy. Once I set a 172.16.x.x address, I can no longer reach the router, and it's off to hard reset land I go.

Anyone else having similar issues with their WRT300N or other router?

 

[spidey07]

What address and mask did you set the router to?
What address and mask did you set your computer to?

 

[SunnyD]

The router it was set to 172.16.20.1, the workstation was set to 172.16.20.75, the mask on both was 255.255.255.0.

 

[jlazzaro]

are you stuck on using a 172.16 address or just curious why it wont work?

nothing "end-user" about 192.168, private addressing is private addressing.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: jlazzaro
are you stuck on using a 172.16 address or just curious why it wont work?

nothing "end-user" about 192.168, private addressing is private addressing.

Not stuck on it. Wanted to move to it as there are a lot of wireless AP's around where I live (I've counted about 15 or so last time I "wardrove" my community). While I use filtering and such, using something that isn't commonly used on consumer routers is just a trivial and small layer of security that can be added against static IP's.

For my particular setup, I just went back to 192.168.x.x and I'm fine. But the question remains - why does the router barf all over 172.16.x.x?

 

[jlazzaro]

a quick search yeilds another running a wrt300n having issue with 172.16: linksys

trivial is the right word for it...as i've said before, if someone can break your encryption any other layer of security will be soon to fall.

im assuming your firmware is up to date?

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: jlazzaro
a quick search yeilds another running a wrt300n having issue with 172.16: linksys

trivial is the right word for it...as i've said before, if someone can break your encryption any other layer of security will be soon to fall.

im assuming your firmware is up to date?

Yup, latest firmware. Unlike the poster in that link, I have no compelling reason to use 172.16.x.x (no VPN requirements or what have you), which is why I'm currently up and running without issue using a 192.168.x.x address. As I said though, this is a really odd limitation of the router.