nooby router query

souter

Hi,
I 've been using bt broadband in windows XP for a while now, with a zyxel(sp?) modem going into the ethernet port. Hunky dory, but thoguht I'd swap out the wired modem for something wireless and sexy - a linksys from peats. How hard could that be?

I decided to go step by step, and have inevitably fallen at the first hurdle - I plugged the linksys into the PC ethernet port and tried to establish IP connectivity. No joy. With automatic IP addressing and DNS,nothing happens (windows detects it at some level, with warnings, plus I get an unexpected IP allocation - ie. not 192.168.1.*, have to wait till thjis evening before I can post it).
If I statically set my PC to 192.168.1.2 , windows takes away some of it's warnings, but there is still no route to 192.168.1.1 .

Any ideas what to try next?

Preferably not going back to Peats, after having pooh poohed the sales guys warning that it wasn't as easy as people think.

goose06

Are you getting a 169.*.*.* ip address,
try rebooting your machine and the router, or do an ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

layke

Have you logged onto the router and configured it yet? It's not going to give full connectivity until you do.

Mine is http://10.0.0.1, if you own a linksys you should get asked for a user and pass when you go to the page. Consult the manual for a the original password (if your model has this feature, but it should).

From my experience Linksys are quite user friendly. Perhaps you just have some obscure model

Foxwood

souter wrote:

Hi,
I 've been using bt broadband in windows XP for a while now, with a zyxel(sp?) modem going into the ethernet port. Hunky dory, but thoguht I'd swap out the wired modem for something wireless and sexy - a linksys from peats. How hard could that be?

We need to know what model you got.

The two most obvious possibilities are the WAG54G, which has an ADSL modem built in, and would completely replace the Zyxel, or the WRT54G which works in conjuction with the existing Zyxel modem. If you got the 2nd, it's possible that you connected the PC to it's WAN port, rather than it's LAN port. That would cause the problem you describe.

If you got the first option (and you do say you wanted to swap out the zyxel), then the first thing to check is the ethernet cable - have you tried it with the cable you were already using with the Zyxe as well as with the cable that came with the Linksys? There should be a light on the Linksys that indicates whether you've got something plugged in to each port - does it show a connection?

Foxwood

layke wrote:

Have you logged onto the router and configured it yet? It's not going to give full connectivity until you do.

You can't connect to the router to configure it until it gives you a working IP address.

Mine is http://10.0.0.1, if you own a linksys you should get asked for a user and pass when you go to the page.

On Linksys, the default router address is http://192.168.1.1, and the default username is blank (ie no username) with a password of admin

PixelTrawler

Easiest is to set the devices to automatically obtain an IP and then power them off and power them on in the following order:

(with everything connected up)

Power on modem - wait for it to obtain connection
Power on Linksys - wait til it finished booting up
Power on PC - you should have no probs this way...

If you power them on all together - you wont get the IPs right and this is normally the cause of no connection.

I have an NTL cable modem and linksys wifi router and they have to be powered on in this order otherwise no joy

souter

Hi, thanks for suggestions to date.
layke and foxwood:
I'm trying to log in to the router, which according to the docs will be 192.168.1.1 , and this is where I'm getting stuck.

goose: Yes, I think it was a 169.*.*.* I was getting. I've tried a number of reboots, and I think windows was doing an ipconfig/renew for me (one of the options on the sick LAN properties dialog was Repair, which gave a messages about renewnig IP, but never actually managd to)

layke:
yes, it's a ADSL + router, will check model when I get home. Swapped cables, have the glowing lights, plus the windows LAN icon changes when I plug the cables in or out, so it appears to be working at the physical level.

Thanks so far, but I'm still stymied.

PixelTrawler

ah - its a wifi modem router combi - scrap my suggestion so!

Foxwood

souter wrote:

Hi, thanks for suggestions to date.
layke and foxwood:
I'm trying to log in to the router, which according to the docs will be 192.168.1.1 , and this is where I'm getting stuck.

Your initial description of the problem made that clear. If the lights indicate that you've got a physical connection, then the most obvious cause of the problem is that the device itself is not working. It won't do any harm to press the reset button on the device, and see it that helps, but your next step should be to try it with another computer. You don't need to have the Linksys plugged into a DSL line to get to the configuration screens, so you should be able to bring it to a neighbour/friend, or into work tomorrow, and try it there. If you can't connect to it from a different machine, the linksys is probably banjaxed.

souter

Hi,
The wi-fi ADSL router as a WAG354G V2. I downloaded the fine manual to make sure I did the reset properly, and it's got worse - the power LED is flashing constantly which is Not A Good Sign to my mind. Time to swallow my pride and take it back to Peats. No doubt it'll work straight away in the shop.

Thanks for checking I wasn't missing anything obvious.

XPS1710

I had the same trouble setting up my one,.. but i got it figured in the end. The router is very hard to configure by the usual web interface, so try it this way:

First,.. get a pen/pencil and press the little hardware reset button on the back of the router to restore the factory settings.
second,.. disconnect everything
third,... put in the linksys cd,.. connect the cable to the bt modem and follow the automated setup
when requested plug in the router as shown on screen, WAIT FOR THE IP TO BE ASSIGNED, and the setup software will configure everything for you.

Hope it helps

souter

Finally got it working. Two trips to Peats, the first time they verified the box, said it was ok but still no joy for me at home - it wasn't even getting past POST according to the blinking power led. 2nd visit and they swapped the unit, lo and behold I was in business.
Thanks for the help.