Netopia DSL Modem/Router + Linksys Router

Lazer95

Hia Guys,

Ok, far from a pc newbie, used to pc's going back to DOS days lol, but a bit stuck here, have searched for an answer with no luck!

Am after a bit of help, I have a home network setup running from Eircom, its Its 3mgs as am in west of Ireland.

I have the std Eircom netopia modem, which seems to have awful/crap range to it. I also have a Linksys router that has great range.

I can get the netopia signal in some parts of the house [Its set in a pretty good place] but some rooms are simply too far. The Linksys router has great singnal everywhere, but despite connecting it fails to get internet.

I have 4 pc's running, 2 of which pick up the netopia and on 2 which the signal is too weak. this laptop is runnng win7 with latest patches, all other pc's are running XP sp3. Oh xbox 360, have 1 will connect 1 out of reach!

How can I get the two [netopia/linksys] working together. I get a signal on the linksys, says WLAN is working fine, internet is connected fine etc, but when you connect, no net at all, this happens even if you go directly via the ethernet using any pc connected to the linksys. Is this a dhcp conflict?

Also, on my sons laptop, I have a RA-Link which is pretty much standard chiset for most modern Wifis. It has its own software or uses WZC, neither will connect to ANY network, it gives the error every time "Windows is unable to connect to the selected network. The network may no longer be in range. Please refresh the list of available networks and try to connect again. "

I found this for the second issue, but man it seems clunky!
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884787

Any help would be much appreciated as it would get a disgruntled teen off my case lol!

Cheers - S

Antar Bolaeisk

With regards to the first issue I would say that it's a DHCP issue, there should only be one router handing out IPs on your network as I presume they're all on the same subnet. Simply disable it on the Linksys router and make sure that the WAN settings are targetting the Netopia modem as the default gateway (Most likely 192.168.1.254 if everything is set at default). The Linksys Router generally has a default IP of 192.168.1.1 but it's best to make sure it has a different IP to the Netopia (and any other device which has a static IP on your network) before connecting it to the network. Finally, when connecting the Linksys to the Netopia are you making sure to use the WAN (assuming it has one) port on the Linksys? It should look different to the four standard network RJ45 ports.

With regards to the second issue it sounds more like there's a conflict between the Windows Wireless Zero Configurator and whatever manufacturer's software was installed alongside the wireless adapter. It should be simply enough fixed by disabling the manufacturer's software and it's generally achieved by right clicking whatever icon it has residing in the system tray at the bottom right hand corner and telling it to use the windows software. Failing that hit win+r, type "msconfig" (minus quotes) and select "Selective Startup", untick "Load Startup Items" then go to the services tab along the top, tick "hide all Microsoft services" and disable everything that remains. Apply those settings and reboot the system then try and connect to the wireless.

PogMoThoin

Like Antar said, make sure the Netopia is doing the routing and DHCP. Disable DHCP on the linksys and tape over the Wan (stop it routing throught the wan port) and connect it by ethernet cable from a lan port to one of the lan ports of the Netopia.

Make sure the wireless on each are on completely different channels, if the Netopia is on channel 11, make the Linksys channel 1. Make the ssid and encryption key the same and Your wireless devices should roam between both