Help needed setting up wireless

ianmc38

I'm using ESATs Zyxel prestige router. Just bought a linksys wireless router, but when I connect everything up, I cant connect to the web. My laptop can login into the wirless router...

Any ideas?

irlrobins

Moving to wireless forum.

shoegirl

I had HUGE problems getting this to work. I tried using static ip addressing and putting all devices on same subnet, but no joy. I tried getting the Xyxel router to give the linksys a dhcp lease - this didn't work either.

Eventually I settled on this which worked:
Basically, the Zyxel is changed to bridge mode and I used the linksys to logon and manually set the DNS servers for the computer wireless connection - which worked straight away.

PS Bfore you start, you need your iol username and password, and take a snampshot of the settings so you can restore them if you need to!

Connect directly to the zyxel and go to 192.168.1.1 in IE.
username password is admin and 1234
Go to the networking wizard and change the routing to bridge mode.

Now disconnect the ethernet cable from the zyxel and plug into one of the LAN ports on the linksys.
If the linksys is currently set with an address of 192.168.1.1 this has to change - i use 192.168.1.254 - otherwise it will conflict with the Zyxel.
Once this is set power off and back on and go back to the admin panel - 192.168.1.254 in my case
Turn on dhcp and make sure the addresses aren't duplicated anywhere - i usally offer a lease starting at 192.168.1.100 with the addressing scheme above.
Enable PPPoE and pop in your iol username and password.
save settings

Now power off all networking devices and your pc.
Power back on at 2 minute intervals in the following order:
1 zyxel router
2 linksys
3 and finally, your pc

You should at least be able to browse the web. The next step is to setup some kind of security on the linksys so the rest of the world doesn't share your DSL connection - unless this is what you want!

irlrobins

Just to correct one thing.

The Zyxel should connect to the WAN port of the linksys, not a LAN port.

Apart from that Shoegirl is spot on. I should really get around to adding bridging to the FAQ....

Foxwood

shoegirl wrote:

If the linksys is currently set with an address of 192.168.1.1 this has to change - i use 192.168.1.254 - otherwise it will conflict with the Zyxel.

Not it won't - once you've set the ZyXEL to bridged mode it doesn't actually have an IP address any more.

irlrobins

Foxwood wrote:

Not it won't - once you've set the ZyXEL to bridged mode it doesn't actually have an IP address any more.

AFAIK, it does. Reading the manual seems to indicate that anyway.

Foxwood

irlrobins wrote:

AFAIK, it does. Reading the manual seems to indicate that anyway.

Mine doesn't - I'm using it to access www.boards.ie right now.

irlrobins

So if you go to 192.168.1.1 (assuming Zyxel is still set to default ip and PC ip is in the same range) nothing comes up?

Foxwood

irlrobins wrote:

So if you go to 192.168.1.1 (assuming Zyxel is still set to default ip and PC ip is in the same range) nothing comes up?

When I go to 192.168.1.1 my D-Link router comes up.

In fact, my D-Link was on 192.168.0.1 and I just reconfigured it to use 192.168.1.1 and switch the whole LAN over to 192.168.1.x just to prove that there isn't a conflict.

The whole point of "bridging mode" is that the ZyXEL stops being a router and effectively becomes just a modem - entirely transparent to the ethernet devices it is serving. (It might still be 192.168.1.1 on it's USB port - I have no idea, and don't nitend to check it either )

Can you quote what bit in the manual that made you think you had to be concerned about a clash between the ZyXEL and the new router?

irlrobins

Can't find it at mo. Zyxel site is very slow at downloading the manual. But this link seems to indicate you can. Then again it is Imagine. :rolleyes: A google throws up arguments for both sides. Hence why I was asking. Netopia modem seems to indicate that it keeps it's ip address.

Foxwood

irlrobins wrote:

Can't find it at mo. Zyxel site is very slow at downloading the manual. But this link seems to indicate you can. Then again it is Imagine. :rolleyes: A google throws up arguments for both sides. Hence why I was asking. Netopia modem seems to indicate that it keeps it's ip address.

Remember than an ethernet device can actually be on more than one LAN at the same time - it's called "multi-homing". In this case, the Netopia is still listening on 192.168.1.1, but when the Linksys router sets up a PPPoE session over the Bridge, the WAN address on the Linksys (or D-Link or Netgear or whatever) will not be 192.168.1.something, and the Linksys will be totally unable to see or communicate with the 192.168.1.1 address on it's WAN link. There will be absolutely no conflict between the bridged Netopia and a router using 192.168.1.1 on it's LAN, and there is no way to access the Netopia from any device that's plugged into the Linksys's LAN ports.

irlrobins

Makes sense. So if you were to connect the bridged modem direct to PC you'd be able to access it on 192.168.1.1, but jjust not when it's connected to router?

Foxwood

irlrobins wrote:

Makes sense. So if you were to connect the bridged modem direct to PC you'd be able to access it on 192.168.1.1, but jjust not when it's connected to router?

Looks like it. I just reconfigured my router back to using 192.168.0.1 on its LAN interface, and then forced it to use 192.168.1.2 on its WAN interface (instead of allowing it to get a "real" IP address through PPPoE), and I was able to connect to the ZyXEL.

But I obviously couldn't reach the Internet at the same time, and it would be next to impossible to "accidentally" connect to the ZyXEL when it's in bridged mode - it's 192.168.1.1 address won't conflict with a 192.168.1.1 address on the LAN side of your router.

ianmc38

That's working perfectly now.

2 more quick questions:

1. How do i make the network secure?
2. How do I open ports for Bittorent etc?

irlrobins

1) Read FAQs sticked at top of forum.
2) Post in the Net/Comms forum.

Foxwood

ianmc38 wrote:

That's working perfectly now.

2 more quick questions:

1. How do i make the network secure?

Set up WPA-PSK encryption on the router and the laptop - just follow the prompts, it should be fairly straightforward.

2. How do I open ports for Bittorent etc?

Enable UPnP on the Admin menu on the Linksys, and use uTorrent as your client. When you enable UPnP in uTorrent, it will open the necessary ports automatically when uTorrent is running, and shut them down when uTorrent isn't running.

ianmc38

irlrobins wrote:

1) Read FAQs sticked at top of forum.
2) Post in the Net/Comms forum.

1. I read the charter. The link in the sticky has a random page of unordered crud, most of which is unrelated to my case. I'm sure there are much better resources out there, as that site has absolutely no structure.

Currently trying to use WPA-Personal. Will report back if there are any problems.

2. I use Bit Tornado mostly, though I use other apps like Soulseek etc that all need portforwarding. I know I need to forward the ports on the Zyxel and the Linksys, I just can't remember how to configure each, now that one is acting as a bridge.

One other quick question - Is it possible to still access the Zyxels configuration? I connected it via the ethernet port and tried accessing 192.168.1.1 to no avail.

Thanks for all the helP!

ianmc38

Foxwood wrote:

When you enable UPnP in uTorrent, it will open the necessary ports automatically when uTorrent is running, and shut them down when uTorrent isn't running.

Where abouts do i enable it in uTorrent?

Thx!

Foxwood

ianmc38 wrote:

I know I need to forward the ports on the Zyxel and the Linksys, I just can't remember how to configure each, now that one is acting as a bridge.

You don't have to configure anything on the ZyXEL once it's configured in bridging mode - that's why you set it in bridging mode.

Where abouts do i enable it in uTorrent?

Options/Preferences/Connection.

irlrobins

ianmc38 wrote:

1. I read the charter. The link in the sticky has a random page of unordered crud, most of which is unrelated to my case. I'm sure there are much better resources out there, as that site has absolutely no structure.

Can't keep everyone happy!

ianmc38

Thanks shoegirl, Foxwood and irlrobins. Everything is working perfectly now. All yizzer help is muchos appreciatos (as they'd say in Spain)