[Comeback Kid]

Hi,

Though I'm a tech, I've never had the opportunity to work with, and learn the basics of, networking. In that regard, I'm a total noob. Please bear with me. I Googled the Net for an answer but didn't find a solution because my situation is rather unorthodox. So I need your help. Here's my situation:

I live in a house that has AT&T U-verse. My pc is a couple of rooms away from the U-verse router so I pick up my Internet signal via a Netgear WG111v2 USB wireless adapter. Works great. But I have a couple of "new" Palm Pre handhelds with sync software that requires a wireless connection (won't do USB). Fortunately, I had a Netgear WGR614 v4 54 Mbps Wireless Router in storage. (I used it years ago so it had already been configured but back then it was wired directly to an AT&T router with a patch cable to my roommate's pc and to my pc wirelessly.)

So not knowing what to do, I just powered it up, plugged a patch cable into my pc's NIC and plugged the other end into the WAN port. Voila! I had connectivity to my Palm Pre's. All was well for about 15 minutes when all of a sudden my pc lost connection (wirelessly) to the U-verse router. And though the Netgear Smart Wizard showed a strong signal from the Netgear WGR614 Wireless Router and the Palm's were picking up a strong signal from it, they couldn't "surf" the Net. I guess WinXP (being PnP) decided to adjust things causing everything to stop working. (Just a guess.)

I moved the patch cable from the WAN port to a LAN port. This enabled me to access the Netgear router wizard for the first time since I used it years ago. (http://192.168.0.1) I couldn't access it earlier in this endeavor when the patch cable was connected to the WAN port. So this seemed encouraging. But no, it didn't help. Nothing was connecting to the Net. And the only way to restore my pc's connection via the Netgear USB wireless adapter to U-verse was to unplug the Netgear wireless router.

Could it be that all I need to do is configure the TCP/IP, DNS, Default Gateway, and subnet mask settings for my pc's NIC and/or the router? Since I lack a basic understanding of networking, I really don't know what settings to use for each network connection.

In a nutshell, this is what I want to do (and it initially worked):

U-verse 2wire > WG111 usb > PC > NIC > WGR614 wireless > Palm Pre

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Wand3r3r]

Re: Unorthodox Wireless Router Configuration/Access Point

Plugging into the wan port does nothing. Only the lan ports have a dhcp server so your pc would then get a ip address.

For this to work you would need to...

U-verse 2wire > WG111 usb > PC[running ICS] > NIC > WGR614 wireless [its dhcp server turned off and only connected by lan port] > Palm Pre

Since internet connection sharing makes the nic at 192.168.0.1 and is also a dhcp server so it will give the palm pre a 192.168.0.2 or so ip you would be advised to get the router 192.168.0.254 ip so you can manage it.

Any reason the palm pre's can't connect directly to the U-verse 2wire wirelessly?
That would be the simplist setup.

 

[Comeback Kid]

Re: Unorthodox Wireless Router Configuration/Access Point

Hi Wand3r3r,

Thank you very much! I apologize for taking so long to respond. No matter what I would do, I couldn't access my router until today. But it didn't take long before it knocked out my Internet connection. :banghead: I'll post settings and details as soon as I can find more time to burn on this.

"the question i have is why not just add the palms to your uverse wireless?"

Good question. When at my office desk, my back is toward the U-verse router and my body blocks the signal making it weak and unstable. My workaround is to turn sideways to my desk so that I'm not blocking the U-verse signal. But it gets kinda old having to sit sideways. But during the short time that the Netgear wireless setup worked, the signal was strong and stable. (I guess it acts like a repeater.)

Short answer: the Palms connect effortlessly but the signal is weak.

Thanks again!

 

[Wand3r3r]

Re: Unorthodox Wireless Router Configuration/Access Point

Any reason you can get a longer cord for the u-verse and hang it from the ceiling?
Doing so should increase the signal strenght to anything in the room.

 

[Comeback Kid]

Re: Unorthodox Wireless Router Configuration/Access Point

Hi Wand3r3r,

Good idea on hanging the U-verse unit but it's not possible.

Before I bang my head against the wall again, I'm wondering if I'm overlooking something. Here's what's pestering me in the back of my mind.

There are 4 areas of settings: hardware IP etc. settings for the NIC and the router and software IP etc. settings in WinXP Network Connections (Wireless Network Connection and the Local Area Connection). I don't feel like I'm addressing all of them as a whole because I don't understand how they should all tie in together.

I feel like I'm making random changes here and there (not your fault) without really having a cohesive plan of attack or an understanding of what's going on.

Is there a simple straightforward "rule of thumb" for each set of settings? Or some guidelines I need to bear in mind when I set each one up?

These are the things I've gleaned as true thus far (mainly thanks to you):

* Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) needs to be setup which makes the NIC 192.168.0.1 and a DHCP server.

* DHCP on the Netgear wireless router needs to be disabled.

* The patch cable needs to connect to a LAN port (not the WAN port).

It's late but I think that's about the extent of a solid understanding of these things. I'd appreciate any advice/tips you can offer. Thanks again!

 

[Wand3r3r]

Re: Unorthodox Wireless Router Configuration/Access Point

You say "not possible" but you give no reason why its not possible. You have a wifi interferance issue. Why can't you get a longer cord to use to hang the wifi router so it has a clear run to the next wifi?

Only thing you are missing is the strength of the wifi signal. You should see in the wifi settings of the router if you can turn them up [more power].

Otherwise you are working with weak wifi equipment and there are only two solutions
1. look at youtube for the enhance wifi signal how tos
2. get better equipment

 

[Comeback Kid]

Re: Unorthodox Wireless Router Configuration/Access Point

Sorry, didn't want to burden you with the reason "why." My roommate/landlord has the U-verse setup in his dining room next to his pc and doesn't want it moved much less hung from the ceiling. (I don't know if you've ever seen one in person but it's not a small thing.)

In your opinion, what was it about my initial setup that was "right" in that it did work for a short time? Wouldn't that indicate that perhaps only one setting in this whole scheme of things needs to be tweaked?

Thanks!

 

[Wand3r3r]

Re: Unorthodox Wireless Router Configuration/Access Point

I don't see how it could have been working. I can only guess the pre saw the wifi signal and you thought it was connected.

"plugged a patch cable into my pc's NIC and plugged the other end into the WAN port"

That would mean your pc nic would not get a ip address via dhcp since the wan port doesn't have a dhcp server like the lan ports do. No ip = no connection to your pc.

Even if you did have a connection to the pc it couldn't get to the internet without routing from the nic to the wifi card/internet. No ICS means no internet to the nic.

So that is a double not getting there from here.

 

[Comeback Kid]

Re: Unorthodox Wireless Router Configuration/Access Point

Many thanks!