Wireless network issue please help?

[Buffalobiian]

Random Rabble

It's funny how coincidences work. I was at the gym and randomly remembered that there may be some stuff you didn't know about adding a second router to a network as a forwarding device (since I was so caught up on the wireless side of it), and thought I'd mention it when I got back.

Came here, and saw your post. hah.

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Regarding your post...

Alright, down to business.

Firstly, I'm having a bit of trouble reading your stream of consciousness. A little paragraphing would help heaps if you could do it.

From the first part of your post you seem to say that your setup works fine. You could youtube and everything. The only thing was that the wireless network was unsecured, right?

If so, then I've stated above that the wireless network may not have encryption, (or may be limited to WEP). I'm honestly not sure if you can fix this.

But disregarding all that, the next section details some of the settings should be done (because they make sense) when you want to set up a repeating router like your case. I would recommend that you follow it through first to see how things work out.

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Settings section

The following changes should be made to your Master Router (Note that during these steps you may disrupt the wireless connectivity in your home. Do these steps when it's convenient. Also, perform these steps with an Ethernet cable attached to the respective routers you're changing.

-Log into your master router
-Disable the wireless password and set the wireless to Unsecured or Unencrypted then log out. Wireless devices will now not work in your house at this stage.
-Set the router to "Access Point and Wireless Repeater Function"
-Manually add the details of your repeater in the table. Read the MAC Address off the bottom of your repeater router. If asked for the IP address of the repeater, enter 192.168.1.99
-Log out.
-Unplug ethernet

The following changes should be made to your New/Repeater Router
-Do a factory reset on the new router to get it back to its original settings.
-Plug in ethernet cable
-Log in to the router
-Change the router's default LAN IP to 192.168.1.99 <- this will be the new IP that you use to log in to the router with via the web interface. NOTE that after changing the router's IP, you may will have trouble reconnecting, or even loading the confirmation page. Log back in to the router using the new IP as the url.

-Disable the DHCP Server ability on the router. This will cause your routers to fight. Only the Master Router should have this setting activated.

Note that after disabling the DHCP server, you may have trouble connecting back to the router. This problem can occur if your computer somehow dropped its assigned IP address before the change. To work around this problem, open up your network adapter through the settings if your computer and assign it:

A static IP: 192.168.1.2
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DNS: 192.168.1.1



-Continuing on with the settings, go into the Wireless Distribution part of the new router now and select "Repeater Only", enter the MAC address of the Master Router etc etc. IMPORTANT: configure the SSID (also known as network name) of the wireless network so that it is exactly the same as your parents'. Ensure there is no encryption and that all the wireless settings match between the Master and the Repeater. Match up your area of residence if possible
-Log off
-If you performed the step involving changing your computer's adapter from an Automatic IP to Static IP, change all those settings back now.

At this stage, configuration is mostly complete. The next stages will test if the wireless repeating is working.

-Turn off both routers.
-Unplug the ethernet cable from the PC that is still connected to the Repeating Router.
-Move the routers into the same room if you have not already done so to
-Turn on the Master Router
-After 1-2 minutes, turn on the Repeater Router
-After 1-2 minutes, plug in a computer to the Repeater Router via ethernet. NOTE: If you are using a laptop for this step, DISABLE the wireless adapter. We only want an ethernet connection.
-Test for internet connectivity on the computer.
-If Internet connectivity is achieved, the routers are connected and communicating with each other.
-If Internet connectivity fails - perform the following: (Windows Start Button > Search > type "cmd" > run the program > type "ping 192.168.1.1"

If the test reports 100% packet loss, then the routers are not communicating. If the test reports 0% packet loss, the routers are communicating, but is not allowing you to connect to the internet for some reason



If Internet Connectivity is achieved, Turn off the Repeater Router and bring it to your sleepout. Plug in a computer via ethernet again with network adapters disabled and check for internet connectivity again. This time we are checking for wireless reliability/connectivity at that range.

-If all goes well, then this time we'll use your laptop to check if wireless packet forwarding works.
-Unplug the computer that is connected via ethernet to the Repeater Modem.
-Turn on your laptop and search for the wireless network in your home.
-If there are two with the same name and SSID, choose the one with the higher signal.
-Connect and check for internet connectivity

If you are successful, this means that you have successfully set up your routers to repeat your wireless signal.


At this stage, the wireless network is unsecured. Now we will gradually introduce encryption to see if it is compatible with your routers.

Introducing Wireless Encryption.

-Log into the Master Router. (Performing this from a direct ethernet connection is best, unless you know what you are doing)
-Go into the wireless setting and select the encryption type to WEP
-Set a password that is easy to remember and hard to get wrong. We will need to use this in the other router.

-Log into the Repeater Router using an ethernet cable (and again, disable the wireless on the laptop if that's what you're using), and log into the repeater router. If you are having trouble doing this, change your computer to use a static IP again as detailed previously.
-Change the wireless security settings (WEP and password) to match the Master Router. Save the setting.

Attempt to connect to the wireless network (and unplug any ethernet adapters that are plugged into the laptop). You may need to scan for a new network. See if the wireless signal visible has any encryption, and continue to check for internet connectivity.

If the wireless signal has no encryption, or refuses to work, it is likely that encryption is not supported for your router models.

If encryption and internet connectivity works, it means WEP encryption is supported on your network.

Repeat the above steps for Introducing Wireless Encryption and use WPA or WPA2 instead of WEP if you wish to try for a mroe secure encryption method.

If WPA doesn't work, roll back to WEP. If WEP didn't work, you will have to use an unsecured network.

When you have found your preferred level of encryption that works, change the password to a "better" password, and apply that setting to all other routers/devices in your house.

If you still have any machines that are configured to using a static IP, change it back to automatic. (Personally I use static IPs just for the heck of it, but that's up to you.)


*Enter HUGE sigh here*... I think that just about covers it?