# Help with brother in laws wireless network



## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

My brother in law just got Roadrunner reinstalled but he is having trouble with his wireless network. So I went over to help. He's got a Linksys WRT54G2 and a Compaq Presario laptop running Vista. He was not able to get his laptop to connect wirelessly so I went to help. I was able to finally get it to connect, and then my sis in law got her new Nook to connect, but then whenever we turn off the laptop, the Nook loses its connection to the router. 

Simply turning on the laptop again does not help right away as it again takes me awhile to get it to connect. Sometimes we have to reboot the router and laptop before the laptop and Nook will connect. But then as soon as we turn off the laptop, the Nook again disconnects and we have to start all over again. I know how to setup a simple home wireless network as I have done it in my house and my wife's Nook and Blackberry (and work laptop when she brings it home) connect fine regardless if our desktop is on or not.

This has us baffled. Any ideas? Thanks.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

The WRT54g2 is shot, most likely. They're fragile little beasts sometimes.


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

That's what I thought too, but then he told me he tried a brand new Belkin router and the same thing would happen with it. (Sorry should have mentioned that in my OP. Also should mention that I reset the Linksys to factory settings and then recreated their network and password setup.)


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## Kevin F (May 9, 2010)

May or may not be related to the whole problem but myself and 3 of my friends with RR have had numerous problems, some like you are describing, with linksys routers and RR. However when a nether router was used the problems disappeared.

Kevin


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

I have a Linksys router WRT54G (the earlier blue version with 2 antenna) and RR and have no problems. I'll have to try the Belkin router myself next time I'm over there and see what happens. I've also told him to call RR and have them test the modem from their end to make sure it's working properly.

But has anyone ever seen it when you turn off a laptop that other wireless devices lose connection to the router?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

You need to make sure ICS is turned off on the notebook. The Nook is probably connecting through the notebook instead of the router.

Another thing to try would be booting the Nook while the notebook is asleep.

Does the router show any DHCP clients?

Is there a chance that some Roadrunner software UPnPed some new wireless settings on the router?


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

harsh said:


> You need to make sure ICS is turned off on the notebook. The Nook is probably connecting through the notebook instead of the router.


That's what I was thinking.

Turn DHCP off. Assign static IPs to each device.


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

OK, I'll check out the ICS next time I'm there. That might explain the Nook losing connection when the laptop is turned off, but then why does the laptop itself not automatically connect when it's turned back on? At best it will connect but say "access local only" instead of "access local and internet." Getting it back on the internet is a real pain each time.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Doesn't the cable companies broadband service still marry itself to the MAC address of one devices, and when you want to add a router, etc..you have to have them reset the marriage on their end, or use clone MAC address of the device that is married by MAC to the service?


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

From the "I dont know much about it, but heard..." files...
Another thing to check...Make sure the RR cable modem does not have a built in DHCP server inside. If it does, you need to disable the DHCP on the Linksys and run it as a switch, or you have two devices trying to assign an IP address to a new connect. Or disable the DHCP on the RR modem and use the Linksys.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

CCarncross said:


> Doesn't the cable companies broadband service still marry itself to the MAC address of one devices, and when you want to add a router, etc..you have to have them reset the marriage on their end, or use clone MAC address of the device that is married by MAC to the service?


Nope. At least not in a very long time.


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

CCarncross said:


> Doesn't the cable companies broadband service still marry itself to the MAC address of one devices, and when you want to add a router, etc..you have to have them reset the marriage on their end, or use clone MAC address of the device that is married by MAC to the service?


My father in law has RR too and I just reset up his network (they had a flood and lost all their old equipment) and I didn't have to do anything like that. And his network works fine unlike my brother in laws.


Davenlr said:


> From the "I dont know much about it, but heard..." files...
> Another thing to check...Make sure the RR cable modem does not have a built in DHCP server inside. If it does, you need to disable the DHCP on the Linksys and run it as a switch, or you have two devices trying to assign an IP address to a new connect. Or disable the DHCP on the RR modem and use the Linksys.


I'll check that out. He has a Surfboard modem from TWC, though I'm not sure which model. Once I determine the model I'll google it and see what I can find. Thanks for the tip.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

"RasputinAXP" said:


> Nope. At least not in a very long time.


Actually, I have Comcast and you need to register the MAC address of your cable modem with them for you to have access to the Internet.

- Merg


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Indiana627 said:


> I'll check that out. He has a Surfboard modem from TWC, though I'm not sure which model. Once I determine the model I'll google it and see what I can find. Thanks for the tip.


I am using a Surfboard myself, and it doesnt have a built in DHCP server as far as I know. It just has one port to connect to the Linksys. You should be able to pull up the web screen on the Linksys and verify it is connected to the Surfboard OK, and that its DHCP server is enabled, and adequate addresses are reserved.

One thing to keep in mind, the Surfboard uses 192.168.100.1 as its address, which I believe is the default starting address for DHCP on the Linksys, so make sure the Linksys starts its DHCP assignments higher than the Surfboard address, and limit the addresses to the max amount of connections allowed by RR and the Surfboard (26 I believe, in my Comcast setup). The rest can be used for static IP's.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Davenlr said:


> I am using a Surfboard myself, and it doesnt have a built in DHCP server as far as I know. It just has one port to connect to the Linksys. You should be able to pull up the web screen on the Linksys and verify it is connected to the Surfboard OK, and that its DHCP server is enabled, and adequate addresses are reserved.
> 
> One thing to keep in mind, the Surfboard uses 192.168.100.1 as its address, which I believe is the default starting address for DHCP on the Linksys, so make sure the Linksys starts its DHCP assignments higher than the Surfboard address, and limit the addresses to the max amount of connections allowed by RR and the Surfboard (26 I believe, in my Comcast setup). The rest can be used for static IP's.


This doesn't make any sense at all - the whole purpose of using a NAT is to hide your internal network and present only 1 IP address to the outside world. Your biggest limitation would be the number of sessions by the NATting device (i.e. your router) - each connection will take some memory in the table.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SayWhat? said:


> Turn DHCP off. Assign static IPs to each device.


Probably not a good idea if you're trying to figure out if you're accessing the router or not.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

The Merg said:


> Actually, I have Comcast and you need to register the MAC address of your cable modem with them for you to have access to the Internet.
> 
> - Merg


Yes, but you don't have to clone that MAC address on your router to use the network. You used to, but not anymore.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

RasputinAXP said:


> Yes, but you don't have to clone that MAC address on your router to use the network. You used to, but not anymore.


Aahh... Yes, you are right there. I thought your comment was specific to the registering of the MAC address.

- Merg


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

OK, I've confirmed that ICS is off on their laptop, so that's not the issue. Their modem is a Surfboard SB4100, but I'm not sure how to tell if it has it's own DHCP server or not. How do I tell?


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

OK, just went to 192.168.100.1 and got into the modem's config page and it says DHCP Server Enabled, but I don't see anyway to disable it. What do I do next?


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

There should be a page that deals with LAN setup. Once you find that, there should be a check box to enable/disable DHCP and another area to set the DHCP client IP address range.

You can probably find a user manual on line for the modem.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Indiana627 said:


> OK, I've confirmed that ICS is off on their laptop, so that's not the issue. Their modem is a Surfboard SB4100, but I'm not sure how to tell if it has it's own DHCP server or not. How do I tell?


http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,15351516


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

OK, after nearly 3 hours tonight still no luck. We were on the phone with RR for over an hour. My bro in law is going to swap the modem out tomorrow at the local office to see if that helps. If that doesn't, then I don't know what we'll try next as we tried a brand new router tonight with no luck. We connected the laptop directly to the modem and the RR girl did say she could see that the modem was having problems assigning an IP address to the laptop.

I did find a setting in the Network & Sharing > View status for the wireless network > Wireless properties page that listed network type as "access point." Is that what it should be set at? And if not, how do I change that as I couldn't find a way to? His laptop is a Compaq Presario CQ50 with Vista home premium.

Also, in the network settings it lists IPv4 and IPv6 and both say the connectivity is "limited." Is that what they should say? 

Hopelessly frustrated...


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