Asus and Westell Router

Anyone care to comment on this?




I have aquired an ASUS WL500g and a Westell 6000 router (not the USB one).

I am trying to set up the ASUS to network a desktop and a laptop (and serve
as a printer server) with wireless network, and then link to the net via
the Westell.
(this is to allow the laptop to roam in the house, and to protect both
computers from lightning strikes through the phone line).

Desktop is on XP Home and the laptop is XP Pro. The desktop has an ASUS
wireless card in it (WEP and 802.11g) , and the laptop is 802.11g enabled.

1) is it better to use the ASUS software to set this up or should I let XP
get on with it?

2) I can get them to communicate by allocating IP addresses manually, but
would it be better to get the ASUS router to do this dynamically?

3) For the Westell router: should this be used in "bridge" mode?

Thanks for any replies.

J.

"JH" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
| Anyone care to comment on this?
|
| 2) I can get them to communicate by allocating IP addresses manually, but
| would it be better to get the ASUS router to do this dynamically?

No. It depends what floats your boat. I prefer to set manual DNS, IPs and
Gateways myself.
It makes matters easier in my view.

On Thu, 6 Apr 2006 18:03:48 +0100, "Sucuba Dude" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>
>"JH" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>| Anyone care to comment on this?
>|
>| 2) I can get them to communicate by allocating IP addresses manually, but
>| would it be better to get the ASUS router to do this dynamically?
>
>No. It depends what floats your boat. I prefer to set manual DNS, IPs and
>Gateways myself.
>It makes matters easier in my view.
>

OK thanks.

I am having still having trouble connecting the ASUS router through the
cable modem. I'm stumped.

J.

"JH" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
| On Thu, 6 Apr 2006 18:03:48 +0100, "Sucuba Dude" <(E-Mail Removed)>
| wrote:
|
| >
| >"JH" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
| >news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
| >| Anyone care to comment on this?
| >|
| >| 2) I can get them to communicate by allocating IP addresses manually, but
| >| would it be better to get the ASUS router to do this dynamically?
| >
| >No. It depends what floats your boat. I prefer to set manual DNS, IPs and
| >Gateways myself.
| >It makes matters easier in my view.
| >
|
| OK thanks.
|
| I am having still having trouble connecting the ASUS router through the
| cable modem. I'm stumped.
|

Im no expert on that router. However a couple of pointers I would look at if I
had your problem.
They may be right or wrong, so don't condem me.

First of all, The cable modems that NTL use (don't know who your wire is from)
will need to be totally powered off for a bit and disconnected.
They have this issue with MAC codes. You try and stick another bit of hardware
into it and it will give you nothing. You may here people bang on about MAC
cloning. From my own experiece NTL never needed this, but you do need to power
the modem off for a bit (enough time for the session to go 'stale'). Don't get
caught out on this. The routeen is make sure a PC can access the ROUTER. Power
off the Cable modem. Plug the modem into the router. Make sure the router is up
and running then repower the cable modem (after the session has gone 'stale').
This normally gets over the MAC issue with NTL. If you are with some other cable
provider you may need to clone the mac address of the original NIC or PC that
was presented to the cable modem. It varies with providers.

Back in my NTL days I had an NTL cable modem joined to a linksys router with an
RJ45 patch lead (check if yours needs a crossover or straight cable here - this
can stump you). I can recall how I set it up back then, but it was not very
testing. If it had been an arse I would have written it down!

Perhaps one of the experts could help here but they would need to know

Provider
Router & Hardware
How you have it wired up
What it will do and what you can't get it to do.

I know that helps very little, but with that info someone who knows there stuff
here may be able to help.

On Fri, 7 Apr 2006 18:54:24 +0100, "Sucuba Dude" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Im no expert on that router. However a couple of pointers I would look at if I
>had your problem.
>They may be right or wrong, so don't condem me.
After you try to help? I won't!
>
>First of all, The cable modems that NTL use (don't know who your wire is from)
>will need to be totally powered off for a bit and disconnected.
Will try this, but the Westell modem/router does save and reset (boot up)
when you change the settings through a direct link to it.

>They have this issue with MAC codes. You try and stick another bit of hardware
>into it and it will give you nothing. You may here people bang on about MAC
>cloning. From my own experiece NTL never needed this, but you do need to power
>the modem off for a bit (enough time for the session to go 'stale'). Don't get
>caught out on this. The routeen is make sure a PC can access the ROUTER. Power
>off the Cable modem. Plug the modem into the router. Make sure the router is up
>and running then repower the cable modem (after the session has gone 'stale').
>This normally gets over the MAC issue with NTL. If you are with some other cable
>provider you may need to clone the mac address of the original NIC or PC that
>was presented to the cable modem. It varies with providers.
>
>Back in my NTL days I had an NTL cable modem joined to a linksys router with an
>RJ45 patch lead (check if yours needs a crossover or straight cable here - this
>can stump you). I can recall how I set it up back then, but it was not very
>testing. If it had been an arse I would have written it down!
The wireless router can sense straight or cross-over cables, and the cable
I am using from the wireless router to the modem (actually can be an
ethernet router also), is the one supplied with the modem.
>
>Perhaps one of the experts could help here but they would need to know
>
Phoning the Westell help line, they suggested I try IP pass-through on it,
but this does not seem to make any difference.

The modem is connected to the ISP (I can interrogate the router and all
seems OK) ; the wireless network is working.
I just can't get the data from the wireless router through the modem to the
outside world.

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!

J.

JH wrote:
> On Fri, 7 Apr 2006 18:54:24 +0100, "Sucuba Dude" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:

> The modem is connected to the ISP (I can interrogate the router and all
> seems OK) ; the wireless network is working.
> I just can't get the data from the wireless router through the modem to the
> outside world.
>
> Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!
>
> J.

Just in passing there is connected to the ISP and there is connected,
authenticated and logged into the ISP

Probably of no help at all. I take it you have not overlooked the
obvious, software firewalls on any machine? The likes of Norton Internet
Security, MS Firewall and the like. Just a long shot.

On Sat, 08 Apr 2006 19:16:02 GMT, Daniel Richards
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>JH wrote:
>> On Fri, 7 Apr 2006 18:54:24 +0100, "Sucuba Dude" <(E-Mail Removed)>
>> wrote:
>
>> The modem is connected to the ISP (I can interrogate the router and all
>> seems OK) ; the wireless network is working.
>> I just can't get the data from the wireless router through the modem to the
>> outside world.
>>
>> Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!
>>
>> J.
>
>Just in passing there is connected to the ISP and there is connected,
>authenticated and logged into the ISP
It seems OK, I pinged the name servers on Demon.
>
>Probably of no help at all. I take it you have not overlooked the
>obvious, software firewalls on any machine? The likes of Norton Internet
>Security, MS Firewall and the like. Just a long shot.

Yep, turned all of them off for the tests, and didn't use encryption on the
wireless link. I use Zonelabs (not the windows firewall) on all the PC's
and turned them off.

Thanks for reading the thread anyhow.

J.

JH wrote:
> On Sat, 08 Apr 2006 19:16:02 GMT, Daniel Richards
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
>>JH wrote:
>>
>>>On Fri, 7 Apr 2006 18:54:24 +0100, "Sucuba Dude" <(E-Mail Removed)>
>>>wrote:
>>
>>>The modem is connected to the ISP (I can interrogate the router and all
>>>seems OK) ; the wireless network is working.
>>>I just can't get the data from the wireless router through the modem to the
>>>outside world.
>>>
>>>Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!
>>>
>>>J.
>>
>>Just in passing there is connected to the ISP and there is connected,
>>authenticated and logged into the ISP
>
> It seems OK, I pinged the name servers on Demon.
>
>>Probably of no help at all. I take it you have not overlooked the
>>obvious, software firewalls on any machine? The likes of Norton Internet
>>Security, MS Firewall and the like. Just a long shot.
>
>
> Yep, turned all of them off for the tests, and didn't use encryption on the
> wireless link. I use Zonelabs (not the windows firewall) on all the PC's
> and turned them off.
>
> Thanks for reading the thread anyhow.
>
> J.

What is the set up not doing? Are you not getting port 80 web traffic in
? Are you able to get any service through the router/modem?

Check basic networking settings. Set one machine a static IP, set the
name servers manually (use the demon ones that you are able to ping
perhaps) and set the default gateway to the address of the router.

With this done can you get any traffic through it? That is web
requests/email. Is the fault specific to a type of request or general.

Have you done a cold reset on the router? Westell make some pretty good
gear and I always found there support to be pretty good. I still use an
old Westell USB modem as the 'de facto' test for broadband line sync
with customers and it has never failed me yet. It may be worth trying it
with a wired RJ45 to start out just to fully wipe out any wireless
issues for a moment.

You have established via ping that requests are passing from the router
to the modem out to the net and back again so the router is obviously
routing! This is going to be one of those 'kick yourself' scenarios I
think. Can you pull up a web page if you go by address only? (eg. does
http://212.58.224.116/ give you anything?) (DNS Issues).

Do web pages completely fail to load right away or is there a bit of a
delay before it bombs out? It may be an MTU issue with the router V the
ISP. Most normally sit around the 1500 mark but some ISPs require less
than this. Long shot but I'm now out of ideas.

On Sun, 09 Apr 2006 12:13:55 GMT, Daniel Richards
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>What is the set up not doing? Are you not getting port 80 web traffic in
>? Are you able to get any service through the router/modem?
>
>Check basic networking settings. Set one machine a static IP, set the
>name servers manually (use the demon ones that you are able to ping
>perhaps) and set the default gateway to the address of the router.
>
>With this done can you get any traffic through it? That is web
>requests/email. Is the fault specific to a type of request or general.
>
>Have you done a cold reset on the router? Westell make some pretty good
>gear and I always found there support to be pretty good. I still use an
>old Westell USB modem as the 'de facto' test for broadband line sync
>with customers and it has never failed me yet. It may be worth trying it
>with a wired RJ45 to start out just to fully wipe out any wireless
>issues for a moment.
>
>You have established via ping that requests are passing from the router
>to the modem out to the net and back again so the router is obviously
>routing!
Sorry, I misled you by referring to the Westell as a router (which it is).
I want to use it purely as a modem, and use the Asus as the wireless
router.
>This is going to be one of those 'kick yourself' scenarios I
>think. Can you pull up a web page if you go by address only? (eg. does
>http://212.58.224.116/ give you anything?) (DNS Issues).
When used purely as a single router, the Westell performs fine.
>
>Do web pages completely fail to load right away or is there a bit of a
>delay before it bombs out?

>It may be an MTU issue with the router V the
>ISP. Most normally sit around the 1500 mark but some ISPs require less
>than this. Long shot but I'm now out of ideas.

OK, you've given me quite a bit to try, and I thank you.

Will have another go tomorrow.

(The Westell modem/router (model 6000) has been fine when used with one PC
and RJ45 cabled; I have used it like this for some time. It is when I put
the Asus WL500g wireless router behind it and try to link up the two PCs by
wireless that I run into probs. I think that both are trying to act as
routers and clashing.
I'll also try setting up the Asus router as an agent to the Westell
modem/router which is set to log in permanently)

Thanks for your help.
J.

On Sun, 09 Apr 2006 22:05:31 +0100, JH <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
(snip)
>>This is going to be one of those 'kick yourself' scenarios I
>>think.
(snip)

Correct.

I set the Asus as only an access point, (get the IP from the Westell) and
it worked.
(The default value of the Asus was "Home Gateway Mode").

Kicking myself heartily.

Thanks for your help.

J.