Dual WRT54Gs

Hi all,

Our home has a cable modem connection into a WRT54GC router. Due to
the house's construction, the wireless signal does not reach the south
side our our home. I have an extra WRT54G that I used at school in an
apartment. I connected the WRT54G to the WRT54GC using a straight
through cable from LAN port to LAN port. Here's the setup:

WRT54GC (main router connected to cable modem)
IP: 192.168.1.1
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DHCP: enabled
SSID: router1
Channel: 1
WEP enabled, with key (for discussion): 1234567890

WRT54G (new router)
IP: 192.168.1.2 (static)
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DHCP: disabled
SSID: router2
Channel: 11
WEP enabled, with key (for discussion): 1234567890

Currently, both work on wired and wireless connections. The reason I'm
posting this is because the instant I enable WEP and click "Save" on
the new router (WRT54G), I can no longer connect or ping the address
192.168.1.2 in order to administer the new router. I have tried doing
so both on wired and wireless connections. However, I can still browse
the internet, pull an IP address (through DHCP of the WRT54GC), etc.
.... I just can't ping or connect to the administration section of the
WRT54G.

I'm at a loss as to why this happens only when I enable WEP. It works
up to and until that point, but not after, even from a machine
connected wired or wireless to the WRT54GC... Neither pings nor
connection through a web browser.

Any ideas why this might be? It works if I don't enable WEP to begin
with, but then I don't have a "secure" network... (as "secure" as WEP
is these days anyway).

Thanks in advance!

--
-Chris

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>the instant I enable WEP and click "Save" on
>the new router (WRT54G), I can no longer connect or ping the address
>192.168.1.2 in order to administer the new router. I have tried doing
>so both on wired and wireless connections.

That's bizarre. You have the latest firmware on both devices? I've
done this successfully with WAP54G devices, but that's clearly
different from your situation...

On 12 May 2006 01:35:43 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>I connected the WRT54G to the WRT54GC using a straight
>through cable from LAN port to LAN port.

I've done almost exactly the same thing and it works just fine.

>the instant I enable WEP and click "Save" on
>the new router (WRT54G), I can no longer connect or ping the address
>192.168.1.2 in order to administer the new router.

Well, I have a wild guess. Run:
Start -> Run -> cmd <enter>
ARP -a
on your Windoze box. Do the IP addresses shown correspond to the
correct MAC address on the WRT54G? The MAC address for the ethernet
connection and the wireless connection will be different, but the IP
address will be the same. When switching between wired and wireless,
the arp table will change for a give IP address.

Delete the table entry with:
arp -d *
to wipe everything. Then try:
ping 192.168.1.2
to repopulate the arp table.

>I have tried doing
>so both on wired and wireless connections. However, I can still browse
>the internet, pull an IP address (through DHCP of the WRT54GC), etc.
>... I just can't ping or connect to the administration section of the
>WRT54G.

That's really weird. There's nothing on the ethernet side of the
router that shoud be affected by the wireless side.

By any chance, is the WRT54G one of the Version 5 mutations?
| http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.p...wtopic&t=10230
The v5 hardware versions are rather buggy, even with firmware updates.
Duh.... what firmware version?

>Any ideas why this might be? It works if I don't enable WEP to begin
>with, but then I don't have a "secure" network... (as "secure" as WEP
>is these days anyway).

Please do not consider WEP to be particularly secure. It can be
easily cracked. Switch to WPA-PSK if possible.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 (E-Mail Removed)
# http://802.11junk.com (E-Mail Removed)
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

Yes, it is extremely weird. I tried arp -a and I receive the MAC and
IP of "router1" ... I guess so long as it works, I don't really have a
problem with it. I just thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas why I
couldn't configure the second router. All the firmware is up to date
as well.

Jeff, thanks for the advice on wireless security. Unfortunately, my
dad's work computer runs Windows 2000 at a non-administrator level.
Because of this combination, WPA-PSK with the built-in wireless card is
not possible. I know that WEP is extremely out of date and can be
cracked within minutes... It's more of a deterrent. I keep a close
eye on the router logs as well. If you have any suggestions around
this, Jeff, I'm all "eyes" ... ;-)

If anyone has any further ideas or suggestions, I'd appreciate it!

--
-Chris