Linksys WGA11B Setup Guide

I just got my WGA11B Wireless-B Game Adapter and the documentation is
very basic, unclear and incomplete. Here's a quick guide for more
technical folks who want to make this beastie work in a more
complicated, secure environment. If you haven't modified your SSID,
setup WEP encryption or set MAC Address filters, then you won't need
this guide, but feel free to tell me where you live so I can piggyback
on your WLAN next time i'm in your town

NOTE: This is valid for firmware 1.0.5 and Setup Wizard v1.05

Out-of-the-box setup steps (or after pushing reset for a few seconds):

1. Plug the WGA11B (henceforth WGA) into the wall. You should see the
Wireless Channel display light up and show the channel for your WLAN.

2. Plug the WGA into either your network hub/switch or directly to a
PC using the included Ethernet cable. Make sure you set the "X-||"
switch to "||" or "X" respectively. You should now get a LAN link
light -( )-

If you don't get a LAN link light, make sure the network interface of
the PC you connected it to (or switch port) is set to "Auto-detect" or
"10Base-T (half or full duplex)". This will not work with a forced
100Mbit port.

3. Run Setup.exe on the Setup Wizard CD-rom.

4. Click 'Setup'

5. The wizard should search for (and auto-detect) your WGA. If you
have more than one, highlight the one you want to configure. Leave
"New Keyphrase" blank and click 'Next'

6. Enter your password (admin by default) and click 'Enter'

7. Change your basic settings.

If you have DHCP setup on your network, you can choose 'Obtain IP
Address Automatically'. I DON'T RECOMMEND this though, since some
games may require you to do 'port forwarding' from your Cable/DSL
Router/Firewall, which must be sent to a specific IP address.

If you choose 'Specify an IP Address':
- IP Address: (a free address on your WLAN, usually not in the DHCP
range)
- IP Mask: (subnet mask, usually 255.255.255.0)
- Gateway: The IP Address of your Cable/DSL Router.

You can typically get your IP Mask & Gateway by opening a command
prompt on a PC on the same LAN your Wireless Access Point is on (WAP),
and typing 'ipconfig /all' -- You can use the same entries as your
Ethernet Adapter (but not the IP Address obviously).

Now change your password to something other than the easily-guessable
default 'admin'

Click 'Next'

8. Setup Profile 1
- Mode: [Internet]
- SSID: Whatever yours is on your WLAN, you can get it from the config
GUI of your WAP.
- WEP: Set it to whatever your WLAN is configured for. If you don't
have WEP enabled it will still work, but you should really read up on
it and turn on 128-bit if you can. Otherwise all the data that's going
over your VLAN is easily sniffable from the air outside your house
etc.
- Passphrase/Key - If you have WEP enabled, use whichever's easier for
you to enter your WEP key.
NOTE: Both SSID & Passphrase are case-sensitive.

You can choose 'No' for the 'Would you like to configure another
profile' question unless you want to pre-configure the device for use
in another location.

YOU'RE DONE WITH THE WIZARD

Your LAN Link Light should have briefly turned off & then back on when
you finished the GUI config (if you didn't catch it, don't worry).

9. On the WGA, repeatedly press the 'Channel Selector' button until
the Wireless Channel display shows "P1" -- This configures the WGA
with the profile #1 that you just setup in the wizard. If you had
configured other profiles, you can set them by selecting P2 or P3.

10. With any luck, the WLAN Link Light [looks like 'Cc.' or '(((']
should be lit. If it's not:

a. If you know you DON'T have any MAC address filters set in your WAP,
then re-run the setup wizard and double-check all your settings.

b. If you know you have MAC Address Filtering (AKA Access Filtering)
turned on, then go into your WAP's setup utility to the appropriate
screen and add 2 new entries:

i. Add the MAC Address from the sticker on the WGA. It should be 12
hexadecimal digits. You may have to add either dashes '-' or colons
':' in between every pair of digits in your WAP's GUI. (So if the
sticker says 000C41654321 you'd enter either 00-0c-41-65-43-21 or
00:0c:41:65:43:21 -- These are typically not case sensitive.

ii. Here's the part I needed to use a sniffer to figure out! Whenever
you make a config change using the setup wizard, the WGA will ALSO
configure it's Wireless interface to use the MAC address of the PC you
ran the setup wizard on (and every time you run the setup wizard from
a different PC, you'll need to re-do this step!)
To find your PC's MAC Address, open a command prompt on the PC you ran
Setup Wizard on, and type 'ipconfig /all'. Look for the 'Physical
Address' of the Ethernet Adapter (hopefully you only have 1). The
number you want will be 6 pairs of hex digits separated by dashes.
Enter this as a SECOND ENTRY into your WAP GUI (you may have to change
the dashes to colons). Then do whatver you need to do to your WAP to
make the config take effect.

With any luck, your WLAN link light should now be on, in which case
you're done! Simply hook up the WGA to your console (using the
ethernet cable and || setting). Some other WGA notes are below if you
want to read on.

If you still don't have a WLAN link light, try temporarily disabling
MAC Address filtering on your WAP to see if you get a link then. If
you do, then you probably just mis-typed one of the MAC Addresses. If
it still doesn't work with MAC filtering off, then you either messed
up the basic config or have a bigger problem.


One final problem you might have is trying to figure out how to attach
the triangular feet that make the unit stand vertically. You need to
pry out the rubber inserts (by the power jack) using something sharp.
This will expose slots that the feet can then snap into.

I hope this helped those of you who are running into similar problems.
I went nuts trying to set this up and Linksys tech support was no help
with my MAC Address issue.


A couple other notes on the WGA11B, and comparison with the WET11
- It has a 10Mbit port, so you can't get the full 11MBps of 802.11b --
For broadband gaming, this shouldn't be an issue, and even for
in-house PCs you rarely get the full signal strength anyway.
- It has no Web-based GUI for confiugration modifcations afterwards.
(Like the WET11 has).
- It does have nifty no-config setup if you use them head to head.
- Smaller than the WET11
- Cheaper than the WET11 as of this writing (by $10-20)
- The WET11 Setup wizard will detect and list the WGA11B alongside the
WET11, but if you try to configure the WGA using the WET wizard,
you'll corrupt the WGA's config and then have to push the rest button
and re-configure it. This at least shows that the WGA is most likely
very similar to the WET internally.
- It's configuration is less advanced than the WET 11:
....You can't set "WEP Authentication Type" (Open System/Shared
Key/Both)
....You can't set Transmission Rate, AP Density or Encryption Filter
Mode
....No status page or usage statistics
....You can't name the device (to simplify admin if you had a few)


- Jon



Other Search Keywords: hack hackz hacking 2.4 GHz WGA-11B Cisco WGA 11
b Playstation2 PS2 Xbox

Jon C. Hodgson wrote:
> I just got my WGA11B Wireless-B Game Adapter and the documentation is
> very basic, unclear and incomplete. Here's a quick guide for more
> technical folks who want to make this beastie work in a more
> complicated, secure environment. If you haven't modified your SSID,
> setup WEP encryption or set MAC Address filters, then you won't need
> this guide, but feel free to tell me where you live so I can piggyback
> on your WLAN next time i'm in your town
>
> NOTE: This is valid for firmware 1.0.5 and Setup Wizard v1.05
>
> Out-of-the-box setup steps (or after pushing reset for a few seconds):
>
> 1. Plug the WGA11B (henceforth WGA) into the wall. You should see the
> Wireless Channel display light up and show the channel for your WLAN.
>
> 2. Plug the WGA into either your network hub/switch or directly to a
> PC using the included Ethernet cable. Make sure you set the "X-||"
> switch to "||" or "X" respectively. You should now get a LAN link
> light -( )-
>
> If you don't get a LAN link light, make sure the network interface of
> the PC you connected it to (or switch port) is set to "Auto-detect" or
> "10Base-T (half or full duplex)". This will not work with a forced
> 100Mbit port.
>
> 3. Run Setup.exe on the Setup Wizard CD-rom.
>
> 4. Click 'Setup'
>
> 5. The wizard should search for (and auto-detect) your WGA. If you
> have more than one, highlight the one you want to configure. Leave
> "New Keyphrase" blank and click 'Next'
>
> 6. Enter your password (admin by default) and click 'Enter'
>
> 7. Change your basic settings.
>
> If you have DHCP setup on your network, you can choose 'Obtain IP
> Address Automatically'. I DON'T RECOMMEND this though, since some
> games may require you to do 'port forwarding' from your Cable/DSL
> Router/Firewall, which must be sent to a specific IP address.
>
> If you choose 'Specify an IP Address':
> - IP Address: (a free address on your WLAN, usually not in the DHCP
> range)
> - IP Mask: (subnet mask, usually 255.255.255.0)
> - Gateway: The IP Address of your Cable/DSL Router.
>
> You can typically get your IP Mask & Gateway by opening a command
> prompt on a PC on the same LAN your Wireless Access Point is on (WAP),
> and typing 'ipconfig /all' -- You can use the same entries as your
> Ethernet Adapter (but not the IP Address obviously).
>
> Now change your password to something other than the easily-guessable
> default 'admin'
>
> Click 'Next'
>
> 8. Setup Profile 1
> - Mode: [Internet]
> - SSID: Whatever yours is on your WLAN, you can get it from the config
> GUI of your WAP.
> - WEP: Set it to whatever your WLAN is configured for. If you don't
> have WEP enabled it will still work, but you should really read up on
> it and turn on 128-bit if you can. Otherwise all the data that's going
> over your VLAN is easily sniffable from the air outside your house
> etc.
> - Passphrase/Key - If you have WEP enabled, use whichever's easier for
> you to enter your WEP key.
> NOTE: Both SSID & Passphrase are case-sensitive.
>
> You can choose 'No' for the 'Would you like to configure another
> profile' question unless you want to pre-configure the device for use
> in another location.
>
> YOU'RE DONE WITH THE WIZARD
>
> Your LAN Link Light should have briefly turned off & then back on when
> you finished the GUI config (if you didn't catch it, don't worry).
>
> 9. On the WGA, repeatedly press the 'Channel Selector' button until
> the Wireless Channel display shows "P1" -- This configures the WGA
> with the profile #1 that you just setup in the wizard. If you had
> configured other profiles, you can set them by selecting P2 or P3.
>
> 10. With any luck, the WLAN Link Light [looks like 'Cc.' or '(((']
> should be lit. If it's not:
>
> a. If you know you DON'T have any MAC address filters set in your WAP,
> then re-run the setup wizard and double-check all your settings.
>
> b. If you know you have MAC Address Filtering (AKA Access Filtering)
> turned on, then go into your WAP's setup utility to the appropriate
> screen and add 2 new entries:
>
> i. Add the MAC Address from the sticker on the WGA. It should be 12
> hexadecimal digits. You may have to add either dashes '-' or colons
> ':' in between every pair of digits in your WAP's GUI. (So if the
> sticker says 000C41654321 you'd enter either 00-0c-41-65-43-21 or
> 00:0c:41:65:43:21 -- These are typically not case sensitive.
>
> ii. Here's the part I needed to use a sniffer to figure out! Whenever
> you make a config change using the setup wizard, the WGA will ALSO
> configure it's Wireless interface to use the MAC address of the PC you
> ran the setup wizard on (and every time you run the setup wizard from
> a different PC, you'll need to re-do this step!)
> To find your PC's MAC Address, open a command prompt on the PC you ran
> Setup Wizard on, and type 'ipconfig /all'. Look for the 'Physical
> Address' of the Ethernet Adapter (hopefully you only have 1). The
> number you want will be 6 pairs of hex digits separated by dashes.
> Enter this as a SECOND ENTRY into your WAP GUI (you may have to change
> the dashes to colons). Then do whatver you need to do to your WAP to
> make the config take effect.
>
> With any luck, your WLAN link light should now be on, in which case
> you're done! Simply hook up the WGA to your console (using the
> ethernet cable and || setting). Some other WGA notes are below if you
> want to read on.
>
> If you still don't have a WLAN link light, try temporarily disabling
> MAC Address filtering on your WAP to see if you get a link then. If
> you do, then you probably just mis-typed one of the MAC Addresses. If
> it still doesn't work with MAC filtering off, then you either messed
> up the basic config or have a bigger problem.
>
>
> One final problem you might have is trying to figure out how to attach
> the triangular feet that make the unit stand vertically. You need to
> pry out the rubber inserts (by the power jack) using something sharp.
> This will expose slots that the feet can then snap into.
>
> I hope this helped those of you who are running into similar problems.
> I went nuts trying to set this up and Linksys tech support was no help
> with my MAC Address issue.
>
>
> A couple other notes on the WGA11B, and comparison with the WET11
> - It has a 10Mbit port, so you can't get the full 11MBps of 802.11b --
> For broadband gaming, this shouldn't be an issue, and even for
> in-house PCs you rarely get the full signal strength anyway.
> - It has no Web-based GUI for confiugration modifcations afterwards.
> (Like the WET11 has).
> - It does have nifty no-config setup if you use them head to head.
> - Smaller than the WET11
> - Cheaper than the WET11 as of this writing (by $10-20)
> - The WET11 Setup wizard will detect and list the WGA11B alongside the
> WET11, but if you try to configure the WGA using the WET wizard,
> you'll corrupt the WGA's config and then have to push the rest button
> and re-configure it. This at least shows that the WGA is most likely
> very similar to the WET internally.
> - It's configuration is less advanced than the WET 11:
> ...You can't set "WEP Authentication Type" (Open System/Shared
> Key/Both)
> ...You can't set Transmission Rate, AP Density or Encryption Filter
> Mode
> ...No status page or usage statistics
> ...You can't name the device (to simplify admin if you had a few)
>
>
> - Jon
>
>
>
> Other Search Keywords: hack hackz hacking 2.4 GHz WGA-11B Cisco WGA 11
> b Playstation2 PS2 Xbox

I have been hoping that with Cisco owning LinkSys, the problem with
faulty LinkSys documentation would be corrected. Thanks for your time
in putting this together.

Q

Better Documentation because it is owned by Cisco??? Whatever.

Quaoar> I have been hoping that with Cisco owning LinkSys, the
Quaoar> problem with faulty LinkSys documentation would be corrected.
Quaoar> Thanks for your time in putting this together.

Quaoar> Q

Jon C. Hodgson wrote:
> I just got my WGA11B Wireless-B Game Adapter and the documentation is
> very basic, unclear and incomplete. Here's a quick guide for more
> technical folks who want to make this beastie work in a more
> complicated, secure environment. If you haven't modified your SSID,
> setup WEP encryption or set MAC Address filters, then you won't need
> this guide, but feel free to tell me where you live so I can piggyback
> on your WLAN next time i'm in your town
>
> NOTE: This is valid for firmware 1.0.5 and Setup Wizard v1.05
>
> Out-of-the-box setup steps (or after pushing reset for a few seconds):
>
> 1. Plug the WGA11B (henceforth WGA) into the wall. You should see the
> Wireless Channel display light up and show the channel for your WLAN.
>
> 2. Plug the WGA into either your network hub/switch or directly to a
> PC using the included Ethernet cable. Make sure you set the "X-||"
> switch to "||" or "X" respectively. You should now get a LAN link
> light -( )-
>
> If you don't get a LAN link light, make sure the network interface of
> the PC you connected it to (or switch port) is set to "Auto-detect" or
> "10Base-T (half or full duplex)". This will not work with a forced
> 100Mbit port.
>
> 3. Run Setup.exe on the Setup Wizard CD-rom.
>
> 4. Click 'Setup'
>
> 5. The wizard should search for (and auto-detect) your WGA. If you
> have more than one, highlight the one you want to configure. Leave
> "New Keyphrase" blank and click 'Next'
>
> 6. Enter your password (admin by default) and click 'Enter'
>
> 7. Change your basic settings.
>
> If you have DHCP setup on your network, you can choose 'Obtain IP
> Address Automatically'. I DON'T RECOMMEND this though, since some
> games may require you to do 'port forwarding' from your Cable/DSL
> Router/Firewall, which must be sent to a specific IP address.
>
> If you choose 'Specify an IP Address':
> - IP Address: (a free address on your WLAN, usually not in the DHCP
> range)
> - IP Mask: (subnet mask, usually 255.255.255.0)
> - Gateway: The IP Address of your Cable/DSL Router.
>
> You can typically get your IP Mask & Gateway by opening a command
> prompt on a PC on the same LAN your Wireless Access Point is on (WAP),
> and typing 'ipconfig /all' -- You can use the same entries as your
> Ethernet Adapter (but not the IP Address obviously).
>
> Now change your password to something other than the easily-guessable
> default 'admin'
>
> Click 'Next'
>
> 8. Setup Profile 1
> - Mode: [Internet]
> - SSID: Whatever yours is on your WLAN, you can get it from the config
> GUI of your WAP.
> - WEP: Set it to whatever your WLAN is configured for. If you don't
> have WEP enabled it will still work, but you should really read up on
> it and turn on 128-bit if you can. Otherwise all the data that's going
> over your VLAN is easily sniffable from the air outside your house
> etc.
> - Passphrase/Key - If you have WEP enabled, use whichever's easier for
> you to enter your WEP key.
> NOTE: Both SSID & Passphrase are case-sensitive.
>
> You can choose 'No' for the 'Would you like to configure another
> profile' question unless you want to pre-configure the device for use
> in another location.
>
> YOU'RE DONE WITH THE WIZARD
>
> Your LAN Link Light should have briefly turned off & then back on when
> you finished the GUI config (if you didn't catch it, don't worry).
>
> 9. On the WGA, repeatedly press the 'Channel Selector' button until
> the Wireless Channel display shows "P1" -- This configures the WGA
> with the profile #1 that you just setup in the wizard. If you had
> configured other profiles, you can set them by selecting P2 or P3.
>
> 10. With any luck, the WLAN Link Light [looks like 'Cc.' or '(((']
> should be lit. If it's not:
>
> a. If you know you DON'T have any MAC address filters set in your WAP,
> then re-run the setup wizard and double-check all your settings.
>
> b. If you know you have MAC Address Filtering (AKA Access Filtering)
> turned on, then go into your WAP's setup utility to the appropriate
> screen and add 2 new entries:
>
> i. Add the MAC Address from the sticker on the WGA. It should be 12
> hexadecimal digits. You may have to add either dashes '-' or colons
> ':' in between every pair of digits in your WAP's GUI. (So if the
> sticker says 000C41654321 you'd enter either 00-0c-41-65-43-21 or
> 00:0c:41:65:43:21 -- These are typically not case sensitive.
>
> ii. Here's the part I needed to use a sniffer to figure out! Whenever
> you make a config change using the setup wizard, the WGA will ALSO
> configure it's Wireless interface to use the MAC address of the PC you
> ran the setup wizard on (and every time you run the setup wizard from
> a different PC, you'll need to re-do this step!)
> To find your PC's MAC Address, open a command prompt on the PC you ran
> Setup Wizard on, and type 'ipconfig /all'. Look for the 'Physical
> Address' of the Ethernet Adapter (hopefully you only have 1). The
> number you want will be 6 pairs of hex digits separated by dashes.
> Enter this as a SECOND ENTRY into your WAP GUI (you may have to change
> the dashes to colons). Then do whatver you need to do to your WAP to
> make the config take effect.
>
> With any luck, your WLAN link light should now be on, in which case
> you're done! Simply hook up the WGA to your console (using the
> ethernet cable and || setting). Some other WGA notes are below if you
> want to read on.
>
> If you still don't have a WLAN link light, try temporarily disabling
> MAC Address filtering on your WAP to see if you get a link then. If
> you do, then you probably just mis-typed one of the MAC Addresses. If
> it still doesn't work with MAC filtering off, then you either messed
> up the basic config or have a bigger problem.
>
>
> One final problem you might have is trying to figure out how to attach
> the triangular feet that make the unit stand vertically. You need to
> pry out the rubber inserts (by the power jack) using something sharp.
> This will expose slots that the feet can then snap into.
>
> I hope this helped those of you who are running into similar problems.
> I went nuts trying to set this up and Linksys tech support was no help
> with my MAC Address issue.
>
>
> A couple other notes on the WGA11B, and comparison with the WET11
> - It has a 10Mbit port, so you can't get the full 11MBps of 802.11b --
> For broadband gaming, this shouldn't be an issue, and even for
> in-house PCs you rarely get the full signal strength anyway.
> - It has no Web-based GUI for confiugration modifcations afterwards.
> (Like the WET11 has).
> - It does have nifty no-config setup if you use them head to head.
> - Smaller than the WET11
> - Cheaper than the WET11 as of this writing (by $10-20)
> - The WET11 Setup wizard will detect and list the WGA11B alongside the
> WET11, but if you try to configure the WGA using the WET wizard,
> you'll corrupt the WGA's config and then have to push the rest button
> and re-configure it. This at least shows that the WGA is most likely
> very similar to the WET internally.
> - It's configuration is less advanced than the WET 11:
> ...You can't set "WEP Authentication Type" (Open System/Shared
> Key/Both)
> ...You can't set Transmission Rate, AP Density or Encryption Filter
> Mode
> ...No status page or usage statistics
> ...You can't name the device (to simplify admin if you had a few)
>
>
> - Jon
>
>
>
> Other Search Keywords: hack hackz hacking 2.4 GHz WGA-11B Cisco WGA 11
> b Playstation2 PS2 Xbox

I decided, as I was pricing a new 100 ft. CAT5 patch cable for the Xbox,
to buy a WGA11b. You are absolutely correct: the documentation is
beyond useless. I did configure it connected to the Xbox rather than
wired to a PC. I found the following:

1. Do not try to configure with a wireless PC with WEP, MAC filtering in
place. It can be done, but disabling WEP kills the wireless connection,
at least on my system, making access to the router impossible without a
reboot. Configuring with a PC wired to the router is much easier.

2. Using a PC wired to a router required the PC NIC be set at 10Mb/s in
order to identify the WGA11B connected to the Xbox, but might be due to
the wiring in my network.

3. WEP must be disabled, MAC filtering must be disabled, and SSID
broadcast enabled (at the router) in my installation to proceed with
configuration with the Linksys utility.

4. For some reason, I am unable to set a static IP address for the
WGA11B. The basic setup page settings for a static IP do not follow
into Profile 1 for whatever reason. I might try this again now that I
have some installation experience.

5. My procedure for reenabling wireless security was fraught with
difficulties with wireless lost at the WGA11b whenever I made a security
change at the router. I believe that I enabled WEP, disabled SSID
broadcast, and then enabled wireless MAC filtering, in that order.

6. On the Linksys wireless router BEFW11S4 v. 2, I installed firmware
1.47z (note the "z") for Xbox support, although my XBoxLive worked prior
to Dashboard 2.

7. The Linsys BEFW11S4 router makes the identification of the two MAC
addresses easy since one can poll for active wireless MAC addresses and
then copy the addresses directly into the filtered MAC table.
Interestingly, the router only shows the Xbox MAC address in the DHCP
client table.

8. Since I had a straight-through wired connection to the Xbox from the
router, I left the cable switch at || rather than X for a crossover
connection. Major error and there is zip about what type of cable is
supplied with the access point, or what the || and X actually represent.

All in all, I believe that for someone who has not "played around" with
a wireless router and wireless NICs, the WGA11b will be difficult, if
not nearly impossible, to install largely because the Linksys
documentation is inadequate, to say the least about it.

It is not enough to market a working device; the documentation must be
working also. Just the simple problem that the WGA11b is a 10Mb/s wired
device is enough to prevent installation since there is not one word
mentioned in the docs about this important specification, or how it
impacts installation.

Q

After finally getting WGA hooked into my PS2, I lost my WAN link light
again. Once again, when I disabled MAC address filtering, link came
back. I figured out why, so here's a correction to step 10-b-ii of my
previous post:

*** ORIGINAL INCORRECT POST ***
> 10. With any luck, the WLAN Link Light [looks like 'Cc.' or '(((']
> should be lit. If it's not:
>
> b. If you know you have MAC Address Filtering (AKA Access Filtering)
> turned on, then go into your WAP's setup utility to the appropriate
> screen and add 2 new entries:
>
> ii. Here's the part I needed to use a sniffer to figure out! Whenever
> you make a config change using the setup wizard, the WGA will ALSO
> configure it's Wireless interface to use the MAC address of the PC you
> ran the setup wizard on (and every time you run the setup wizard from
> a different PC, you'll need to re-do this step!)
> To find your PC's MAC Address, open a command prompt on the PC you ran
> Setup Wizard on, and type 'ipconfig /all'. Look for the 'Physical
> Address' of the Ethernet Adapter (hopefully you only have 1). The
> number you want will be 6 pairs of hex digits separated by dashes.
> Enter this as a SECOND ENTRY into your WAP GUI (you may have to change
> the dashes to colons). Then do whatver you need to do to your WAP to
> make the config take effect.

CORRECTION:
10-b-ii. It turns out that the additional MAC address that the WGA
uses IS NOT from the machine that you ran the Setup wizard on, but
most likely that of the last machine to connect to it. After setting
it up, and then disconnecting it from my wired LAN and then connecting
it to my PS2 it seems that the secondary MAC Address was now that of
the PS2's network connector. I determined this by opening a command
prompt on a machine connected to my wireless network (via a wireless
NIC only) and pinging the static IP i set on my WGA. I then did an
'arp -a' to determine the MAC Address of the WGA's IP. I then entered
that MAC as the SECOND ENTRY for MAC filtering in my WAP GUI. At that
point everything worked again.

My comments are in-line:

"Quaoar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<Ed6dne5tDPH_VlGiRVn-(E-Mail Removed)>...
>
> I decided, as I was pricing a new 100 ft. CAT5 patch cable for the Xbox,
> to buy a WGA11b. You are absolutely correct: the documentation is
> beyond useless. I did configure it connected to the Xbox rather than
> wired to a PC. I found the following:
>
> 1. Do not try to configure with a wireless PC with WEP, MAC filtering in
> place. It can be done, but disabling WEP kills the wireless connection,
> at least on my system, making access to the router impossible without a
> reboot. Configuring with a PC wired to the router is much easier.

Good point. I can understand how this could be an issue. I did my
configuration wired, so did not run into these issues.

> 2. Using a PC wired to a router required the PC NIC be set at 10Mb/s in
> order to identify the WGA11B connected to the Xbox, but might be due to
> the wiring in my network.

I did actually mention this in my original post (at the end). It seems
that the WGA only has a 10Mbit port. Thi is not an issue with your
network.

> 3. WEP must be disabled, MAC filtering must be disabled, and SSID
> broadcast enabled (at the router) in my installation to proceed with
> configuration with the Linksys utility.

I guess this is related to you configuring on a wireless PC vs. a
wired one. I am surprized by this though, since I was able to get the
config utility working via a wireless NIC, but i did indeed have to
disable MAC filtering during setup.

> 4. For some reason, I am unable to set a static IP address for the
> WGA11B. The basic setup page settings for a static IP do not follow
> into Profile 1 for whatever reason. I might try this again now that I
> have some installation experience.

I did get static addressing to work the first time i tried it. I have
seen odd situations where devices have issues with SPECIFIC IPs, or IP
Ranges. (It'll work with 1 IP but not another). This is rare, but not
impossible.

> 5. My procedure for reenabling wireless security was fraught with
> difficulties with wireless lost at the WGA11b whenever I made a security
> change at the router. I believe that I enabled WEP, disabled SSID
> broadcast, and then enabled wireless MAC filtering, in that order.

Whenever I change the config on my WAP (a netgear), i do indeed
briefly (A couple seconds) lose the WLAN link on the WGA. This doesn't
have any negative impact after the fact thought.

> 7. The Linsys BEFW11S4 router makes the identification of the two MAC
> addresses easy since one can poll for active wireless MAC addresses and
> then copy the addresses directly into the filtered MAC table.
> Interestingly, the router only shows the Xbox MAC address in the DHCP
> client table.

I did my config with a Netgear WAP, which unfortunately does not have
a utility like this. I had to ping the static IP i set for the WGA
(from a machine on the wireless network), and then do an 'arp -a' to
find the MAC for that IP.

> 8. Since I had a straight-through wired connection to the Xbox from the
> router, I left the cable switch at || rather than X for a crossover
> connection. Major error and there is zip about what type of cable is
> supplied with the access point, or what the || and X actually represent.

You are correct, the docs are NIL in this area. For others reading
this, the supplied cable is a standard ethernet cable. || is the
straight-thru setting for connecting the WGA to a switch, hub, router
etc. and X is the cross-over setting for connecting the WGA directly
to a PC,PS2,XBOX etc.

> All in all, I believe that for someone who has not "played around" with
> a wireless router and wireless NICs, the WGA11b will be difficult, if
> not nearly impossible, to install largely because the Linksys
> documentation is inadequate, to say the least about it.

Big time. If I had this much problem getting it to work (and I am a
networking professional), the everyday person may have a tough time
doing anything but a basic config with the device. The good news is
that novices will likely not have MAC Address filtering or possibly
even WEP turned on. My wireless scans also indicate that many home
users rarely change the SSID from the defaults.

> It is not enough to market a working device; the documentation must be
> working also. Just the simple problem that the WGA11b is a 10Mb/s wired
> device is enough to prevent installation since there is not one word
> mentioned in the docs about this important specification, or how it
> impacts installation.

Correct. Bad Linksys! <smacks on the nose with a newspaper> Bad Cisco!

A final note on this device is that I am unsure if it will support
being a full-blown "bridge" like the WET, if it were connected to a
switch/hub with more than 1 back-end devices. The reason I question
this is due to the way the WGA has the secondary IP coming from it's
back-end device. The reason i mention this is for people to be
cautious if they want a cheaper substitute for the WET11. That
implementation should be tested, which i have not.

As a side question, has anyone been able to play music files which are
on a different computer on your network than the 'host'. I have setup
my adapter and it works well, but I can only play files which are on
my host.

I have a small network here mostly running Linux. Since I was not able
to find any support for this device for Linux, I setup a slow Windows
computer than runs the Media Apater server software, but my files are
on my file server. The 'media folder manager' allows you to select the
mapped drive, but then returns an error saying "could not add foler
//myservername/music".

Has anyone had any luck with this? Are there any hacks that you know
of for Windows to make a networked directory appear to be local?

Thanks

--Ryan

One more step. If you are running XP, you must turn off the build in
firewall. by going into the network properties in the advanced tab for
your default network connection. I have no way of testing, but I would
imagine Blackice or other software-based firewall apps would also need
to be shut down.




"Quaoar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<2_WdnYlEi6lE61aiRVn-(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Jon C. Hodgson wrote:
> > I just got my WGA11B Wireless-B Game Adapter and the documentation is
> > very basic, unclear and incomplete. Here's a quick guide for more
> > technical folks who want to make this beastie work in a more
> > complicated, secure environment. If you haven't modified your SSID,
> > setup WEP encryption or set MAC Address filters, then you won't need
> > this guide, but feel free to tell me where you live so I can piggyback
> > on your WLAN next time i'm in your town
> >
> > NOTE: This is valid for firmware 1.0.5 and Setup Wizard v1.05
> >
> > Out-of-the-box setup steps (or after pushing reset for a few seconds):
> >
> > 1. Plug the WGA11B (henceforth WGA) into the wall. You should see the
> > Wireless Channel display light up and show the channel for your WLAN.
> >
> > 2. Plug the WGA into either your network hub/switch or directly to a
> > PC using the included Ethernet cable. Make sure you set the "X-||"
> > switch to "||" or "X" respectively. You should now get a LAN link
> > light -( )-
> >
> > If you don't get a LAN link light, make sure the network interface of
> > the PC you connected it to (or switch port) is set to "Auto-detect" or
> > "10Base-T (half or full duplex)". This will not work with a forced
> > 100Mbit port.
> >
> > 3. Run Setup.exe on the Setup Wizard CD-rom.
> >
> > 4. Click 'Setup'
> >
> > 5. The wizard should search for (and auto-detect) your WGA. If you
> > have more than one, highlight the one you want to configure. Leave
> > "New Keyphrase" blank and click 'Next'
> >
> > 6. Enter your password (admin by default) and click 'Enter'
> >
> > 7. Change your basic settings.
> >
> > If you have DHCP setup on your network, you can choose 'Obtain IP
> > Address Automatically'. I DON'T RECOMMEND this though, since some
> > games may require you to do 'port forwarding' from your Cable/DSL
> > Router/Firewall, which must be sent to a specific IP address.
> >
> > If you choose 'Specify an IP Address':
> > - IP Address: (a free address on your WLAN, usually not in the DHCP
> > range)
> > - IP Mask: (subnet mask, usually 255.255.255.0)
> > - Gateway: The IP Address of your Cable/DSL Router.
> >
> > You can typically get your IP Mask & Gateway by opening a command
> > prompt on a PC on the same LAN your Wireless Access Point is on (WAP),
> > and typing 'ipconfig /all' -- You can use the same entries as your
> > Ethernet Adapter (but not the IP Address obviously).
> >
> > Now change your password to something other than the easily-guessable
> > default 'admin'
> >
> > Click 'Next'
> >
> > 8. Setup Profile 1
> > - Mode: [Internet]
> > - SSID: Whatever yours is on your WLAN, you can get it from the config
> > GUI of your WAP.
> > - WEP: Set it to whatever your WLAN is configured for. If you don't
> > have WEP enabled it will still work, but you should really read up on
> > it and turn on 128-bit if you can. Otherwise all the data that's going
> > over your VLAN is easily sniffable from the air outside your house
> > etc.
> > - Passphrase/Key - If you have WEP enabled, use whichever's easier for
> > you to enter your WEP key.
> > NOTE: Both SSID & Passphrase are case-sensitive.
> >
> > You can choose 'No' for the 'Would you like to configure another
> > profile' question unless you want to pre-configure the device for use
> > in another location.
> >
> > YOU'RE DONE WITH THE WIZARD
> >
> > Your LAN Link Light should have briefly turned off & then back on when
> > you finished the GUI config (if you didn't catch it, don't worry).
> >
> > 9. On the WGA, repeatedly press the 'Channel Selector' button until
> > the Wireless Channel display shows "P1" -- This configures the WGA
> > with the profile #1 that you just setup in the wizard. If you had
> > configured other profiles, you can set them by selecting P2 or P3.
> >
> > 10. With any luck, the WLAN Link Light [looks like 'Cc.' or '(((']
> > should be lit. If it's not:
> >
> > a. If you know you DON'T have any MAC address filters set in your WAP,
> > then re-run the setup wizard and double-check all your settings.
> >
> > b. If you know you have MAC Address Filtering (AKA Access Filtering)
> > turned on, then go into your WAP's setup utility to the appropriate
> > screen and add 2 new entries:
> >
> > i. Add the MAC Address from the sticker on the WGA. It should be 12
> > hexadecimal digits. You may have to add either dashes '-' or colons
> > ':' in between every pair of digits in your WAP's GUI. (So if the
> > sticker says 000C41654321 you'd enter either 00-0c-41-65-43-21 or
> > 00:0c:41:65:43:21 -- These are typically not case sensitive.
> >
> > ii. Here's the part I needed to use a sniffer to figure out! Whenever
> > you make a config change using the setup wizard, the WGA will ALSO
> > configure it's Wireless interface to use the MAC address of the PC you
> > ran the setup wizard on (and every time you run the setup wizard from
> > a different PC, you'll need to re-do this step!)
> > To find your PC's MAC Address, open a command prompt on the PC you ran
> > Setup Wizard on, and type 'ipconfig /all'. Look for the 'Physical
> > Address' of the Ethernet Adapter (hopefully you only have 1). The
> > number you want will be 6 pairs of hex digits separated by dashes.
> > Enter this as a SECOND ENTRY into your WAP GUI (you may have to change
> > the dashes to colons). Then do whatver you need to do to your WAP to
> > make the config take effect.
> >
> > With any luck, your WLAN link light should now be on, in which case
> > you're done! Simply hook up the WGA to your console (using the
> > ethernet cable and || setting). Some other WGA notes are below if you
> > want to read on.
> >
> > If you still don't have a WLAN link light, try temporarily disabling
> > MAC Address filtering on your WAP to see if you get a link then. If
> > you do, then you probably just mis-typed one of the MAC Addresses. If
> > it still doesn't work with MAC filtering off, then you either messed
> > up the basic config or have a bigger problem.
> >
> >
> > One final problem you might have is trying to figure out how to attach
> > the triangular feet that make the unit stand vertically. You need to
> > pry out the rubber inserts (by the power jack) using something sharp.
> > This will expose slots that the feet can then snap into.
> >
> > I hope this helped those of you who are running into similar problems.
> > I went nuts trying to set this up and Linksys tech support was no help
> > with my MAC Address issue.
> >
> >
> > A couple other notes on the WGA11B, and comparison with the WET11
> > - It has a 10Mbit port, so you can't get the full 11MBps of 802.11b --
> > For broadband gaming, this shouldn't be an issue, and even for
> > in-house PCs you rarely get the full signal strength anyway.
> > - It has no Web-based GUI for confiugration modifcations afterwards.
> > (Like the WET11 has).
> > - It does have nifty no-config setup if you use them head to head.
> > - Smaller than the WET11
> > - Cheaper than the WET11 as of this writing (by $10-20)
> > - The WET11 Setup wizard will detect and list the WGA11B alongside the
> > WET11, but if you try to configure the WGA using the WET wizard,
> > you'll corrupt the WGA's config and then have to push the rest button
> > and re-configure it. This at least shows that the WGA is most likely
> > very similar to the WET internally.
> > - It's configuration is less advanced than the WET 11:
> > ...You can't set "WEP Authentication Type" (Open System/Shared
> > Key/Both)
> > ...You can't set Transmission Rate, AP Density or Encryption Filter
> > Mode
> > ...No status page or usage statistics
> > ...You can't name the device (to simplify admin if you had a few)
> >
> >
> > - Jon
> >
> >
> >
> > Other Search Keywords: hack hackz hacking 2.4 GHz WGA-11B Cisco WGA 11
> > b Playstation2 PS2 Xbox
>
> I have been hoping that with Cisco owning LinkSys, the problem with
> faulty LinkSys documentation would be corrected. Thanks for your time
> in putting this together.
>
> Q

Jon, you are right, the WGA uses the PS2 MAC.
A simple way for anyone to obtain the MAC of the PS2 network adapter
is to simply run the setup program on the PS2 (I used the setup on
Socom) and at the end of the setup process, the PS2 actually lists the
MAC for it's network adapter.
Thanks for your instructions. You should send them to Linksys and ask
for royalties as I agree with you, their instructions are useless
unless you're using a completly unprotected wireless Lan (No WEP and
no Mac filtering).

Cheers
John

(E-Mail Removed) (Jon C. Hodgson) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed). com>...
> After finally getting WGA hooked into my PS2, I lost my WAN link light
> again. Once again, when I disabled MAC address filtering, link came
> back. I figured out why, so here's a correction to step 10-b-ii of my
> previous post:
>
> *** ORIGINAL INCORRECT POST ***
> > 10. With any luck, the WLAN Link Light [looks like 'Cc.' or '(((']
> > should be lit. If it's not:
> >
> > b. If you know you have MAC Address Filtering (AKA Access Filtering)
> > turned on, then go into your WAP's setup utility to the appropriate
> > screen and add 2 new entries:
> >
> > ii. Here's the part I needed to use a sniffer to figure out! Whenever
> > you make a config change using the setup wizard, the WGA will ALSO
> > configure it's Wireless interface to use the MAC address of the PC you
> > ran the setup wizard on (and every time you run the setup wizard from
> > a different PC, you'll need to re-do this step!)
> > To find your PC's MAC Address, open a command prompt on the PC you ran
> > Setup Wizard on, and type 'ipconfig /all'. Look for the 'Physical
> > Address' of the Ethernet Adapter (hopefully you only have 1). The
> > number you want will be 6 pairs of hex digits separated by dashes.
> > Enter this as a SECOND ENTRY into your WAP GUI (you may have to change
> > the dashes to colons). Then do whatver you need to do to your WAP to
> > make the config take effect.
>
> CORRECTION:
> 10-b-ii. It turns out that the additional MAC address that the WGA
> uses IS NOT from the machine that you ran the Setup wizard on, but
> most likely that of the last machine to connect to it. After setting
> it up, and then disconnecting it from my wired LAN and then connecting
> it to my PS2 it seems that the secondary MAC Address was now that of
> the PS2's network connector. I determined this by opening a command
> prompt on a machine connected to my wireless network (via a wireless
> NIC only) and pinging the static IP i set on my WGA. I then did an
> 'arp -a' to determine the MAC Address of the WGA's IP. I then entered
> that MAC as the SECOND ENTRY for MAC filtering in my WAP GUI. At that
> point everything worked again.