Using a Wireless Modem Router as an access point only?

I have a Thomson SpeedTouch 576 v6 which I want to use as an access
point only by connecting it to the existing wired Ethernet network.

When I first connected it everything seemed to go just fine, no router
configuration needed, I could connect from my wireless laptop to the
internet through the SpeedTouch.

Of course the DSL led was flashing to tell me that it was not
connected to the telephone line, but it worked.

Then last night, without any apparent reason, Firefox showed the
SpeedTouch configuration page, instead of the usual home page, and
would not let me go through unless I run some wizard or other to
configure internet access.

Has anybody managed to successfully configure this particular modem
router to ignore the WLAN side and work as a simple access point?

I could not find where to disable the WLAN, where to disable the DHCP
server, where to assign a static IP....

Lorenz

[L.]

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, [L.]
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> I have a Thomson SpeedTouch 576 v6 which I want to use as an access
> point only by connecting it to the existing wired Ethernet network.
>
> When I first connected it everything seemed to go just fine, no router
> configuration needed, I could connect from my wireless laptop to the
> internet through the SpeedTouch.
>
> Of course the DSL led was flashing to tell me that it was not
> connected to the telephone line, but it worked.
>
> Then last night, without any apparent reason, Firefox showed the
> SpeedTouch configuration page, instead of the usual home page, and
> would not let me go through unless I run some wizard or other to
> configure internet access.
>
> Has anybody managed to successfully configure this particular modem
> router to ignore the WLAN side and work as a simple access point?
>
> I could not find where to disable the WLAN, where to disable the DHCP
> server, where to assign a static IP....
>
If you're using DHCP I expect the lease on your wireless PC expired and
it got a new one from the wireless router, which also set it to use that
router as its internet gateway. Just use manually configured
address/gateway/nameservers on the wireless PC so it uses your other
router. This is assuming of course that the routers have different
local addresses but on the same LAN, which should be the case if it
"just worked" before.

"[L.]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a Thomson SpeedTouch 576 v6 which I want to use as an access
> point only by connecting it to the existing wired Ethernet network.
>
> When I first connected it everything seemed to go just fine, no router
> configuration needed, I could connect from my wireless laptop to the
> internet through the SpeedTouch.
>
> Of course the DSL led was flashing to tell me that it was not
> connected to the telephone line, but it worked.
>
> Then last night, without any apparent reason, Firefox showed the
> SpeedTouch configuration page, instead of the usual home page, and
> would not let me go through unless I run some wizard or other to
> configure internet access.
>
> Has anybody managed to successfully configure this particular modem
> router to ignore the WLAN side and work as a simple access point?
>
> I could not find where to disable the WLAN, where to disable the DHCP
> server, where to assign a static IP....
>
> Lorenz
>
> [L.]

Assuming you have another router on the network, you need to do the
following...

Set the static LAN IP address on the new router to be in the same network as
your existing network, so, if your existing router is 192.168.1.1 you need
to set it to 192.168.1.???

You NEED to make sure you have some spare IP addresses not in the DHCP pool
of your original router.

I have done the following (I have 4 wireless routers, 3 of them used as just
access points)

Assuming you have a network address of 192.168.1.???

Set the DHCP pool to 192.168.1.100 -> 192.168.1.254

This then gives you the addresses 192.168.1.1 -> 192.168.1.99 for static
stuff.

Set the main router to 192.168.1.1
Set the new wireless router (used just as an access point) to 192.168.1.2
IMPORTANT - Turn OFF DHCP on the wireless router.
Set a network key (preferably WPA-PSK) on the wireless router
Connect the new wireless router to the network using the LAN port on the
router.

This should work perfectly!
You may need to reboot pc's or select the "repair" option under windows XP
after you change the DHCP pool.

If you want to add another access point, just set the LAN IP to 192.168.1.3
Turn OFF DHCP on the third router/access point
Set the wireless name (SSID) the same as the first one
Set the encryption key the same (Type and value)
Connect the LAN port of the access point to your network
Set the channel to be different to the current access point (it is best to
use channels 1, 6 and 11)

Now you should be able to roam automatically between the access points.

If you get other static network equipment (printers, network hard drives,
routers etc. then assign them static IP addresses from your pool (1->99)

Sparks...