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  1. #1
    E. Body
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    Router and networking woes

    2 nights ago, for some reason during a storm, my internet cut out. I'm normally good at fixing these things, but currently, I'm stumped. My setup was working perfectly for a few months: 2x WRT54G/GS routers running DD-WRT firmware,

    modem > #1 GS router > wireless bridge > #2 G router
    > PC #1 wired > PC #2 wired

    modem hooked up to #1 router, pc #1 is hooked up wired to router #1, #2 router is hooked up to #1 router wirelessly through a client bridge, and then #2 pc is hooked up wired to #2 router. I've tried all of the basic troubleshooting things, reseting the modem, doing a hard 30-30-30 reset on the router.

    Now like I said, this setup worked perfectly without problems for a while until the other night. After that night, several problems came up. First, my DSL speed became crappier. It's already only a 1.5Mb/s connection and now it seems to register generally as 512Kb/sec. I was able to torrent at 150kB/s (my previous cap) but now it's down by a lot to 20kB/s. Now I figure it was raining, maybe some telephone lines went down and at&t just needs to repair the lines, but yesterday I was able to download at my cap again, until the internet crapped out again. I'd be unable to connect to POL, websites wouldn't load, AIM would connect, but then d/c. As of now, speedtest.net gives me a .36Mb/s download speed. At&t has never throttled my internet speed for the past 2 years either.

    Secondly my wireless bridge seems to be totally broken. #2 pc is unable to connect to the network or internet anymore. I've tried several times, going through the instructions from the dd-wrt wiki to setting up the wireless bridge. It was strange, but after that night, I found that #2 router has reset to factory default settings. (did it get fried by an electric shock?) In the process of going through the instructions, I found that using auto-detect settings for the IP address, would result in the win7 choosing some random IP, like 165.291.349.240 when my router ip is the standard 192.168.1.1 and it should pick something within normal parameters like 192.168.1.103. Forcing the IP to such would allow me to access the client #2 router through 192.168.1.2, yet it'd be unable to connect online or the other computer on the network. Looking through the webGUI from the host #1 router 192.168.1.1, the #2 router IS connected with a 60% signal rate, so idk. I hope #2 router isn't just fried because I was using it as a wireless card for pc#2 since I don't have one that's compatible with win7 lol.

    I guess I'll try swapping the 2 routers, but even if it does turn up that it's fried, it doesn't solve problem #1, unless it's just coincidence. Once, I was able to connect online through #2 PC, but the speed was very slow and ffxi would have the red disconnect icon every so often. Any thoughts?

    My problem is probably either very simple or specific so idk, only thing I can think of is if someone else has a similar issue that they solved, with win7 choosing a weird random IP address for connecting to a network.

  2. #2

    1. dd-wrt is silly.

    2. In case you wiped your primary gateway settings, open all ports to your torrent client and uncap your uploads. See if you're still getting the torrent cap problem intermittently. This may be a CO problem, we've had it once with our t-carrier with the same symptoms.

    3. That's a complicated setup you have there, what is the default gateway on the win7 machine receiving the APIPA address? Go to your TCP/IP settings under your primary nic and make sure it's on dhcp. If it is, attempt to resolve a correct address on another router, if you're still getting an APIPA address, it's a configuration issue.

    Good luck.

  3. #3
    E. Body
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    I'm not too concerned about torrents because that's just a minor issue, not a problem. I'm getting slow speeds because my internet in its entirety has slowed down for some reason. I'm hoping it's just a problem with my ISP, that they're repairing it.
    http://i46.tinypic.com/2znyihg.png
    is the readout from my modem, the downstream is actually the highest I've seen it since this started, it'd go down to the 400s sometimes, but it's still 30% lower than what my max should be. I don't think there's anything I can do about this except call the company.

    The reason I have my networking set up this way is the routers are old and my house is horrible for reception for some reason. Cell phones only get 1 bar unless you go near a window, I can barely get local TV reception. I used the client/repeater bridge mode to extend the signal from one end of the house to the other. Except now I'm mainly using #2 Router as an external wireless receiver lol, since I don't have drivers for my older wireless cards for Win7.

    On the computer that does work, the gateway is set to the ip of the primary router, 192.168.1.1 but on the computer connected to the secondary router, when I try to use APIPA, the autoconfig'd IPv4 is set to 169.254.240.150 with a blank gateway and subnet mask 255.255.0.0. When I try to set it manually, with the same gateway as the other computer, it won't connect to the network.

  4. #4
    Pandemonium
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    Cho'gall

    I have the same setup as you more or less, I'm sure you know that the second router is not transparent meaning you can't use DHCP on computers behind the bridge, and your inter-connectivity will be severely limited between computers behind router 1 and router 2. You just have to set a static IP for your second computer... if I'm understanding your setup right, your IPv4 settings should look like this:

    Use the following IP address:

    IP address: 192.168.1.(whatever between 3-50)
    Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
    Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1

    Use the following DNS server addresses:

    Preferred DNS server: 192.168.1.1
    Alternate DNS server: blank

    Make sure DHCP, firewalls, etc are turned off on the secondary router. Make sure it's set in router mode and not gateway, stuff like that. If that doesn't work there's probably something wrong with your router, maybe a surge fried it or something. Try reflashing DD-WRT if all else fails.

    As for your connection speed, call your ISP. You're paying for a guaranteed service, if it's consistently below what you're paying for, you have a legitimate complaint. Don't let them off the phone until they fix the problem or send a tech to you.

  5. #5

    Quote Originally Posted by fishstix View Post
    I'm not too concerned about torrents because that's just a minor issue, not a problem. I'm getting slow speeds because my internet in its entirety has slowed down for some reason. I'm hoping it's just a problem with my ISP, that they're repairing it.
    <deleted screenshot>
    is the readout from my modem, the downstream is actually the highest I've seen it since this started, it'd go down to the 400s sometimes, but it's still 30% lower than what my max should be. I don't think there's anything I can do about this except call the company.

    The reason I have my networking set up this way is the routers are old and my house is horrible for reception for some reason. Cell phones only get 1 bar unless you go near a window, I can barely get local TV reception. I used the client/repeater bridge mode to extend the signal from one end of the house to the other. Except now I'm mainly using #2 Router as an external wireless receiver lol, since I don't have drivers for my older wireless cards for Win7.

    On the computer that does work, the gateway is set to the ip of the primary router, 192.168.1.1 but on the computer connected to the secondary router, when I try to use APIPA, the autoconfig'd IPv4 is set to 169.254.240.150 with a blank gateway and subnet mask 255.255.0.0. When I try to set it manually, with the same gateway as the other computer, it won't connect to the network.
    Right, APIPA is for private networks only and should not be used in a network with your setup. Computers will resolve to APIPA by themselves without any manual input signaling it can't detect a DHCP server when asked to.

    All your modem settings are fine. Since you're using the native hardware from att keeping everything at default is not a problem.


    From what you've said in the last 2 posts I'm guessing this is what you want to happen:

    You have a DSL device and 2 wireless routers, and you want to be able to plug via ethernet or connect via wi - any computer/laptop/game system into any of the 2 routers and be able to browse the network and use the internet under the same IP segment.

    I've used ddwrt before and yeah the signaling extender is nice, but for something a bit more solid give this a try...

    TM = DSL Device from ATT/SBC
    R1 = Router 1
    R2 = Router 2
    e{1-4} = Ethernet Ports
    w1 = Wide ports

    TM(e1) -> [(w1)R1(e4)] -> ethernet -> [(e4)R2(((]

    TM - Leave default settings, what you have now is fine. The IP address won't matter since it will be canceled out by NAT on R1.

    R1 - Set:
    DHCP : Enabled
    IP : 172.168.10.1
    Subnet : 255.255.255.0
    Operating Mode : Gateway (default)

    R2 - Set:
    DHCP : Disabled
    IP : 172.168.10.2
    Subnet : 255.255.255.0
    Operating Mode : Router (not default)
    Can be found under Setup -> Advanced Routing, "Gateway" will be already set so drop down and select "Router".

    You'll have to configure these 2 routers independently as if you only had 1 router, when you're done saving the configuration on both:

    Run an Ethernet cable from e4 of R1 to e4 of R2.

    Run an Ethernet cable from e1 of TM to w1 of R1.

    What you have done here is fixed several problems I 'think' you're having.

    A) Connectivity issue with less complexity. Your wireless bridge you were using before is replaced by a solid wire link since it seems like your walls are made out of lead lol...

    If you wish to keep the wireless bridge, fine, keep ddwrt on there but be sure to configure the routing devices as a gateway(R1) and router(R2) or it won't work. Since you're disabling DHCP on R2, it can not function as a gateway, it will be a dead end APIPA kick back and all data it receives will be tossed into the bit bucket.

    B) All your computers will be on the same IP segment, so you can share files, see the network etc etc and configuring any network applications will be centralized on R1.

    Hope this solves your problem.

    Side note on APIPA, it's a class B network segment reserved for inpromptu networks without the need for an infrastructure. Eg. You're out with 5-6 friends with laptops and you want to play some random network game. * You slap all your laptops into a switch / hub (no routers or gateways) and set all your NICs to APIPA. You'll be on a private class B network with a class B subnet that's reserved for those situations only. This will enable you to share files, play or use TCP/IP{X} applications across the quickie network. Windows defaults to APIPA when it can't detect a DHCP server and you go back to * situation.



    If none of that solves your problems and you find out your R2 is indeed shot from an electrical storm... Get a MIMO router lol, it'll solve all your problems in 1 shot. (And a newer wireless NIC for your win7 machine).

    What is the model of your wireless NIC anyway? The one that's not compatible...

  6. #6
    E. Body
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    Hmm, I'll try what you suggest, I hadn't thought of setting it up like that and it'd work out fine for where my computers are. What puzzles me is that it worked great before and then just suddenly doesn't anymore, without any change from me.

    I have 2 wireless cards that don't seem to be supported by Win7, an SMC2802W and DWL-520 v.E1 People had some success with the D-link Air using other model drivers, but I havent yet. I also read about some Aetheros? stuff that the hardware is based on, and some drivers from that, but no luck. I'm really broke and don't want to be spending money, if I can't get this fixed, it's no big deal I guess :3 Maybe I'll look around for free cards from black friday

    //edit: For the PC's NIC configuration, should I set them manually? If I do, should I set the Preferred/Alternate DNS to the ones listed on my modem or set it to the router's IP?

    @ Cephius, I tried reflashing and it gave me an "upgrade failed" error, which is probably a bad sign... I'll probably call them later today though, at least to confirm if it's a problem on my end or theirs.

  7. #7
    E. Body
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    Setting router2 from gateway to router worked, thanks :D finally able to get pc #2 back on the network

    now I just need to get my raw speed under control

  8. #8

    Quote Originally Posted by fishstix View Post
    //edit: For the PC's NIC configuration, should I set them manually? If I do, should I set the Preferred/Alternate DNS to the ones listed on my modem or set it to the router's IP?
    Just leave it on Auto.

    But if you must, set them to your gateway's. Sometimes your ISP might experience DNS failure or migrations, and if you have it set on that specific one, you won't be able to do anything, if it fails, since your NIC won't automatically accept secondary DNS server entries automatically.

    I looked around for drivers, no luck on my end either... I was going to suggest chipset drivers, but it seems like you tried that already, sorry..

  9. #9
    E. Body
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    I got most of the kinks worked out, turns out that the internet speed problem was due to my crappy house wiring, hooking up a direct phoneline from my box outside into my dsl modem fixed that temporarily.

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