How to use 1 gateway with 2 routers?

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bhw752k

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Jul 3, 2004
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I've added a wireless router to my home 10/100 network, and I'm having trouble getting it to work the way I'd like. Really, what I needed was a wireless Access Point - but I got a deal on a wireless router, and really it should be able to function as an access point (I hope) if I leave the WAN port unused.

Here's what I've set up. My home network works flawlessly using an SMC 10/100 router (my cable modem is connect to its WAN port). The router is at the very corner of the house. This is connected via crossover (through a long path in the ventilation ducts) to the new wireless router, in another (centrally located) room. The two routers are connected via their LAN (not WAN) ports, because I'd like all my PCs to be on the same level - as if they were all connected to the same switch.

There are two PCs connected (with wires of course) to the old SMC router. The old router is the gateway, and the new (wireless) one shouldn't attempt to be the gateway, because there's no internet connection on its WAN port. However, with my laptop being assigned by DHCP, it will attempt to use the new wireless router as its gateway, and will of course fail.

I would like to avoid using the wireless router as the gateway because my cable modem must be in that room in the corner of the house. I'd like to place my wireless router in the center of the house so that my coverage is best inside the house, rather than on my lawn.

I could configure the laptop with a static gateway, to lead it to the IP of my old wired router. This works, I've tried it. However, when I'm at the university (there's several networks there, so I need to use "automatic" network settings), I'll have to reconfigure my network settings just to connect over there - that's sort of a pain when done twice per day. The Windows XP Alternate Network configuration isn't a solution, because the first choice must be "automatic." In this case, the computer will automatically (and successfully) find my home network (and I can file transfer to my other PCs) but I don't get internet access because the gateway doesn't work. So since it can connect to the network (but not the internet), Windows won't bother using my alternative [static] network settings.

So really I'd like to find a way to configure my wireless router to pass on all internet requests to my wired router. Then I can set my laptop to use "automatic" for everything. The problem is, I don't know what router settings to use.

My router is a TRENDnet TEW-431BRP and has the following settings under the "routing" page:

RIP:
Enable Routing Information Protocol V1 [checkbox]

Static Routing:
Destination Network: ___ . ___ . ___ . ___
Network Mask: ___ . ___ . ___ . ___
Gateway IP Address: ___ . ___ . ___ . ___
Metric: _

My current network IP addresses are as follows:
SMC router: 192.168.2.1
Wireless router: 192.168.2.99
PCs: 192.168.2.101....192.168.2.254


Thanks for reading. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks so much.
 
You can just turn off dhcp on the wireless.. It will get ip's from the wired router.

Basically running as a wap.

Shouldnt need anything else.

Be just like adding another hub.. just connecting with another median.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Interestingly, if I disable DHCP on my wireless router, I can't connect to the internet wirelessly at all.

The laptop finds the wireless network (green bars, strong signal, etc), but gets assigned an IP of 0.0.0.0 which doesn't work. I cannot connect to the internet, transfer files on the LAN, or even ping any of the routers ro PCs.

If I manually configure an IP and gateway, it will produce the exact same results as above (which is interesting, because with a manually configured gateway and DHCP turned on, it works fine).

If I disable the wireless antena on the laptop and plug into the wired LAN (using automatic/DHCP) I get assigned an IP by my wired router and everything works fine too.

Thanks for the suggestion though. Maybe it's something I'm doing wrong.
 
Just to get a little clarification on your last post. If you hardwire your laptop into the wireless router, you get an address from DHCP whereas through wireless you don't? Just making sure I am reading that correctly.
 
Which router is another question, when I did this I was using a linksys wrt54g with mod firmware.

Yours may not like to do it, but "shouldnt" work without a problem.
 
Nacho said:
Which router is another question, when I did this I was using a linksys wrt54g with mod firmware.

Yours may not like to do it, but "shouldnt" work without a problem.
Click to expand...

bhw752k said:
My router is a TRENDnet TEW-431BRP
Click to expand...


I dont see that model of router being supported by many of the popular 3rd party firmware developers. Unless there's a way to set it for AP or Bridged mode, you may have an issue.
 
Nacho said:
You can just turn off dhcp on the wireless.. It will get ip's from the wired router.

Basically running as a wap.

Shouldnt need anything else.

Be just like adding another hub.. just connecting with another median.
Click to expand...


Actually there is something else. You do not use the WAN/Internet port. Then you have an AP. If you use the WAN port on the second router then it tries to route via NAT. Just disable DHCP and bypass the WAN port. At that point you have a Switch/AP combo instead of a Router/AP.

Oh, you might want to assign the IP to the second device as well. You would only need this for configuration but I assume your running security so you want access to that GUI via a local IP.


"I dont see that model of router being supported by many of the popular 3rd party firmware developers. Unless there's a way to set it for AP or Bridged mode, you may have an issue."

See above. There may very well be a software GUI change but it's not necessary if you follow the directions above.
 
Many wirless routers will NOT be able to function as an access point directly, because the way they're set up, the wireless clients either get their IP from the wireless router or they don't get one at all. It's a function of their programming not to let them by default user another DHCP server.

Many of these routers have an option called "Use as Access Point" in their setup. That's what you want.
 
Any wireless router can act as a dedicated AP. All wireless routers are AP/router/switch combos. By bypassing the WAN port and disabling DHCP you turn it into a switch/AP combo. If you don't need the switch then bam, it's an AP. Programming firmware has nothing to do with it. You don't need special hardware or software. Just the way it is.
 
If you can't disable the router portion of the WAP, you can simply stack it behind your wired router. Plug the WAN port of the wireless router into any switch port on the wired router and set it up as a fixed IP address in a different subdomain than the wired one is using.. Point any machine plugged into the wireless-side switch to gateway to that IP, and any machine plugged into the wired switch to gateway through its IP.

Works fine...its the setup I use in my own house.
 
Wow, thanks for all the responses!

OK, so the conclusion is that I'm I complete, utter moron.

I was able to get it to work (DHCP disabled on wireless router, enabled on wired router) with wires, but not wirelessly. So I figured that there must be a problem with some sort of wireless settings.

It turns out that my WEP key was wrong. At some point, I had flashed the firmware on the wireless router and reset it, and when I set up the WEP again, I didn't paste in the right key on the laptop. So it would detect and "connect" to the network, but wouldn't be allowed to access anything. I reconfigued the WEP, and it works, just as all of you predicted.

Thank-you so much for your patience and time. Sorry for the incompetence :rolleyes:
 
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