Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 4:16 Post subject: Connecting 2 routers over PowerLine
Router 1: WRT54GS2 (connected to U-verse gateway via DMZ mode). IP: 192.168.10.1
Router 2: WRT310N. IP: 192.168.10.2
Routers are attached as follows: WRT54GS2 LAN --> Netgear Power Line 1 --> Netgear Power Line 2 --> WRT310N (WAN in switch mode)
The WRT54GS2 appears to work fine. I can connect to it wirelessly or through the LAN ports, access internet, etc.
I set up the WRT310N using the guide for adding an access point, which included a hard reset, disabling WAN, DHCP, setting a static IP, gateway/local DNS set to 192.168.10.1, enabled wireless and security, disabled "Routing" in Router Management, set operating mode to Router, wireless mode to AP.
I can connect to the WRT310N wirelessly and access the administration page.
I can ping the WRT54GS2 and other attached devices using the WRT310N commands, but CANNOT ping either with a device connected to the WRT310N.
A device connecting to the WRT310N gets its gateway set as 192.168.10.1 (the 54GS) but cannot ping or access that IP.
I can ping the WRT310N and access its administration page through a device connected to the WRT54GS2, but cannot ping any attached devices.
Any thoughts on what might be going wrong? It seems like the connections are all made, but there is an issue with the WRT310N putting together its internal network with the attached network, but I can't figure out why.
Both are running DD-WRT v24 sp2. The WRT310N is on 02/21/09 mini and the WRT54GS2 is on 10/10/09 micro.
Edit: Wanted to mention that the WRT54GS2 sees devices connecting through the WRT310N as it appears to give them the IP address. The routers are broadcasting different SSIDs.
I honestly have read through the announcements threads and am not sure the issue to which you are referring. I understand the build on my WRT54GS2 has "wireless issues" but this had nothing to do with the wireless on that router; nonetheless I did upgrade the firmware on that router and nothing has changed.
I tried going through the "Wireless access point" instructions on the Peacock thread which is what I want to do, but I've done those 3 times and it still doesn't work.
I actually narrowed it down further. It seems that only the wirelessly connected devices to the WRT310N are having issues. I'm not sure how this happened as I used to use that router as my main router with no problems for 2 years. In the "VLANs" section I see that all my ports are assigned to bridge "LAN" while Wireless is set to "None". I suspect this may be the problem, however, I can't figure out how to get the Wireless set to LAN. Every time I change that field and save or apply the value just reverts back to None.
You might check your "Current Bridging Table" before you make the assignment to see what eth1 is assigned to. It and the LAN ports should be in a bridge together (The bridge assignment will fix it if they are not).
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 4:49 Post subject: Re: Connecting 2 routers over PowerLine
LOM wrote:
mgchan wrote:
disabled "Routing" in Router Management,
Which guide do you follow?
The Peacock FAQ directs me as follows:
e. You can also connect two routers by wiring them together with an ethernet cable. This is a very common way to link routers. They are connected by a wire, rather than wireless.
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_Access_Point
Under step 9 of this guide:
Open the Administration -> Management tab
(Recommended) Info Site Password Protection: Enable
Under routing select disabled
Apply Settings and connect Ethernet cable to main router via LAN-to-LAN uplink*
I will try the above. I am certain the issue is the bridging but wasnt able to fix it myself when I tried myself. Currently, the GUI will not allow me to bridge wireless with LAN (which everything else is bridged to).
You might check your "Current Bridging Table" before you make the assignment to see what eth1 is assigned to. It and the LAN ports should be in a bridge together (The bridge assignment will fix it if they are not).
This is actually what I thought to try myself earlier. I went to Networking and assigned eth1 to br0. Eventually, under "Current Bridging Table" it showed br0 bridging eth0, vlan1, vlan2, eth1. However, whenever I do this everything breaks -- I can no longer access the router from my other computers and internet still doesn't work.
It doesn't sound like you've done too much configuration. Can you factory reset it and set it up again (30/30/30 will work)?
All you need to configure is:
1) Turn off DHCP Server on the WAP
2) Assign a different IP address to the WAP (192.168.1.2 should be fine)
3) Configure wireless on the WAP (Security, Network Name, etc)
4) Plug the wire from the main access point into one of the LAN ports on the WAP.
I recommend trying to use the LAN instead of the WAN here. It sounds like you've got some sort of bridging problem --- I'm wondering if this problem is happening when you switch the WAN to be bridged with the rest of the LAN ports.
Thanks for the help. I have tried multiple times to factory reset with the 30/30/30, or using telnet in to erase nvram, without success. I suspect something is stuck and not appropriately being reset with the bridging, but not sure what can persist over a firmware update and multiple resets.
I'll try not setting WAN to the LAN after a reset. I'm fairly certain I have tried this before but will try it again. Failing all this I'll try restoring to original Linksys firmware or another firmware and see what happens.
For two years I've used the router in the same way I want (albeit with a direct cable to the gateway); I thought I would try WDS and set that up with the online guide but wasn't getting good enough signal. I messed with the WDS settings and wireless settings but definitely didn't touch the VLAN or Networking pages. So, I'm not really sure what could have caused this issue.
jblack wrote:
It doesn't sound like you've done too much configuration. Can you factory reset it and set it up again (30/30/30 will work)?
All you need to configure is:
1) Turn off DHCP Server on the WAP
2) Assign a different IP address to the WAP (192.168.1.2 should be fine)
3) Configure wireless on the WAP (Security, Network Name, etc)
4) Plug the wire from the main access point into one of the LAN ports on the WAP.
I recommend trying to use the LAN instead of the WAN here. It sounds like you've got some sort of bridging problem --- I'm wondering if this problem is happening when you switch the WAN to be bridged with the rest of the LAN ports.
For two years I've used the router in the same way I want (albeit with a direct cable to the gateway);
A bit late to drop that piece of info..
Start with replacing the power plugs with a cable again and see if it works. The power plugs ought to be transparent but it might be they introduce something which makes the setup fail.
It is in any case easier to config without any "unknowns"
in between..
For two years I've used the router in the same way I want (albeit with a direct cable to the gateway);
A bit late to drop that piece of info..
Start with replacing the power plugs with a cable again and see if it works. The power plugs ought to be transparent but it might be they introduce something which makes the setup fail.
It is in any case easier to config without any "unknowns"
in between..
Sorry, thought that was mentioned. However, I really don't think it's the problem because my wired devices appear to be working fine and I can see that eth1 is not attached to br0 while it seems it should. I will try connecting it directly if other things I have to try don't work.
