[nordicpc]

Hey All,
As the Linksys WRT-160NL is probably the new replacement for the WRT-54GL that was so popular, I'd really like to see some work done to the Wiki on it.

I've setup many, many WRT-54GL's as wireless repeater bridges, quite successfully, and have clients that are asking for N devices now. I received my first WRT-160NL for an install, going in next to a stock Linksys, and after an hour of fiddling have had to return to the shop to do some work before I look like a total fool.

Upon unboxing, I was first surprised at how different this version of DD-WRT is from the Broadcom version. There are many more options for the Atheros, which I'm glad there are, however they are mostly thrown in in odd places, IMO. Of course, I've never been to a forum that cares, so I'll leave my first impressions at that.

I went to setup the bridge, and "Repeater Bridge" is not an option for Atheros. I went to the Wiki, under Tutorials and then Repeater Bridge. I saw an Atheros entry, so I began reading, but the setup part says:
"Set you wlan to client_bridge and connect to the to be repeated AP
Add virtual interface and set it as AP"

This is obviously lacking, so I'd like to fill it in. However, I don't have enough experience yet, and would like your experiences in how to make this work as remarkably well as the WRT-54GL does. I was hoping that a setup like this would be a good place to start:

1. Admin -> Factory Defaults -> Yes
2. Set username and password
3. Click Setup, login
4. Change, in this order:
a. Connection type: disabled
b. DHCP Type: DHCP forwarder
c. Router Name (opt)
d. Local IP Addy
e. Gateway
f. Local DNS
g. DHCP server
Tap Save
5. Wireless Tab: Basic Settings
a. Wireless Mode: Client Bridge
6. Wireless Tab: Wireless Security
b. set to your networks exact settings
7. Status Tab: Wireless
a. Site Survey
i. Click Join next to your AP
ii. Click Continue to return to Wireless Basic
8. Wireless Basic
a. Change network mode to match
b. Click Add under virtual interfaces
c. Setup secondary AP as you like, click save.
10. pull power for 10 seconds

However, this doesn't seem to work. The little yellow light is on, like it is indeed connected to my AP, and it even has the thing listed under Access Points, but no data seems to go back and forth. My network only has MAC filtering security, so it's not a problem there.

The only thing out of the ordinary that I see is under Status -> Wireless -> Wireless Status, the channel is changing down like it's scanning for the correct one. It's channel 9, but I have no where to input that. I've read that a couple reboots fixes it, but I haven't had such luck.

If you guys can help me get this right, I'll be happy to update the Wiki and get it published so everyone can use these devices.

Thanks.

-Nate

[flytiger]

where is your SSID?

[nordicpc]

I found that when you click "Join" you get the SSID filled in for you.

[flytiger]

probably the latest build broke the client bridge, I saw other user reported similar issue.

You can try WDS to see if that works.

[nordicpc]

I can't really do WDS since the main router is a stock Linksys that doesn't support DD. I really just need a bridge/repeater.

I'll try some older builds and see what happens. Thanks.

[empire29]

[pcdocta]

hey wussup everyone? I'm using the wrt160NL router in "client bridge" mode with WEP encryption and WPA2 on the virtual AP with no problems. Its connected to a D-link 150 N router and its on the latest firmware revision to date (v24 preSP2 build 14896). I set it up manually and am matching the host router's 20mhz bandwidth. Channel selection is set to "auto". If you continue to have problems with client bridge, I would do a 30-30-30 reset and manually program it up from there. My WAN ip address is set up as static outside of the host router's dhcp range. Why static you may ask? Because i have port forwarding from main router to "client bridge" router. Im also running the exact setup as found at http://www.wrt160nl.org/ so i can use transmissionBT. My setup works pretty good for the most part.