Wireless Network Confusion..

Hello everybody! Hope you are doing fine. I was just wondering about something. Not really Amiga-related, as i am for the moment using a Windows 7 Ultimate PC..

Here is the catch: I have 2 routers. The one is a wireless router AirLink Jensen 53900 and the other one is an Internet-gateway called Inteno with one antenna and
4 LAN-connectors, including one for normal DSL..

I am using both a PC and an XBox 360 Elite connected to the net. The last one is connected with a wireless adapter that currently is the one with only one antenna.

Earlier, the AirLink53900 was setup as an Access Point and
even XBox was able to get wireless to the net. That was over a month ago, as my XBox has been repaired, probably with a new motherboard. Trying to set it up again, i noticed that it was not possible to get connected to the net with the XBox, even using AirLink as an Access Point.

XBox Live mentioned a problem with the NAT configuration, that it was mostly Moderate and might limit my network access with xbox. It also mentioned that UnPlng or something like that had to be ENABLE...

Resetting the wireless router (letting the Inteno remain as it always is, as an internet gateway itself), i made some additional advanced settings giving as much information to the wireless router as possible, enabling the Unplng thing, Dynamic IP and such, and i did all that with NO Access Point configuration...

The strange thing is that both the PC and the XBox with its' own wireless adapter were able to get straight into the net with no problem at all..

But still, is this information right? HKvalhe - Gateway (which is the wireless one) and the Internet globe? When XBox is connected, it gets the same information too on the configuration display in the Network Configuration in Win7..

I assume that this means that the Inteno Internet Gateway no longer have to be mentioned as such a gateway, now that all the gateway happens directly from the AirLink wireless router, straight to the net?

Is this the right way, or is the something else i should do? I will be happy for any help i can get..

HKvalhe

@Helgis

It's hard to follow what you are trying to do here... but I'll throw my 2 cents in as I had a similar situation when I set up my home network.

(Disclaimer!!!!! I know very little about networking, the following instructions are likely to have many holes in them AND there is prob a better way to do this! :)
And, please don't get offended if I come across as patronizing, I'm just trying to cover all areas as thoroughly as I can).

I'm going to assume you are trying to connect your Xbox to your AirLink Jensen and THAT connects to your Inteno gateway?

This gives you trouble because you have 2 routers, 2 DHCP servers, etc etc

The way to do this is to fool your entire network into thinking that your Gateway router is actually your ISP.

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First you need to make sure there are no IP conflicts between your 2 routers by making sure they dont have the same IP address...
ie: they can NOT both have 192.168.0.1 ....... I suggest you leave the Interno as 192.168.0.1 and change the IP address of the AirLink to 192.168.0.2
If you change the IP of your router it's a good idea to write the new IP down somewhere (best to write it on the device itself) so you never forget it!

(NOTE: for the sake of simplicity i will now assume that your Interno IS 192.168.0.1 and your AirLink IS 192.168.0.2)

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Second step is to get the 2 routers connecting to each other properly.

Both routers will likely have their own DHCP servers and by default will automatically assign IP addresses to each computer connected, this is called 'dynamic DHCP'. HOWEVER the DHCP servers will also have a list that will allow you to assign a static IP to certain computers.

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You will need to know the MAC address of both your routers.

1. Log into your Interno setting with a web browser and find the DHCP setting.

2. There should be an option to assign a static IP to certain MAC addresses.
enter the MAC address of your AirLink and enter it's IP address (192.168.0.2) click ok/apply.

Do the same with the AirLink...

3. Now log into the AirLink and go to it's DHCP setting...

4. Find the option to assign a static IP. Enter the MAC address and IP address of your Interno (192.168.0.1) and click ok/apply/confirm/whatever.

Both routers should now be set up to talk to each other properly... Now you need to "fool your entire network into thinking that your Gateway router (Interno) is actually your ISP".
The Interno should now be set up properly but there is more configuring to do on the AirLink.

(NOTE: If you were able to follow my instructions to get you this far, AWESOME!!!! The rest is much easier!)

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For this part you will need to know your ISP details (IP address, Subnet mask, Default gateway)
Most ISPs let you 'automatically obtain' these setting...
your Interno will be set up to get these setting automatically but there is no way to relay that info to your AirLink. You'll need to set that manually.

1. log into you AirLink and find the settings for the WAN (Wide Area Network... aka Teh Internets!)

2. Choose the option that allows you to Manually configure/ static configuration. What you enter here will need to be a combination of both the ISP and Interno details...

IP ADDRESS - this will need to be your Internos IP (192.168.0.1)

SUBNET MASK - I dont know what a subnet mask is... um.. I think you have to enter your ISPs subnet (I set my router up with a subnet of 255.255.255.0, I cant remember why... yours is probably something similar).

DEFAULT GATEWAY - This will need to be your ISPs Gateway address. (unfortunately this setting causes a minor problem - but that will be solved in later steps)

DNS - (DOMAIN NAME SERVER)

A DNS is a server that matches a domain name to an IP address.
For example, when you type amigans.net into your browser the DNS server will direct your browser to 69.64.58.97 (the IP address for the server that hosts amigans.net - try it out, simply enter 69.64.58.97 into you browser and see where it takes you).

You can enter your ISPs Primary and Secondary Addresses here. But this will cause a small problem.

From time to time you ISP will likely change its DNS address without notice... this wont normally cause any problems because you normally should set your network to automatically obtain the DNS address... your network isn't a normal case and you need to manually set the DNS address. If you ISP does change the DNS you may need to manually set it again so keep that in mind.

(an alternative would be to use open-dns. info here - http://www.opendns.com/ )

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Thats everything set up!
But now I can here the screams, "WHY DOESN'T THE INTERNETS WORK????!!!!????"

This is the progress we have made at this point...

1. Any computer connected to the Interno has full access to the internet.

2. Any computer connected to the AirLink DOES NOT have access to the internet.

"WHY IS THAT SO?????????????"

It's a result of the DEFAULT GATEWAY setting we entered into the AirLink router I couldn't find a way to make it work properly :)

However, the fix is VERY EASY... On every computer that is connected to the AirLink you will need to configure the network settings a follows:

- You need to find some way to make the computer get its network setting automatically AND also set a static default gateway.

The default gateway you need to set is the Interno IP address (192.168.0.1).

In OS4 this was easy, when running the network setup it actually asks you if you want to do exactly that

Windows XP wasn't so obvious, but still easy. Not sure how to do it in Vista or Windows 7 (I didn't upgrade because Vista made me angry... It was a major reason why I switched to AmigaOS)

In WinXP:

1.Right click your network connection > select "Properties"

2. "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" > "Properties"

3. Select both "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically"

4. Click advanced

5. Under "Default gateways" click add and now you can add your Internos IP to a list of Gateways.

NOTE: you do not need to do this with any computer connected directly to the Interno router, automatic configuration should be fine.

EVERYTHING SHOULD NOW WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The XBOX 360 is a little more complicated to set up in this situation... I give instructions in my next post.

Ok, hopefully all that will work.

If not, that long post should give you some inspiration to solve you problem.

And also... This setup is a MAJOR HACK JOB... If any other members have a better solution or even a few ideas please post them. I certainly interested in finding a better way so I can improve the reliability of my own home network.

AND YET ANOTHER THING!! I'm not sure about this but I'm led to believe that some brands of routers demand that your computers have an IP in the format of 192.168.0.XXX while others demand an IP in the format of 192.168.1.XXX and maybe some allow any old numbers to be put in...

Keep this in mind when setting up DHCP between the 2 routers.


Next post: "setting up the XBOX 360"

The XBOX 360 will be a little bit more complicated as I couldn't find a way to set a static Gateway and still get it to automatically obtain all other setting... My solution was to manually configure EVERYTHING.

I'm not sure if you want to connect your XBOX using an ethernet cable or using a WiFi adapter, I'll try to cover both:

1. Start up the Xbox plug in the WiFi adapter (or ethernet cable).

2. Go into "System setting > Network Setting > Configure Network"

NOTE: the next step is only for WiFi, for cabled ethernet skip step 3 entirely (also I believe this is the only step that makes WiFi and Cabled different to set up... all other steps should be the same :) )

3. Under the "Basic Settings" tab, select "Wireless Mode" and "Scan for Networks"... your AirLink's network should show up. Select it and enter any security key (Assuming you set the router up to use a passwork/key/etc)

4. Now go back to the "Basic Setting" tab. Select "IP settings" and select automatic. Select "DNS setting" and also set it as automatic.

5. Now run the "Test Xbox LIVE Connection" option.

Your Xbox will connect to the network fine but will fail at the "Internet" part. This is clearly because of the "Default gateway issue". As stated above, I had to manually configure ALL of the network setting, not just the Gateway.

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Now you have to set the DHCP in your AirLink to assign a static IP to your Xbox, you will need to know the MAC address of the Xbox.

Actually it seems that on the Xbox 360, the wired and wireless connections BOTH use the same MAC address.

it can be found by going to "System setting > Network Setting > Configure Network > Advanced settings"
(If using WiFi, double check this by going into "wireless Information")

Now you need to log into you AirLink router again and go to the DHCP settings and set up a static IP address for your Xbox (your router may have already suggested an IP to use... 192.168.0.XXX)

Go back to your Xbox and Manually configure its network settings:

IP ADDRESS - same as the static IP you set the router to assign it

SUBNET MASK - same as what you set as the subnet in the AirLink's WAN settings

GATEWAY - your INTERNO routers IP address (192.168.0.1?)

PRIMARY/SECONDARY DNS SERVER - both same as what DNS you put into the AirLinks WAN settings

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Now you can run the "Test Xbox LIVE Connection" option. It should work fully although you may new to run the test a couple of times.

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FINAL NOTES:

Running such an absurd network setup can sometimes be a little unreliable. You will occasionally experience some lag and that can wreak havoc if you are play games online.
I recommend keeping a long ethernet cable handy so if you ever get frustrated by lag/drop-outs you can simply use the cable to connect the Xbox straight to your Interno internet-gateway.