Connecting Linksys BEFSR41 with Belkin F5D8230

[jrizzle77]

I currently am having problems with my wireless router, wehre I will keep losing signal to my laptop, so i figured I have an old linksys BEFSR41 wired router and would try to just bring the wireless router more central to the house. I was wondering if these two can even be hooked up together, and second what is the best way to go a bout it. Will I still be able to share my folders and printers through my home network? Thanks in advance!!

 

[DelJo63]

Will I still be able to share my folders and printers through my home network?

Once the network flows correctly -- of course.

I currently am having problems with my wireless router, where I will
keep losing signal to my laptop, so i figured I have an old linksys BEFSR41 wired router
and would try to just bring the wireless router(F5D8230) more central to the house.
I was wondering if these two can even be hooked up together, and second what is the best way to go a bout it.

Layout will be

modem -->BEFSR41 ---->currently wired systems
            +
            +---->F5D8230(wireless) ... portable devices

First reconfig the BEFSR41 for a LAN address 192.168.2.1 and mask 255.255.252.0
save the config, reboot the router, and
use ipconfig /release followed by
a ipconfig /renew
to get your systems internet access.
All wired systems should be able to use the browser.

Once that is working, config the wireless router:
(connect a wired system to it)
use your browser to reconfig it's LAN address to 192.168.1.1 and a mask of 255.255.252.0
save and reboot this device
perform the
ipconfig /release followed by
a ipconfig /renew
to get this system access too.

In this Wired configuration, all systems must be able to ping each other
from sysA, ping sysB
from sysB, ping sysA

all systems should be able to use the browser.

BE SURE TO
1) change the SSID
2) enable encryption and document your KEY


At this point, your network is correct and you only need to setup
print/file sharing as you see fit

Now you can disconnect the wire from the F5D8230 and use it wirelessly.

 

[jrizzle77]

Thanks for the quick reply!!
Had a few questions though..

On the linksys router, you can only change the subnet mask to a few options from a drop down menu:
255.255.255.0
255.255.255.128
255.255.255.192
255.255.255.224
255.255.255.240
255.255.255.248
255.255.255.252

And am i Just changing this on the setup page of the router? or do i need to make any changes in my tcp/ip settings or anywhere else?

When i get to the pinging part do i just ping 192.168.2.1 from the 1.1 computer and vice versa?

Appreciate your help.

 

[DelJo63]

When i get to the pinging part do i just ping 192.168.2.1 from the 1.1 computer and vice versa?

yes

On the linksys router, you can only change the subnet mask to a few options from a drop down menu:
255.255.255.0
255.255.255.128
255.255.255.192
255.255.255.224
255.255.255.240
255.255.255.248
255.255.255.252

Yea, some vendors get parochial on the settings -- any number is valid, but
they try to over protect the user we need to alter the third octet
255.255.252.0 to make this work

the 192.168.*.* is a Class C, non-routable IP address. Just move your
LAN to the Class B range, 172.16.2.1 and 172.16.1.1 with the
mask of 255.255.252.0

And am i Just changing this on the setup page of the router? or do i need to make any changes in my tcp/ip settings or anywhere else?

no -- your systems will acquire the settings via DHCP --

 

[jrizzle77]

I'm slowly but surely getting there. I have everything hooked up now and have internet access on all the computers and the wireless. The only problem i'm having is pinging to the wired router, and having it be accessible to the rest of the network. I can view shared folders on the wireless and wired computer through the Belkin, but won't recognize the computer attached to the linksys router. Any suggestions? You've been a great help , thanks.

 

[DelJo63]

sounds like the subnet mask is wrong.

First, what are the addresses for each router

and what is the mask set for each on the WAN side?

And am i Just changing this on the setup page of the router?

YES!

edit:
file/print shares use port 137,138 on the x.x.255 address (ie broadcast address)
to find the systems. if the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, your broadcast will stay
on one subnet and not cross over to the other. using 255.255.252.0 will allow the
two routers to be seen/treated as if they were one.
/edit

 

[jrizzle77]

oh ok well thast the problem then .. is the subnet. I misunderstood your previous post and thought i could just change the ip address of the routers to the 172.16.2.1 and 172.16.1.1 and use the 255.255.255.0 subnet mask. The linksys doesn't allow the subnet to be changed to 255.255.252.0, so does that mean basically won't be able to fully network all the computers?

 

[DelJo63]

oh ok well thast the problem then .. is the subnet. I misunderstood your previous post and thought i could just change the ip address of the routers to the 172.16.2.1 and 172.16.1.1 and use the 255.255.255.0 subnet mask. The linksys doesn't allow the subnet to be changed to 255.255.252.0, so does that mean basically won't be able to fully network all the computers?

hum; if the Linksys controls the subnet mask EVEN for ip addresses
172.16.x.x, then, sorry, we're dead in the water

You may wish to evaluate which system connect to what, as that would provide
connectivity but no file/print sharing (ie a form of security for wireless connections).

The other choice is to get another router (Netgear is more user friendly), but
sadly that means more expense.

ONE LAST TRY:

config the wired router 172.16.1.1, subnet mask 255.255.255.0 BUT
restrict the DHCP range to 172.16.1.1-- .1.10

on the other router, get it's MAC address and use iMAC filtering on router 1
to force 172.16.1.10 to be used for the second routers MAC
(this is almost a static assignment, but we still us DHCP).

connect router two to router one,
configure it to have an address of 172.16.1.20, subnet mask 255.255.255.0
AND limit its DHCP to the range 172.16.1.20-- 1.30

you will have ONE subnet 172.16.1.* with the same subnet and both routers
will see all traffic and the broadcasting on 172.16.1.255 ports 137,138

 

[tipstir]

I currently am having problems with my wireless router, wehre I will keep losing signal to my laptop, so i figured I have an old linksys BEFSR41 wired router and would try to just bring the wireless router more central to the house. I was wondering if these two can even be hooked up together, and second what is the best way to go a bout it. Will I still be able to share my folders and printers through my home network? Thanks in advance!!

This can be done but you'll have to make the wireless Router more a WAP and use a static IP address for it in the lower number range.

So Linksys Router would allow the wireless access . Otherwise you could go out and buy a new wired router for $39 bucks at Best Buy like I did to solve this problem you're having. To from experience with the Linksys wired router they drop packets and connections to often. Firmware doesn't fix it something to do with the way it was made. Poorly..

 

[DelJo63]

you only need MAC filtering to predict the LAN address given to the next
router's WAN port -- been there, done it, actually running it today