Westell Router/Modem with D-Link Router

[alan93]

My service provider just gave me the new Westell E90 router modem but with out informing me that its a router.

I already have a D-link DI-624 wirless set up and I am getting the internet connection fine, but I'm unable to access my computer remotely using PCAnywhere (or other apps) like I was before using port forwarding.

I don't understand Lan/Wan too much or DHCP or Bridge or PPoe so if someone can give me a hint I would appreciate it.
Strangely, I had a dynamic ip address before , but its not changing everyday now. ??

I got to the Westell config area but still haven't been able to set it up right.
I'll try to give some info here to help u help me.

D-Link gateway - 192.168.0.1
D-Link Submask - 255.255.255.0
DHCP Server - enabled

Westell VC1 Config - Protocol: Bridged
VC1 - Bridge Settings - mode: Routed Bridged
DHCP - enabled
Subnet Mask - 255.255.240.0
Gateway - 72.49.16.1

Westell discovered local devices:
di-624 - 192.168.200.253

Westell Private Lan DCHP start address 192.168.200.10
Westell Private Lan DCHP end address 192.168.200.253

Westell Public Lan DCHP Server Enable - not checked
Westell Public Lan Ebable - not checked

 

[Rick]

I already have a D-link DI-624 wirless set up and I am getting the internet connection fine, but I'm unable to access my computer remotely using PCAnywhere (or other apps) like I was before using port forwarding.

I know you set up your port forwarding already, but I can tell you this is either a problem with port forwarding or firewall(s). You probably already know this, but your LAN IP is different from your WAN IP. If you're trying to use PC Anywhere over the Internet, using an IP of 192.168.xxx.xxx will not work.

Strangely, I had a dynamic ip address before , but its not changing everyday now. ??

And what IP address would that have been? Did it start with 192.168...? If it did, that is your local IP address which assigned by your router. This is different than your online IP address. Your WAN IP is 'leased' from your ISP. They can assign you a new IP as often as they'd like.


Most routers that you and I have do two very important things - They route traffic from your home network to/from the Internet (Gateway) and they assign local IP addresses to each computer (DHCP server). They also provide extra security through firewalls and NAT (Protocol that routes traffic). You should only have one router for a home setup and you should only have one DHCP server. I'd recommend only one hardware (router) firewall also. If both of your devices are acting as a router, you need to disable the routing abilities of one device (probably the modem), disable the DHCP server abilities of one device and disable the firewall of one device.

D-Link gateway - 192.168.0.1
D-Link Submask - 255.255.255.0
DHCP Server - enabled

This tells us that your D-link router has an IP of 192.168.0.1, which is typical. The subnet is the range of IP addresses this device can communicate with, which is currently anything that is 192.168.0.xxx. DHCP server - enabled tells us that your router is assigning local IP address automatically for your home network, which is good.

Westell VC1 Config - Protocol: Bridged
VC1 - Bridge Settings - mode: Routed Bridged
DHCP - enabled
Subnet Mask - 255.255.240.0
Gateway - 72.49.16.1

Since you're able to get online, these options should be correct, but they don't look correct. We'll leave these alone for now though since they seem to be working, but after looking at all the numbers, I'm surprised you don't have routing issues.

Westell discovered local devices:
di-624 - 192.168.200.253

This suggests to me that your router has an address of 192.168.200.253, which should not be correct. Verify you can still access your router setup by typing 192.168.0.1 into your browser.

Westell Public Lan DCHP Server Enable - not checked

This is good as it means your modem's DHCP server is disabled. Your router has its own DHCP server which should used instead, so that is perfect. However, if your modem is not acting as a DHCP server, your router's IP cannot be 192.168.200.253. So that is odd.

I'd like you do something for me on your computer. Go to Start > Run > cmd.exe

Type ipconfig /all and copy + paste the results here. To copy the resuts, right click anywhere in the black box. Click "select all" from the menu and right click anywhere on the selected text. Paste it here. I'm interesting in seeing what gateway and IP address your computer is using.

 

[alan93]

Ok, very inofrmative

Microsoft(R) Windows DOS
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001.

C:\DOCUME~1\ALANCO~1>cd\

C:\>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ALAN1
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-EC-45-9B-6C
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 216.68.4.10
216.68.5.10

C:\>


My Wan IP is a 72.49.xxx.xxx number so .... ?


It seems like I need to some how make the westell just a bridge(?) so that it doesn't assign ip address and allows the D-link to be the router??

thanks

 

[alan93]

I am able to get to my D-Link config typing http://192.168.0.1

 

[alan93]

This suggests to me that your router has an address of 192.168.200.253, which should not be correct. Verify you can still access your router setup by typing 192.168.0.1 into your browser.

I was thinking that it meant that the "outside" of my d-link router has an address of 192.168.200.253 while the inside of my d-link is 192.168.0.1 thus the first number is being assigned by the westell like a router assigns numbers to computers??

So it looks like the westell is in fact being a DHCP? Maybe I need to check the config better.

confusing.

 

[alan93]

Screenshot of Westell DHCP settings page

See this attachment pic

 

[Rick]

I'd be interested in seeing the configuration for your router too, the part where it lists all of those IP, subnet, gateway and DNS numbers. I'd be looking to make sure the 'gateway' of your router is an outside IP (WAN) (Probably 72.xxx.xxx.xxx), not a local IP (192.168.200.xxx).

Your ipconfig looks good... Exactly as I'd expect it.

I'm betting your modem has a firewall which should be disabled since your router also has one. Make sure you have disabled this in the modem configuration, as this would be an obvious problem.

Once we can eliminate all the other variables, then it is just a matter of forwarding the ports in your router.

 

[alan93]

d-link status

IP Address 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
DHCP Server Enabled

WAN
MAC Address
Connection DHCP Client Connected
IP Address 192.168.200.252
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway 192.168.200.1
DNS 192.168.200.1

Wireless 802.11g
SSID default
Channel 6
Encryption WEP : 64 bits


Does any of this make any sense?

 

[alan93]

well my nightmare of no longer being able to connect to my computer from internet has worsened. Finally a tech from my ISP says this westell cannot be set as bridged/non routed (which is strange because it appears to have the setting for it) so they will refer my case to a senior technician. My question to them was why would the service guy give me a routed modem when I already had a router? !!! Is this crazy? Puttin a router/modem on a customer's already routed network.

exasperated

 

[alan93]

Once we can eliminate all the other variables, then it is just a matter of forwarding the ports in your router.

The ports on the router are already forwarded.

 

[Samstoned]

if the westell is already a router just make your router a switch
if the westell has a firewall remove the firewall from the router
what do you think Rick?
disable dhcp in the router

 

[alan93]

Finally

Got it.
It had nothing to do with firewalls.

It did have to do with setting the modem to Bridged instead of Router Bridged but it needed more needed to be done than just that.

I had done this several times and every time I did I lost internet connection.
This time I turned off DHCP server on Westell first, THEN set to Bridged.

I then lost my internet again of course but then discovered the missing piece of puzzle....

On my D-LINK, on the status page I needed to click "RELEASE DHCP" and then "RENEW DHCP". Then Got internet again and westell config page no longer accessible through 192.168.200.1 signifying that it was now in Bridged mode!

That last step is what my ISP was not able to tell me.
Nor did Westell they told me to get support from my ISP.

O well, Its fixed now after about a week of fighting with it.

 

[Rick]

Excellent!