Sky Sagem Router and Linksys WRT54GS

[freshman]

Hello all, I have a problem which has been mentioned before but I can't find a conclusive resolution anywhere, so thought I would ask for myself...

I've recently moved house from a fairly new 2-bed semi with thin walls to a 110 year old Victorian beast with proper solid brick walls. The Sky router only gets so far, so I want to use my now redundant WRT54GS (used with Cable broadband in my last house) to give me additional wired connectivity and to extend the range of my wireless network.

I have a single Cat-5 cable running from from Router 1 (Sky/Sagem) at one end of the house to to Router 2 (Linksys) at the other. Router 1's IP Address is 192.168.0.1. On Router 2 I have reset to factory defaults, then disabled DHCP and set all of the wireless settings to the same as Router 1, and assigned it an IP address of 192.168.0.50. When trying to connect to the network using a laptop in range of Router 2, it fails to get an IP address. Similarly if I disable the wireless adapter and plug the laptop into one of the RJ45 ports on Router 2, I can't get an IP address. If I unplug the Cat-5 cable from Router 2 and plug it into my laptop instead, I can connect fine. If I move the laptop to within range of Router 1, all is fine. I was unsure whether the Cat-5 should plug into one of the 4 LAN ports on the Linksys, or the WAN port, but either way makes absolutely no difference.

My folks have just made the switch from Virgin Media to sky and also now have a redundant WRT54GS (same version and firmware) which I would like to do the same with at their house, but am having the exact same problem. This suggests the issue is more likely to be config-related than a physical fault.

I'd rather not install any 3rd party firmware on the Linksys box unless absolutely necessary, and from reading a number of forums it sounds like I would only have to do this if I needed to connect the two routers wirelessly, which I don't.

Do any of you guys/gals have any suggestions for me to try...? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[freshman]

Hi all,

After another couple of hours trying to get these two boxes talking to each other, I think I've cracked it!

Here's how I did it (in case anyone wants to attempt the same thing!)

1. Reset the WRT54GS to factory defaults.

2. Connect your PC to one of the LAN ports on the WRT54GS. (Note - I found it easier to disable wireless on the PC before doing this to avoid any confusion!)

3. Type 192.168.1.1 and login to the router config page (no username, password is admin)

4. On the Basic Setup page, choose "Static Setup" from the drop-down list next to "Internet Connection Type", and enter an IP address on a different subnet to the Sky Router. I used 192.168.2.200 (subnet mask 255.255.255.0, default gateway 192.168.2.1, DNS 192.168.0.1).

5. Scroll down to "Network Setup" and next to "Router IP" enter an address on the same subnet as your Sky Router, but high enough not to risk a conflict with any devices on your network. I used 192.168.0.50 (whatever address you use, make a note of it as you'll need it to get back to the Router config page!)

6. Scroll down to "Network Address Server Settings (DHCP)" and click the "Disable" radio button.

6. Scroll down and click "Save Settings". The router should prompt you to release/renew your IP address.

7. Disconnect the power cable from the WRT54GS, and connect the Sky Router to one of the remaining LAN ports on the WRT54GS. Plug the power cable back into the WRT54GS.

8. Reboot your PC, leaving it connected to the WRT54GS. When it boots back up again it should pick up an IP address in the 192.168.0.x range (this shows the setup is working - the Sky Router has assigned your PC an IP address and the WRT54GS is successfully functioning as a wired gateway).

9. Log back into the WRT54GS config page using the new IP address you gave it in step 5, and go to the Wireless setup pages. Enter exactly the same SSID, channel, and security information as you have in your Sky Router's configuration. Disable SSID broadcast. Once complete, click "Save Settings".

10. Disconnect your PC from the Linksys router, and enable wireless. Hey presto - you have extended your wireless network!

If the PC doesn't pick up an IP address at step 8, something has gone wrong somewhere. Check the cable from your PC is still connected to the Linksys router, assign yourself a static IP address in the 192.168.0.x range (there should be guides on this site to tell you how to do this), and go back to the router config page using the IP address you chose in step 5.

Hope this helps someone in future!

[petebridge]

I have a Sonos system installed in my house and use an NAS to attach to my DG934G Sky router to share the music around the different Sonos boxes. Every so often, my Sonos disappears and I spent over 2 hours on the phone to their helpline (very good - a long way from Sky!) to find out why.

They reckoned that the router was causing problems and interference on the system, possibly by not releasing enough IP addresses through its DHCP protocol (I am not expert on this at all so that may not be exactly right). They suggested I get a Linksys WRT54GS and wire it to the Sky router, then use the Linksys for my household wireless, my Sonos and my NAS connections, thereby only using the Sky box as a modem but the Linksys as the wireless, thereby avoiding the interference (plus boosting my signal).

Ddoes this sound right to anyone? It makes sense in theory to me but any practical experience/advice would be appreciated.

thanks