Configuring an Old Router...

wibbly · 14 Nov 2013 at 10:44

So, I'm trying desperately to get more oomph into to my loft office as far as broadband goes, it's a bit flaky to say the least.

My router and little sky broadband box is placed downstairs and not easily moved, so I've been thinking about home plugs, although not sure these will work as the main router etc. is plugged into an extension lead rather than a physical wall socket (non nearby). It's also not easily feasible to cable through the house, so I'm looking for ideas.

I've been trying to re-configure an old sky router from it's original settings to match the new settings on the fibre broadband router I have, but can't seem to manage it. When I plug it into the PC I'm using, I can get into the admin page (192.168.0.0), and from there I've tried re-assigning the IP address to what has been suggested (192.168.0.250). When I do that and turn the DHCP off it re-boots the rooter without a problem, but I can't then reconnect to that admin page to reset the rest of the settings.

I've tried changing the rest of the settings, as suggested, to match my router before changing the IP address and DHCP change, but still run into the same problem. It still won't connect.

Would anyone have any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I've no doubt it's something I'm doing!

Cheers

Duke · 14 Nov 2013 at 10:53

Bit hard to work out what you've connected up at the time. I take it you have set a manual IP for the second router (well, switch now technically) - did you set the DNS and Gateway to point to the IP of the main router? Does the PC get an IP address?

wibbly · 14 Nov 2013 at 10:58

Basically what I'm doing from following a couple of YT video's and other bits I've read is to connect to the second router, re-assign a new IP address (192.168.0.250), switch off DHCP and let it re-boot.

From what I've read, I believe that's as much as I need do - I'm guessing that's not the whole story then?

At present, when I do that nothing connects to the second router to get back into the settings page.

joey1211 · 14 Nov 2013 at 11:54

Can you ping 192.168.0.250?

Werewolf · 14 Nov 2013 at 12:04

Remember if you try to connect a second router as a wireless access point, you will need to connect it to the first via it's LAN ports once you turn off the DHCP etc.

What model is the second router, a lot of them have the option to work as a wireless AP in the menu so you can do it with one or two button presses.

wibbly · 14 Nov 2013 at 13:14

I'm not pinging anything at the moment

It won't even connect so I can log into the admin page and change anything. All it keeps coming up with is limited connectivity, and the page can't be found.

The second model is a Sky Sagem router. It worked fine when we had it on their standard broadband, I was hoping it would be adequate for whacking in the loft office to bolster the signal a bit.

bremen1874 · 14 Nov 2013 at 13:23

If you're switching off DHCP is the PC actually getting a valid IP? You might want to give the PC you're using for the setup a static IP until you're done.

wibbly · 14 Nov 2013 at 13:27

bremen1874 said:
If you're switching off DHCP is the PC actually getting a valid IP? You might want to give the PC you're using for the setup a static IP until you're done.

Thanks I'll give that a try...

As you can possibly tell, I'm way out of my depth here - but desperate

wibbly · 14 Nov 2013 at 14:09

OK, so on my PC I've set the LAN settings with an IP address of 192.168.0.250 and on the wireless settings the default 192.168.0.1.

The settings now tell me that the Wireless network connection is trying to connect but can't... and is an unidentified network.

Any clues anyone?

bremen1874 · 14 Nov 2013 at 14:24

So you've got two routers, one of which you want to use as an access point?

You need to assign a suitable management IP to the second router. This needs to be in the same subnet as the first router, and must be unique. Choose something outside the DHCP range of router one.

Once you've assigned the management IP you need to disable DHCP on the second router. Once that's done you can connect the two routers together with a network cable (LAN-to-LAN).

You then just need to configure the wireless on the second router. The first router will handle all the important functions (DHCP, NAT, firewall, etc.).

Edit: I just reread your first post. You aren't trying to do this all wirelessly are you? If you are you'll need different kit.