Help with Linksys WRT54G setup?

Hi,

I'm trying to help a neighbor get wireless setup working with their Linksys WRT54G and a Toshiba Satellite M55. They also have a desktop going into one of the LAN ports, which is working.

The WRT54G has a password set on it, which they can't remember because someone else set the Linksys up for them awhile ago. I found the following info for resetting the Linksys to defaults (""/"admin"):

formatting link
But, before I try that, I wanted to ask about the current behavior that I saw when I was over there today. I haven't worked with the WRT54G before, so I'm not that familiar with it.

Ok...

They have the WRT54G in their library, on the 1st floor. The SSID/network ID is set to "linksys", and according to them, it was setup with a WEP(?) password.

I enabled the wireless on the Toshiba (there's a small switch on the front edge that I flipped to 'on', and I enabled the wireless connection under Windows).

Now, on the laptop, if I go to "View networks", I could OCCASIONALLY (but not always) see "linksys" appear on the list of networks. The signal was very weak... something like 1 bar.

I moved the to the library, and even then, I could only see like 1 bar during those times that I could even see the "linksys" network at all.

As mentioned above, I'm not that familiar with the WRT54G, so I was wondering if anyone might be able to suggest why the signal seemed so weak (again, to the point that I the Toshiba couldn't even see the "linksys" network sometimes)??

With the WRT54G, do you have to configure it to a specific channel? I'm thinking that there may be several other WIFI access points in the neighborhood (including mine, which is an old R1000, "B" only), and that this neighbor's WRT54G may be using the same channel as another way, and it may be overwhelmed? Is that a possibility?

Thanks, Jim

Reply to
ohaya
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That procedure will reset it. Use your browser to go to 192.168.1.1 . From there you should be able to set up whatever you need.

Reply to
Jerry Park

Jerry,

In their case, it looks like whoever set the Linksys up set it to

10.0.10 subnet.

In any event, I already did point a browser to http://10.0.10.1. I got the login page, but like I said, they couldn't remember the password :(...

I would rather avoid resetting to default, but I may have to if they can't recall the password.

In the meantime, I am looking for ideas about the problems that I described above, where I couldn't even detect the network most of the time.

I've been reading through the router guide, and I suspect a couple of possibilities:

- They might have set it to "B only"?

- They might be on a channel that has a lot of interference.

I suspect the latter, because several other network IDs showed up, but the former is also possible, because up until trying the Toshiba M55, they had only a desktop with a WIFI PCI card working, and that was setup about 2+ years ago.

Any suggestion/comments?

Thanks, Jim

Reply to
ohaya

If they can't remember the password, you really are going to have to whack it over the head and start over. Make sure you update to the latest firmware, and look into picking another channel. Use NetStumbler to look for other networks, or try 1, 6, and 11 and see which one works best.

The low range sounds strange, but you can't even tell if they are (for instance) running some alternate firmware with the power turned all the way down...

Reply to
William P.N. Smith

Hi William,

Knowing these people, I doubt very much if they are running any alternate firmware. I'm pretty sure that the Linksys "out-of-the-box", other than the settings that were configured (by someone else).

Jim

Reply to
ohaya

For what it is worth, on some laptops I have setup, when connecting to wep the signal strength reports as weak or non existent until you actully enter the network key and connect., then the reported signal jumps up to high.

Ian

Reply to
Ian

Have they actually had the wireless set up working before as it sounds as if the Tx is disabled and you are only seeing neighbouring AP's etc? If you wish to have a little play with the WRT54G web interface try

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(courtesy of Jeff)

Reply to
Frank

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