Linksys WRT54GS Firmware v7.50.0: You are conected to the access point, but the internet cannot be found

On Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:41:47 -0400, Alan writ:

Take it back to the store and use the money to buy a Netgear. Really. You won't regret it. :-)

Is that because you couldn't connect to the internet, or because something had cleared all its settings? When you went to: http://192.168.1.1/were all the previously established settings still there?

Never mind the internet for now.

What hardware version WRT54GS do you have? Look on the serial number tag for the version number. If it's missing, check the serial number with the table at:

My guess is that you have a WRT54GS v7 as v7.50.0 is the current firmware version. However, I wanna be sure.

Can your laptop see the router?

Does the laptop get an IP address from the router? Check it with start -> run -> cmd IPCONFIG Your IP address should be 192.168.1.something.

If you have a valid IP address, can you ping the router? Try: ping 192.168.1.1

Ummm... Inviting the hackers of the world into your system isn't going to fix things.

It's probably defective, but hard to tell from your description. I've have a few random routers clear their setting without much provocation. Some were defective and returned. Others turned out to be a mix of defective reset buttons, peeling metal shavings from the shielding all over the circuit board, and some kind of weird attack from the LAN side that was successfully resetting the router.

It is indeed V7 - and the IP address I get is coming from the router. The router itself is pingable.

Alan hath wroth:

That's nice. Now please re-read what I wrote. There are a few things to check such as can you ping the router and have the setting been trashed or cleared. In case you missed my point, this is YOUR problem to solve. I only help, offer advice, and analyze the results of your testing.

And I appreciate the help. When I say that the router is pingable, I mean that when I ping it, I get back a response. In answer to your question - before I did a factory reset and later 'easy setup' for connecting, the settings in the configuration did not appear to be changed from what I had initially set them up to be.

My initial and current belief is that it is defective, but with wireless not being a strong point in my knowledge I have turned here for help, solace, misery-loves-company, etc...

Alan hath wroth:

Ok, that answers my first question. The router is pingable. I strongly suggest you perform additional troubleshooting using a wired ethernet connection and not via wireless. There's no real reason in this case except that wireless adds an additional layer of potential confusion, which is easily avoided by connecting directly to the router.

OK, so something else changed as the setting should have worked. I'm not a big fan of the CDROM that comes with the WRT54GS. Frankly, I used SES once, decided it was a half ass implementation of a basically good idea, and never looked back. Since it seems to be failing using the CDROM, I suggest you try it manually. It's easy.

1. Punch the reset button on the back and hold it down for at least

30-45 seconds. Wait about 30 seconds for the router to recover, then pull the power plug. Wait about 10 seconds, and plug it back in. This is probably overkill, but I've seen to many resets fail when the procedure isn't followed correctly. You can tell if you did it wrong if the old setting are still there in step 2.

1. Plug in an ethernet cable between the WRT54GS and your computah. Turn off or disable the wireless so that it doesn't get in the way. Connect to http://192.168.1.1 Login: admin password: admin
2. Go to this page in the web based setup:

Your news header shows that you're on Comcast. That means you probably have a Motorola cable modem. Is this correct or do you have a Motorola cable router? Modem model number please?

1. If it's a modem, change the "Internet Connection Type" to DHCP. Go to the bottom of the page and hit "Save Setting". Don't screw with anything else, except maybe the Time Zone on that page. Wait for it to restrart.
2. Go to this page:

Instead of a mess of zeros, you should see routable IP addresses for the IP, Gateway, and DNS lines. If you do, it's working.

1. The rest is up to you. Setup the wireless for WPA-personal, set a route password, and you're 99% done.

You came to the wrong place. All you'll get out of me is abuse, insults, demands for more information, and clues. I charge extra for sympathy, commiseration, tact, humility, and spelling checks.

After 90 plus minutes talking to someone over seas at Linksys tech support, they identified the problem being my laptop. Un-installing and re-installing drivers for the network adapter fixed it. So thank you all.