Just got DSL from BellSouth and need to know how to setup my BEFW11S4 v.3 & Westell 6100 so that I can surf 'net with my other computers. Tried to setup using the info on linksys site, but no go. Does CAT5 cable from modem plug into the WAN port on router or LAN port? Bellsouth says that I need to set modem to bridge mode, but I tried that also & no joy. Could someone give me concise setup instructions? I'm a dummy with this. When I had dial-up, I went from NIC to router & used WinRoute Lite with no problems.
Gateway G6-350 WinXP Pro w/SP1
256MB RAM
20GB HD Linksys NC100 Fast Ethernet Adapter BEFW11S4 v.3 Westell 6100 DSL modem
The connecting cable goes from the DSL modem to WAN port on the BEFW11S4.
formatting link
Make sure Winroute is NOT running on your setup computah.
There are plenty of issues that need to be dealt with before you deal with the router. Do you have a sync (carrier) lite showing a DSL connection on the DSL modem? Have you installed DSL microfilters on
*ALL* your phones (including fax, modem, wall phones, garage phone, answering machine, cable set-top box, satellite receiver, etc)? Do you have a PPPoE login and password to install on the router WAN connection page? Is the modem in the bridged mode?
No sympathy. Computers are best done under cover of darkness.
I wrote my answer at about 6:30AM, after 4 hours of sleep. We had a big storm last night and the power was fluctuating wildly. I was awakened by an exploding tree branch across the power lines and figured this would be a good time to check some customers systems before they arrived to work. While waiting for a database index consistancy check, I decided to answer some usenet questions. Incidentally, I'm suppose to be relaxing and on vacation or something.
I guess you have the "FastAccess Lite" version. 178kbits/sec is about what you'll get with a benchmark test with 256/128kbits/sec service.
Correct. Same login and passwd. Make sure the modem is in bridge mode. However, I dunno if BellSouth authenticates by MAC address. Therefore, you might wanna go to the page in the DI-624 where you set the MAC address and have it clone the MAC address of your ethernet card in your computah. I don't think this is really necessary, but it doesn't hurt anything to do it. However, power cycle the modem and router after you change the MAC address to make sure everything on the WAN side gets the change.
Congrats. Well, I believe in "Learn By Destroying". Actually, the motto was from my college (Cal Poly, Pomona) motto of "Learn by Doing" which I interpreted somewhat creatively. I started by tearing things apart to see how they work. Sometimes, I also managed to put them back together. That includes disecting software and protocols. Once one knows how things work, troubleshooting is easy. Having personally made all the mistakes in advance, it's fairly easy to recognize them when someone else repeats them.
The basic principle is similar to biblical burnt offerings. One must offer sacrifice before any problems can be solved. I usually immolate an old motherboard on the hibbachi as an offering to the computer gods before attempting any major troubleshooting exercise. Burnt offerings worked well for many centuries and is documented in excruciating detail in Leviticus. Don't knock it until you've tried it.
Also, it's often helpful, but not necessary, to be awake before attempting any troubleshooting. I find that my ability to think logically fails badly when asleep or distracted.
Actually, I've been in various forms of RF and electronics for about
40 years. Every year, about 1/4 of what I know becomes obsolete. That's not a problem if one undestands how things work, and can troubleshoot logically. It does require considerable reading and field experience (something you won't find from the typical phone support droid). For example, I still don't understand how WDS works, and probably won't until I read the docs and setup a test system.
Thanks for info, Jeff. I guess *I* should have been more concise. 3AM is not the time to troubleshoot after a long day! I made sure that I could connect using modem to NIC first. No trouble connecting @ 177.8 kbps. DSL light is steady green, *all* filters have been installed, I input PPPoE login and PW (same as modem, right?) & I put the modem in bridged mode, no joy. Connected modem to WAN port, PC to LAN port 1 (right beside the WAN port). Disabled WinRoute. Will peruse FAQ per your link and get back to you. Thanks again
Dang, that sounds familiar. I've been a residential & commercial electrician for the past 20-25 yrs. Been fooling around with PC's (CoCo, Amiga, Commodore 64) since 1980 or so. I'm a firm believer in learn by doing, smoke checking (test to destruction), float checking (throwing things in the ocean to see if it floats, old Navy here, USS Saginaw LST 1188 ) and taking things apart to see how they work. Have pulled all niters troubleshooting building electrical, alarm, UPS, emergency generator & computer systems way too often. My instructors up at Great Lakes always told us if you don't know how to do something, get as much info as you can on the subject and *teach* yourself, you can do almost anything you want to do with the right knowledge & tools. Been attempting to teach myself networking (wired, wireless, optical) for past 6 months. This is first time I've had anything to do with broadband Internet and got stuck.
I'll be going over the dslreports.com site very closely as I see there's a ton of info to be gained there. Thanks for the heads-up and have a great New Year, guy!
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