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Linksys WRT54GS, PC with USB G adapter WUSB54G, and no IP.

Hello;

I recently upgraded my setup to a new WRT54GS Linksys wireless router, with one machine wired to it. This machine works fine.

Another machine, upstairs, is using the USB Wireless G adapter, Linksys WUSB54G. This machine previously had a Wireless 802.11b USB adapter (Linksys), mated with a BEFW11S4 v2 wireless router (now decomissioned). This machine runs Windows 2000 (with SP4).

After disconnecting the old adapter, and uninstalling it's software/drivers, I ran the setup for the new adapter.

It all installed fine, and when I connected the Wireless G adapter, it found and linked up with the router. It was given a proper IP and all that, and could access the internet.

Windows Auto Update detected there were some new updates, and offered to retrieve them. I let it do so, and left the machine to download the updates.

When I returned about an hour later, the machine was at the "Updates installed, Restart now?" screen.

I clicked no, and intended to check something over the internet first. Unfortunately, I could not bring up any sites. Checking the Linksys tray applet, it indicated the connection with the router was ok, but the internet could not be found.

I let the machine do it's restart, when it came back up it said the same thing. Running an IPconfig showed the machine did not see the DHCP info from the router, and had assigned itself the defunct IP in the 169.x.x.x range.

So in short, the machine can associate with the router ok, but cannot obtain any DHCP config from the router. The router's settings all appear correct. DHCP is enabled on the router.

I'm not quite sure how to proceed. Any suggestions would be most helpful.

Thanks.

Reply to
Mike M
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Turns out my issue is no more involved than a simple signal strength issue. The SS hovers around 60%, but suffers sharp drops every several seconds which probably explains this.

The router is on the bottom floor of the house, with the PC on the top floor (i.e. there is one floor between the two). This is probably not the optimal configuration.

Does anyone of know of simple solutions for increasing SS within one structure? I know Linksys has repeaters available, would that be suitable? Would that run the risk of being detrimental to my neighbors' own network (which is also hovering around 50%-60% according to the linksys applet)?

Thanks again.

Reply to
Mike M

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I had a problem once with automatic updates. The "802.1x authentication" had magically been turned on. I would expect this to work okay with your new router, but maybe not. It was a problem with most routers when it first came out. You can turn it off.

  1. Open Network Connections by clicking Start, pointing to Settings, clicking Control Panel, and then double-clicking Network Connections.
  2. Right-click the wireless connection for which you want to disable 802.1x authentication, and then click Properties.
  3. On the Authentication tab, click to clear the Enable network access control using IEEE 802.1x check box. By default, this check box is selected.

On WinXP-SP2, this box is disabled and grayed out if there is no encryption on the link.

Also, because you have an upstairs/downstairs mix, your antenna radiation pattern might be an issue. The pattern looks like a donut, so you don't want them both upright, or you'll have a stack of donuts that don't overlap very well. You want them broadside to each other and parallel. Since you cleverly chose a USB client that has a movable antenna, that's simple enough to adjust. You can also add a reflector to either or both antennas to improve the signal coverage in the direction that you want it.

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EZ-12, printed on photo paper for thick stock, with aluminum foil glued to the sail, provides a substantial boost in signal.
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The signal with the reflector is not only 13dB stronger, it's more stable.

With 54g connections, I find that watching the "current bandwidth" in the Windows perfmon.msc is a pretty good signal indicator. start-run-perfmon.msc + Performance Object = Network Numbers agree with dslreports. + Performance Object = TCP "current bandwidth"

Reply to
dold

Thank you very much for your post. I will give this all a try. Your doughnut explanation also helps greatly.

Reply to
Mike M.

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