X-Account-Key: account1 X-UIDL: 126152 X-Mozilla-Keys: Return-Path: X-ListServer: CommuniGate Pro LIST 5.1.3 List-Unsubscribe: List-ID: List-Archive: Precedence: list Message-ID: Reply-To: "OS/2 Wireless Users Mailing List" Sender: "OS/2 Wireless Users Mailing List" To: "OS/2 Wireless Users Mailing List" X-Original-Message-ID: <002-7c300547-23857.030@ziplog.com> From: "Mike Luther" Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:27:08 +0000 (UTC) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Subject: Re: [OS2Wireless] LinkSys WRT54G bridge help? Thanks for your pointers Al .. and to Will Honea for his assurance on reset techniques! Al, your post started me down the trail to fix all this. I have found the errors, been able to do the entire complete resetup and configuration, totally with OS/2 on my R40 ThinkPad, eSeamonkey latest and Unzip to handle one firmware refresh file from the Linksys site. You said: >For what it is worth, I'd check to make sure that the local IP address >assigned to your thinkpad(s) is in the subnet compatible with the local >bridge address. i.e. It would be possible for the bridge to be passing >the DCHP address requests up the line and your thinkpad getting back an >address like 192.168.37.123 subnet 255.255.255.0 (or even a 172.x.x.x or >10.... and an appropriate subnet mask) and thus the direct addressing to >the standalone wireless bridge at 192.168.1.x subnet would be incompatible. >In which case, you could hard code your IP address back to the 192.168.1.x >255.255.255.0 subnet to allow you to connect locally to the bridge and >change its settings ... such as putting it onto the subnet the DHCP server >is providing, changing encryption keys, etc... then resetting your IP >address back to getting a DHCP address and thus both your thinkpad(s) and >the bridge are on the same subnet and can be accessed at the same time. That pointed me to the research to fix this. Here are the facts. When the older IP provider COX sold out to Suddenlink, I had all the fixed IP address and my ZyXel 334 router tied to the cable modem all fixed for whatever. But I also have several DHCP cable modem connection ports as well for whatever. One of them was originally set up with the Linksys WRT54GL wireless router as a WEP encrypted WiFi system here that worked fine. It connected to the research WiFi user interface through a Linksys WET54G wireless bridge just fine. I originally chose, installed and used the WET secured protocol. I could either use the Linksys WET54G bridge solo to one computer over the standard OS/2 LAN port or could use it for multiple computers by passing the Internet output through an appropriately wire configured cable to a Linksys SD205 10/100 dumb switch. But after my IP switch was made, suddenly, although I could connect to my private WiFi setup which seemed fine, I could not obtain any sort of stable DNS service with any Browser. I could, however, handle my private IP based FTP server connections, as well as all my ZOC enabled TelNet connections just fine! With no evidence of anything 'wrong' from any Adminstrative help or trace operation, and a complete OS/2 Ping capability showing solid connections to everything needed for any number of DNS servers, either the one's wanted for Suddenlink or external. What to do? Curious, I reset the WET54G bridge to one of the numerous 'public' unsecured WiFi installations around me. This is Aggieland at Texas A&M and, sadly, as expected, there are TONS of totally unsecured 'Linksys' WRT54G whatever wireless routers everywhere. I then asked for and got a firm DHCP reset assignment, POOF! total success for the DNS resolution as well as whatever! That pointed squarely toward what you broadly outlined above. Answer: Total reset of the entire WRT54GL router, connections to the cable system, and most importantly .. you *MUST* reset the MAC address portion of the setup process in the WRT54GL router. As well, from connections to the Linksys support site, I was able to download and install the two firmware updates for both my units. In the case of the WET54G wireless bridge, the Linksys firmware update file is in a .ZIP package. I had to use Unzip to get the file. Opening the WET54G setup program with Seamonkey via the default 192.168.1.226 address and starting the 'firmware' update with the browsed location for that file produced at good update for the bridge. In the case of the WRT54GL router and WiFi generator, the firmware update file is discrete and you can simply use the firmware update tabs created from the 'standard' 192.168.1.1 router administrative address with Seamonkey, use the browsed location on the OS/2 system file area, for the update. Perfect update. Setting up all this with OS/2 and no form of Windows operations, with nothing other than Seamonkey and private network URL's does work fine with the Linksys units. However, here is the tricky part some people will either have to discover the hard way or need to note! Experienced OS/2 networking folk realize the OS/2 networking has to be present and the LAN operation must be running in order to use Seamonkey, whatever, to communicate with the 192.168.1.1 router or 192,168.1.226 Linksys setup interfaces. But what isn't often realized, for folks who are using startup DCHP addressing for the LAN, is that you have to be connected to SOMETHING which will give you a discrete private address for the LAN you want to use with Seamonkey BEFORE you can connect to the router or the bridge! Yes,, this is boring to some folks here I'm sure. Thus, the only way, as far as I know, with OS/2 and PEER networking and DCHP to do the setup, is that you must use the Linksys ROUTER to get started with DCHP first! It will do that genericly. Once you have been assigned a private address by the router, then comes the tricky part! You then, with the router plugged into the LAN port on your computer, get to see the 192.168.1.1 address of the Linksys router to do the adminstrative part of the setup. Whatever you need. Note, if you are using cable modem technology, it seems you will almost surely have to use the MAC addressing enablement to get DNS operations cleared from your cable IP through your cable modem connection! Now comes the interesting part of the project! At that point, with your private WiFi operation working from the WRT54GL product, you yank out the LAN cable from it to the LAN port on your ThinkPad or whatever! You then power up your WET54G wireless bridge. You hold down the reset putton in the back until the lights stabilize some 10 plus seconds after it totally resets. Thanks Will Honea .. Then, you jam the connection cable from the WET54G wireless bridge into the LAN port you just vacated on your Thinkpad or whatever. You do *NOT* mess with DCHP and trying to fuss with your 'connection' to your LAN. Despite the fact that your DCHP connection is broken by this act, you then simply open up Seamonkey. You enter the 192.168.1.226 address for the setup port to the WET54G wireless bridge. In that your LAN connection is 'still there' for the OS/2 unit and 'working', you will get to see the adminstrative setup program for the wireless bridge. At that point, you enter the required names for whatever is needed. You then run the SEARCH function for the wireless bridge. You pick your WiFi connection needed, as well as setting up whatever is needed for an encrypted secured connection you may have chosen in the router-transmitter unit. You accept the settings for the bridge, It will connect ot your Wifi. But wait! don't forget! At this point, what you have still in use, the 'not-connected DHCP address for the old hard wired router LAN connect', is *NOT* acceptable for use with the wireless bridge use! You will then have to use the DHCP monitor out of the OS/2 Setup folder to release the old connection, which it will tell you isn't there. You then use the DHCP monitor object to reconnect to your 'network' while connected to the wireless bridge. If you haven't made any errors, you will be assigned a new connection via the bridge to the router-transmitter. For someone routinely using a wireless bridge to mess with WiFi sites, I'd think it is obvious you'd want a shadow of the DHCP monitor object up there on your WPS bar. I do. And, you'll be connected to the internet via your new WiFi operation. Which will be able to handle all the DNS operations that .. earlier .. you might have seen and even pinged, but couldn't use! Except for some curious sites which might work, yet most don't. Just remember. The trick to all this with OS/2 and just a browser, is to make sure you have a LAN operation going fine from SOME source of a private address on the box you are using for configuration. Then using that 'ghost' yet no longer connected hard cable established LAN session, use it to get to the wireless bridge to configure it. After which you must reset your DCHP assignment, or reboot the box to connect through the bridge to get to see and actually USE the DNS operations. Including the entire Privoxy latest 3.5 proxy operations for OS/2 and Seamonkey. This all works just fine over these Linksys tools. Yes, there are other ways to do this with 'hard addressing' for your TCP/IP local setup operations. But if you are moving around from one location for another and constantly using DHCP assigned private addresses, this is the easy (?) way to do the configuration setup. Which will work even for hot spot whatevers, should you be so inclined to spill coffee into your keybaord, grin. Without a wireless chip set in your OS/2 whatever box(let). I have no idea at all if the non-Linux Linksys units will work this way or not. As well, I have no idea if any of this will work on something like the USB ZyXel pen plug in WiFi finder gadget. I've got one but haven't tried to set it up genericly yet to test whatever. Your call! All I'm trying to do here is help people. Mike Luther =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list . To unsubscribe, E-mail to: To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to Send administrative queries to To subscribe (new addresses), E-mail to: and reply to the confirmation email. Web archives are publicly available at: http://lists.2rosenthals.com This list is hosted by Rosenthal & Rosenthal, LLC P.O. Box 281, Deer Park, NY 11729-0281. Non- electronic communications related to content contained in these messages should be directed to the above address. (CAN-SPAM Act of 2003) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=