Belkin Router (F5D6231-4) as an AP 2

[superjet]

Hello,
I just bought a Belkin Router (F5D6231-4) at Frye's. It was on sale for 29.00 with a 20.00 rebate, so what the heck?
Plug it in, fire it up, and it works fine. Routes, DHCP, the whole thing.
Then I see a link in the interface that says you can use it as an Access Point only. I read the instructions (GASP) and it claims you just put a static IP in that is in your scheme and you are set. All works fine.
Until I want to set up MAC filtering and WAP. I can't get back into the router with the web interface using the static IP I assigned it or even the default 192.168.2.1 that is came out of the box with.
I have to do a hard reset, then set it up as a router again.

Anyone have any ideas what I am doing wrong?
I really would like to just use this as an access point.

Thanks,
Jamie

 

[bcastner]

You need to connect directly to it if it is in AP mode, not through a router or wireless, etc. but a wired connection between your computer and the now AP.

 

[superjet]

Right.
I have done that as well. Connected to the LAN and WAN ports just to try anything.

No joy at all.

 

[bcastner]

See if they offer an SNMP access to the device in AP mode. Some do, some do not.

 

[EdWNY]

I have the same router for the same reason and with the same problem. I am also cable connected to the router for configuring it.

The router does work but once you enter WAP mode further access to the router's config screens stops. Email to Belkin Support returns an email directing you to call their 800 number, which I suspect is out-of-country. Follow-up emails are disregarded.

What I ended up doing was configuring my settings as I wanted up to but prior to enabling WAP then backing up the config. After the backup is complete I enable the WAP mode. When I wanted to make a change I Reset the router and restore my config so I'm quickly back to where I left off. The router is uplinked to another router so I can see the IP address I assigned to it is indeed active. But I can't signon to it using that address or the original 192.168.2.1 address.

The router is flawed and there is little vendor help or support for it. Basically we get what we paid for. Needless to say due to the lack of online supportI don't recommend it to anyone.

 

[EdWNY]

NB I just came across this. Maybe it will help. I haven't tried it yet myself.

http://web.belkin.com/support/download/downloaddetails.asp?download=1098&lang=1

 

[superjet]

That is great. Thanks for the reply. You certianly went further than I did with belkin tech support.
I am in the process of moving, so I won't be a able to apply the firmware update for a few weeks.
How about the first one to get it done posts a report to the success/failure?

Jamie

 

[EdWNY]

Well, I installed the F5D6231-4-v1.10.008.bin update today and now my router doesn't work at all. Power and WAN lights flash repeatedly and though the port 1 light is on I have no connectivity to anything let alone the router itself.

I unplugged and replugged the unit twice but no effect. I've tried the Reset button but it has no effect now either. I waited at least 15 minutes after the firmwear update started before trying anything. The book says to wait 60 seconds.

Wanna trade units?

BTW I also read that the Disable SSID function doesn't work with these units and I can confirm that it didn't work with mine either before the update. For security you definitely need to enable encryption with these units.

 

[EdWNY]

BTW I found something on the Belkin site that referred to AP mode with a user specified address and 192.168.2.254. Hard to decifer exactly what it was trying to say due to either broken english or a poor translation.

It's possible that in AP mode that is the address to use to resignon to the router. Try it and let me know.

I've heard back from Belkin about getting an RMA. They asked which option I preferred, 1. return it and get a replacement 2. they send a replacement, charged to my CC, and I return the one I have within 30 days for a credit. I responded that I want option 1 and haven't heard anything more but it is a weekend.

 

[millhouselives]

Hi,

Just wanted to see if I could help here. I also have a problem with a Belkin router F5D6230-3. I have been helping a friend with setting up wireless access from a laptop to share his Internet connection from a host computer that is connected to Direcway usb modems. knowing that I should turn off dhcp on the router and use it as a wap, I logon the router and turned off dhcp, then changed the default 192.168.2.1 to 192.168.2.2 logout and have never been able to get back to login page. Now in the meantime after I activated ICS on my host computer and set my client laptop to obtain ip and dns automatically our network works great can browse from the laptop via wireless usb adapter, can share files can do it all. BUT..I still need to get into the router so I can setup passwords and use mac filter for the laptop and two other laptops that we plan to add to network. I am connected to the router from the host computer via cat5 into a LAN port on the router. So I am assuming at this point since everything works that the router took my change to turn off dhcp and is letting the router act as a wap.

Now I am scheduled to return to this site Tues the 7th. I plan on doing two things to try and find the IP address of the router. First let me give credit to code-frog from the

http://www.copperhead.cc

forums for this following information.

Try the command "route print" from a command line and see if you can get the router address from that. The second thing to try is to download Wincap 3.0 install it and then download Ethereal and install it. Then run Ethereal and it will should give you the IP address of all the devices on your network. I plan on doing this myself on Tuesday so if you get to try it before then please let me know your results.

By the way I have downloaded both wincap and ethereal and run on my home network and it is showing me all my devices here at home. good luck

Also the last post from edwny regarding the 192.168.2.254 address sounds like that could also be the answer. I can wait to get back to the site and try that too..that would be nice and fast answer!

 

[EdWNY]

Don't know about the 6230 model but the 6231 model has a AP mode setting which automatically turns off DHCP, firewall and NAT.


I know the address of the router, I can see it via my other router, but I can't access it via that IP address.

The results of the ROUTE PRINT command should be the same as the NETSTAT -R command, both of which are executed in Command mode, and they didn't help me.

The 192.168.2.254 address I got from here:

http://www.networking.belkin.com/update/files/F5D6231au4_v1.00.pdf.

Those utilities sound interesting, I may look for them and try them myself.

Thanks for joining in.

 

[EdWNY]

BTW "Wincap 3.0" is "WinPcap 3.0" and can be downloaded together with Ethereal from here:

http://www.ethereal.com/distribution/win32/

 

[EdWNY]

NB If you click on the ethereal link and it doesn't work see if there are 2 %A0 strings at the end of the URL. If so delete them both and the link should work fine.

Where the extra characters came from I don't know but I do apologize for them breaking the link. The proper URL should be simply

http://www.ethereal.com/distribution/win32/

 

[dlottig]

I have successfully configured the router to become an access point.

1) In the router admin area go to LAN settings. Change your lan setting to be 192.168.2.254 (the routers default when it changes over to an access point).

2) Select "Use as access point only" option. Select enable and leave the defaults in place.

The router will now reboot and you will be able to connect to it (wired or wireless) on 192.168.2.254.

Unfortunately, if you are using another NAT range using the Belkin as an access point will not work. I was having the exact same problems everyone else was above. This is the only way I could get it to work.

Don't forget to go in and add your SSID and encryption settings.

BTW, on the "Home" area the LAN IP is listed as "0.88.159.112" with the same IP as the subnet and DHCP is disabled.

WAN settings reports connection type "STATIC", no subnet, no IP, no gateway and no DNS address.

Features reports NAT disabled, Firewall Settings disabled, lists my SSID I specified, and my encryption scheme.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Don

 

[dlottig]

I forgot to mention that you need to change your local network over to the 192.168.2.x network (the router or device you are using to connect to your ISP). Any computer connected to the Belkin router will have to have the gateway set to the IP of the LAN side of your device that you are using for Internet access. So if your other router (not the Belkin you just configured as an "access point&quot has a WAN IP as designated by your ISP, the LAN IP is now 192.168.2.1, gateway as designated by your ISP, then the gateway for any computer connecting through the Belkin will be 192.168.2.1. Hope this example helps make it clear.

Don

 

[EdWNY]

Well I got my router replaced. It took 10 days. The new one came with version 2.00 of the firmware.

Unfortunately the WAP option is worst with this one. Not only can I not log into it, using any address, after invoking the mode, I can no longer connect to the web or release/renew the IP connection from a pc connected to the router via cable, and a wireless connection has an IP address of 169.254.113.197 which of course doesn't match either of my routers and thus it has no access to the net either.

It doesn't matter how I invoke the WAP option, with the IP address it was using before invoking the option or taking the default one.

The bottom line is a company with an excellent reputation for manufacturing cables and connectors is out of it's element trying to catch up to the new wireless age. And the management team in place is inept.

The customer service is still good, the tech support is lacking and the quality is non-existent.

Glad things worked out for you Don

 

[EdWNY]

1) In the router admin area go to LAN settings. Change your lan setting to be 192.168.2.254 (the routers default when it changes over to an access point).

2) Select "Use as access point only" option. Select enable and leave the defaults in place.

The router will now reboot and you will be able to connect to it (wired or wireless) on 192.168.2.254.

This does indeed work. Until the pc or router gets recycled/powered down/up. Then connectivity to the router is again lost. The same results can be achieved with doing a IPCONFIG /RELEASE & /RENEW on the pc wired to the router after it is switched to AP mode.

The best thing Belkin could do for F5D6231-4s is to make the Reset switch a big red button on the front since it gets used so much.

Their F5D6001 NIC isn't much better.

if your other router (not the Belkin you just configured as an "access point&quot has a WAN IP as designated by your ISP, the LAN IP is now 192.168.2.1, gateway as designated by your ISP, then the gateway for any computer connecting through the Belkin will be 192.168.2.1.

What?

FWIW My network is configured as;

inside net<->router2<->outside net<->router1<->internet
(192.168.2.x) (192.168.254.x)

 

[setnaffa]

169.254.113.197 ?

That means it was looking for a DHCP server... 169.254.x.y is Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA)...

references include:

http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/autoip.htm

Tech support for the expensive ones is plentiful; but (good) Router Engineers charge upwards of $100/hour for consulting work... for a box that costs less than $50.00, you should expect that buying several is cheaper than hiring even me for a day...


Oh, and mine works great... but I use it like the basic appliance it is... factory defaults with a couple other things...

If you do it again, remember that it's not too much trouble to leave it as a router and for (basically) $10.00 you really can afford several...

Setnaffa is an MCP-W2K (working on MCSE-W2K) with a few other certs, too...

 

[EdWNY]

http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/autoip.htm

Interesting link. Thanks.

With all my configs and reconfigs with the pcs and the different routers, I have never had to change the Windows TCP/IP settings. When DHCP is working they come up fine. When the Belkin router was using firmware version 1.00 and put into AP mode the DHCP server was the outer router and pc's connected to the Belkin router networked fine. Now with the replacement Belkin F5D6231-4 router with version 2.00 firmware when put into AP mode the DHCP function is not being passed thru and the pc's are using the APIPA function.

you should expect that buying several is cheaper than hiring even me for a day...

I don't see how having 1 router per pc will make them see one another any better than with the two I'm fighting with now. A better solution would be to replace the Belkin with a router made by a company that specializes in electronics like LinkSys or D-Link. Heck even Microsoft's has got to be better.

I do agree that the router when used like the basic appliance it is does work. But would you buy a car whose basic features work but not the cd player or outside mirrors? Last year Belkin was selling this router for $160, it should have worked 100% then, it should work 100% now when it's on sale.

 

[dlottig]

EdWNY,

This does indeed work. Until the pc or router gets recycled/powered down/up. Then connectivity to the router is again lost. The same results can be achieved with doing a IPCONFIG /RELEASE & /RENEW on the pc wired to the router after it is switched to AP mode.

I do have to use the Belkin WLAN manager to rescan in order for my PC to reconnect to the Belkin wireless router whenever I reboot or shutdown/restart the PC.

FWIW My network is configured as;

inside net<->router2<->outside net<->router1<->internet
(192.168.2.x) (192.168.254.x)

In order for one PC to see another PC on your network they must reside on the same network, or have static routes input into the router. I did not find a way for this to be done with the Belkin. I have my main router with a LAN IP of 192.168.2.1 and a PC connected to this main router with an IP of 192.168.2.5 gateway of 192.168.2.1. The Belkin LAN IP is set to the default 192.168.2.254 and my laptop connected to the Belkin is 291.68.2.6 with a gateway 192.68.2.1 (LAN IP of the main router). Both the PC and laptop can see each other and share files, access each other via VNC, etc.