Connecting 2 Linksys Routers via Wireless (BEFW11S4 & WRT54G) Help me!

[tobinmarch]

I have a BEFW11S4 and a WRT54G.

The BEFW11S4 is currently the internet gateway for the house and the WRT54G is not being used.

I want to setup the WRT54G in our living room and have the XBOX and a computer attached to it. There is not any existing CAT5 or I would wire them together and wouldn't need to post here. What I need is to know if this can be done and what route to take to complete this.

Thanks in advance.

BTW there are 2 computers wired to the BEFW11S4 and 2 connected via wireless. (DHCP) We also have several laptops roaming throughout the house.

 

[pnrenton]

I assume the BEFW11S4 is cat 5 wired to the WRT54G. If so try the following: The default IP address for both routers is 192.168.1.1 and since you cannot have two identical IP addresses you will need to change one. Connect the WRT54G to your computer only and get into the router setup screen. disable DCHP and change the routers IP address to 192.168.1.2 (this is also a good time to set up approprite security for the wireless) Save you settings. Now reconnect everything and everything should work.

 

[bcastner]

If your itention is to use the WRT54G as a wireless repeater to the BEFW11S4, it cannot be done.

 

[tobinmarch]

Bcastner, you nailed it.

I want one router to be a wireless repeater.

Can you suggest an inexpensive alternative to using these 2 routers then. Or an easy workaround?

Let me emphasis that there is NOT a wired connection between the routers.

 

[pnrenton]

Sorry, now I understand what you are trying to do. The WRT54G MUST be wired to the internet to work. Is there a reason that you can't use the WRT54G by itself or in combo with the BEFW11S4? Unless you live in the Taj Mahal the range of the WRT54G should allow you to gain access anywhere in your house.
To answer your question, check out the WAP54G at Linksys.com and see if it is what you are looking for.

 

[bcastner]

On ebay purchase a Linksys WET11 (or similar wireless 802.11b bridge (game adapter)).

Then you would essentially be going:

BEFW11S4 ---> wireless bridge -> regular LAN port on the WRT54G.

Disable DHCP on the WRT54G.

 

[gregsp8s]

Hello

I have a similar problem. I have the same two linksys products (BEFW11S4 & WRT54G). I'm currently using the WRT54G as the main router to access the net and provide wireless, but I wanted to use the BEFW11S4 just to use the ethernet ports. I've looked all over about how to connect the two together, and everyone seems to be consistant with saying that you give the BEFW11S4 a 192.168.1.2 ip address and disable the DHCP and it should work, but no one says what ports to plug the Cat5 into. It's not working for me and I've tried numerous times with multiple connections :-(

Out of all the things I tried, this is what got me the most results. Here's what I did ...I used one of the machines and plugged directly into the BEFW11S4 into Port 1 and made the ip 192.168.1.2 and disabled the DHCP. Then I connected Port 4 on the WRT54G and the WAN Port on the BEFW11S4. I could see that the BEFW11S4 had "seemingly" gotten the necessary information from the WRT54G because it had the gateway as 192.168.1.1 and it had a new WAN IP Address and the DNS information from the WRT54G, but the computer that I used to configure the BEFW11S4 in Port 1 doesn't have a DHCP Address anymore and I can no longer communicate with the BEFW11S4. I've also tried plugging port 4 of the WRT54G into the Uplink port on the BEFW11S4, but things just seem to go haywire...lol.

Can someone please help me? I would greatly appreciate it. In your assistance, can you please indicate which ports I should plug things into or what I should disable/enable on either router. I'm not really a network person, so please be explicit. I thank you so very very much in advance.

Greg

 

[jglser]

yes, it can be done!! You want to turn the WRT54G into a wireless bridge. You'll have to upgrade the firmware to do it though. See this article:

http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3562391