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Strange issue installing wireless extender

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DaveGoTech

Programmer
Nov 2, 1999
293
US
We have a network of about 25 PC's (XP) and a Server (Win2K3).
We had a wireless router installed and it works fine, except that we have a large building and the signal doesn't reach the corners.

No problem. I bought a wireless range extender to install at the mid point of the building and it is supposed to pickup the existing weak signal and retransmit it (stronger).

So I hook this new box up and run the install wizard.
1. It asks me if I want to install a static IP or use dynamic addressing. We currently use all static IP's on our computers, printers, switches, etc, so I selected an unused IP address (I pinged it before hand just to double check it was free) and assigned it. I was then able to ping it, so that worked.
2. It found the existing wireless SSID and I set this as the source.
3. The wizard finished and I walked back to the wireless PC at the corner of the building and it was receiving a strong signal. Success, and it took all of 5 minutes to setup.
4. I walk back to my setup PC to clean up my mess and notice that every PC on the network has crashed, complaining about an IP address conflict on the network.
When I look at the server log, it says that there is an IP address conflict with IP xxx.xxx.xxx.05 or 06, which is our Server (it has 2 NIC's) and MAC address xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:43.
Note that MAC address xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:42 is the Range Extender. This is very curious that it is 1 digit above the MAC address of the range extender.

I checked to MAC addresses of the Server and they are nowhere close to that number.

If I disconnect the cable to the range extender, the problem goes away.

I have no idea why this conflict is happening. Any ideas?

 
Not yet - but a few questions may help me. How far apart physically is the range extender from the wireless router? Are the router and extender connected by CAT5? Is the server connected wirelessly? Can you move the extender to another physical location? Can you move the extender to another IP address?

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer
 
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