How do I set up my Linksys Router for a home network?

[bel_ami_boy]

Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m in the process of trying to setup a home network for the first time. My setup is:

Mesh PC connected by Ethernet cable to a LinkSys Wireless Router (WAG54G). My laptop has built-in wireless technology and Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢d like it to communicate wirelessly through the router to the Mesh PC and vice a versa. I do not need the Linksys router to connect up to the Internet and share the Internet connection because I am still on dial-up and NOT broadband. I understand that it is quite tricky to share a dial-up modems connection through the router so if this is true, Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m happy to use each machine to connect to the Internet independently.

My problem is that I donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t know how to set up the Linksys router. The quick reference guide and user manual talk about connecting to Linksysââ‚à ‚¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ web-based utility on the Internet but all of it is geared towards users who are using broadband.

How can I set up the router for the network I am trying to create - 2 pc's communicating to one another and no connection to the Internet?


From a frustrated network newbie.

[Paul K]

Same way as sharing the internet but you don't plug anything into the WAN socket as far as I know. You should be able to connect to a certain IP address or www address to access the setup pages and then it's a case of setting the router to talk wirelessly to the PC you want to connect to without a cable.
Can the PC connected via cable see the router? Power off the router, power of the PCs, Plug the PC in to it, power up the router, let the lights stabilise, power up the pc connected to it by cable, look in the manual for the address you need to point the PC at but make sure you have set the browser to not dial a connection while you are setting the router up.

[bel_ami_boy]

Originally Posted by Paul

Same way as sharing the internet but you don't plug anything into the WAN socket as far as I know.

Thanks for the quick reply Paul. I haven't connected any phone cables to the router. I've kept the phone cable going from the modem (on the Mesh PC) to the wall socket.

Originally Posted by Paul

You should be able to connect to a certain IP address or www address to access the setup pages and then it's a case of setting the router to talk wirelessly to the PC you want to connect to without a cable.

Yes the user guide quotes an IP address to access their set up pages. As yet I haven't been able to get the page up....the browser says it is timing out.

Originally Posted by Paul

Can the PC connected via cable see the router? Power off the router, power of the PCs, Plug the PC in to it, power up the router, let the lights stabilise, power up the pc connected to it by cable, look in the manual for the address you need to point the PC at but make sure you have set the browser to not dial a connection while you are setting the router up.

No it can't see the router (although where would I see this?). Your instructions are spot on with the user guide and I did power each unit up in the correct order. There is nothing in the user guide about inputting an address to point the PC at. Also if I have to use Linksys online setup pages to configure the router then I will need to use my Internet connection, unless I've misunderstood your last point?

Appreciate your help.

[bel_ami_boy]

Do I need to connect the router to the telephone wall socket even though I still want to use my dial-up modem?

[Paul K]

If you are running XP and it's a PNP router it should show up in your "My Network Places" list. You need to get your PC to access the IP address that is in the manual, this is the IP address of the router. In Internet Explorer what settings have you got showing in the "Internet Options, Connections" panel?

[bel_ami_boy]

Originally Posted by Paul

If you are running XP and it's a PNP router it should show up in your "My Network Places" list. You need to get your PC to access the IP address that is in the manual, this is the IP address of the router. In Internet Explorer what settings have you got showing in the "Internet Options, Connections" panel?

The "My Network Places" list is empty. I have been unable to access the online Linksys configuration utility. My browser says the request to connect to that site has "timed out". I have also tried pinging the IP address and this too says it is timing out. The IP address is 192.168.1.1.

Connection settings as follows -
Dial-up and Virtual Private Network settings:
BT Internet (Default)
Always dial my default connection [checked]

[Paul K]

Uncheck always dial my default connection and tell it to "never dial a connection" while you are setting the router up or it may try to dial your modem to access the IP address.
Edit. Just had a read through the online manual for it and found this

Make sure that your browser is set to connect directly and that any dial-up is disabled. For Internet
Explorer, click Tools, Internet Options, and then the Connection tab. Make sure that Internet Explorer is
set to Never dial a connection. For Netscape Navigator, click Edit, Preferences, Advanced, and Proxy.
Make sure that Netscape Navigator is set to Direct connection to the Internet.

By the way I take it that if you go for broadband in the future you will be getting ADSL and not NTL broadband? The router is ADSL only.

[bel_ami_boy]

Oops didn't realise I was supposed to connect straight to the router. I will change the settings when I get home tonight and let you know.

Do I need to keep the phone cable connected from the PC to the wall socket to use my dial-up connection after the router is set up OR do I connect the phone cable from the router to the wall socket?

When I go for broadband in the future it'll most likely be with BT as NTL don't provide a service on my estate. Will my Linksys router work with BT's broadband service?

[Paul K]

It will only work with ADSL so it will be fine for the BT service. I think, not quite sure about this, that you still share the connection by plugging the phone line into the PC and then you run the internet connection sharing wizard. Will go look.....

http://www.computing.net/networking/...rum/25361.html

You should be able to do it with Window's Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). You can find ICS info through the Help and Support Center.

For the physical network just connect the first PC via ethernet cable to a LAN port on the router and access the router via its IP address to configure the wireless side. There should be instructions with the router on how to do this.

Once you can get the 2 PCs to ping each other, use the Set up a Home or Small Office network wizard to set up the ICS.

If you run into any trouble, come back with description of what you've done, error messages, etc. Happy dial-up sharing.

[bel_ami_boy]

Paul,

Thanks for the link to the other forum thread.

Unfortunately my main PC still couldn't access the configuration page of the router even after I'd changed by Internet connection settings, but this turned out to be due to a broken ethernet adapter! Instead I connected my laptop via ethernet cable to the router to set it up. Because I'm not using the router for broadband, I only had to complete the settings to set up my wireless network. Phew! Now I need to purchase a new ethernet adapter card for my main PC. Then I've got the joy of setting up my main PC to share drives/folders. That'll probably take me a few days to figure out! ;o)

Thanks for your help.

[handyman]

Just run the network set-up wizard on both. done easy.