Linksys WRT54G problem

[tag]

So I set up a wireless Linksys router (WRT54G model) to network my iMac and my powerbook together and to also share a dialup connection (Yeah it sucks ) So I got everything configured and working, but after like half an hour, the admin address stops working. I kept the admin address the default (192.168.1.1). It seems as time goes by the longer it takes for the password screen to pop up when I type the address in safari. Then after a while it will just start timing out. I can't even ping the address.

So I reset the router to defaults, reconfigure it, and its working now.. for about an hour, now I can't access the router via admin page from any computer on the network. Though the network itself is still working and can share files/internet. It is getting to be a pain to have to reconfigure the entire network everytime I want to add a MAC address, or change some small detail. Has any encountered this? Im running out of ideas to try here.


PS.. Has anyone successfully networked a HP Jornada 680e over a wireless network with Macs? Just curious, I have one laying around, but for some reason it won't work. DHCP cant obtain an IP address for it. I'm thinking it has something to do with the encryption since its always finicky about that, but I'm not sure. In my logs I just kept getting this over and over....

Sep 24 20:23:25 iMac bootpd[173]: DHCP DISCOVER [en0]: 1,<Mac address here>

 

[Waiea]

A couple of thoughts

Is the router new? If so, maybe it's defective. Have you updated the firmware to latest? I use the WRT54G connected to my Dell PC and connect my Powerbook G4 wirelessly through the router. No problems so far.

Kui

 

[jsw]

If all you have connected are the two Macs, and it works for up to an hour, it doesn't sound like a network setup/DNS issue to me, but I'm curious how you're using the WRT54G to access dialup.

In any event, I agree with Waiea. Try a new one - sounds like a router issue. 192.168.1.1 should pop up almost immediately. If not, odds are the router is confused.

You aren't using one of the firmware hacks, are you?

 

[Uragon]

My friend just recently bought the same linksys router and what he told me is you need to set it up first thru a PC (win) system using the cd, should be connected using the cable. And it is also necessary to update it to the latest firmware.

 

[lexfuzo]

My friend just recently bought the same linksys router and what he told me is you need to set it up first thru a PC (win) system using the cd, should be connected using the cable. And it is also necessary to update it to the latest firmware.

I had to set up mine over the cable, yes, but I did never ever need the CD.

 

[tag]

Alright let me reply to some questions here.

The router is over a year old, I haven't used it in about 6 months, but that last time I used it, it worked flawlessly, for nearly a year strait. Though it was with a windows machine, so maybe my Mac is messing things up? Course I don't have a windows computer to test it with, so thats a no go.

Should I give upgrading the firmware a shot? Ive never done that so I guess I can do a bit of research and maybe try that, buts it's odd that it used to work fine. And I'm not using one of the firmware hacks, but at this point, I might just try one.

And in regards to setting up dialup through the router, I set up my iMac to share my Internal Modem with Built-in Ethernet in System Preferences, Sharing, and hook the iMac directly to the router via Ethernet. In the router, you have to disable DHCP Server on the router so that the iMac handles it. (Now that I am thinking about this, could this be why the admin page isnt working?) I also believe I had to change the mode from router to gateway or vise versa and change from LAN to WAN? my mind is slipping here and on this last part and I can't even log in to check what the routers settings are.

After I reread this post Im thinking maybe one of the settings I changed to get it to work with dialup could be the culprit? Its killing me that I don't know exactly how I changed the mode of the router, and I can't even log in to check. I might have to again reset the router and play around yet again to find out which settings I have on. grr I might just have to live with not accessing the modem after I set it up if this is the problem since I'd rather have the shared dialup access than access to the router.