Please help me with stubborn WRT54G wireless set up. (Mediacom cable internet)

[reubs]

Hey everyone.

When I lived in Virginia using Comcast cable internet I had no problem getting my WRT54G v 6.0 set up with our Dell desktop to send a wireless signal to my Macbook.

We packed everything up, moved to Georgia, and switched internet providers. We're now with Mediacom, and I have no problem connecting to the internet with the PC tower directly through the modem. The problem occurs when I go through the set up process and get to the final stage. All of my lights on the router are flashing, but I get a message stating, "The router is unable to connect to the internet. Would you like to try again?" I can't get past this warning, and I can't get any connectivity even though Airport can detect a wireless signal from the router.

Does anyone have any ideas what may be wrong or what I can do to straighten this out? I've already been working with the guys on the Linksys forums, and I was abandoned about a week ago over there.

Finally, Mediacom offered over the phone when I set up installation to install a network for me for $50 or something like that. I turned it down, said I could do it myself, and then I was told if I messed up the software I'd be charged. Could it be possible that there is something blocking me from setting up a network?

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Try plugging the modem into the MacBook and tell us if it works.

 

[reubs]

No luck going with the cable straight from the modem, even after a restart with the cable plugged it. The problem isn't the modem b/c it works fine with the PC...it's the modem through the router to the PC that is giving me problems.

 

[Reflow]

No luck going with the cable straight from the modem, even after a restart with the cable plugged it. The problem isn't the modem b/c it works fine with the PC...it's the modem through the router to the PC that is giving me problems.

Looks like to me your router is bad. Here is what I would do if you are cheap on funds like me. Go buy a new router and test it out. If it works then you know your old router is bad if not return the new router..

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

The router and modem might be fine yet. What brand and version are they?

 

[reubs]

The router and modem might be fine yet. What brand and version are they?

The router is an Arris cable modem with both a coax jack and a jack for the telephone (that wouldn't be the problem, would it?) and the router is the Linksys WRT54G w/ v. 6.0 firmware. I'm wondering if there is some setting w/in the router from our previous ISP that is making this more difficult than it needs to be.

I say that only b/c I had no problems with the initial set-up, but the set up with this new provider has been a complete PITA.

Thanks to anyone if we can get this figured out.

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

I only have a 3.1, but there's a reset button the back of my router. Resetting it will set all the options to their defaults. Hopefully that'll work. From there you can reconfigure everything as you like it.

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

Honestly, I have the same router, and can vouch that they are garbage. I will never buy another linksys product again, mark my words, the first one started failing slowly and progressively got worse to the point where it would not work anymore. I got a quick replacement ("quick" meaning about 4 30+ minute calls to tech support over 2 weeks), but had to pay to ship back my old one.

Now the new one intermittently stops working for 15 seconds at a time.

Anyway the point is it could easily be that the router is broken.

 

[janey]

Honestly, I have the same router, and can vouch that they are garbage...

I have the same router, and can vouch that in over a year of constant abuse, the only time it has ever been turned off was for firmware upgrades and moving equipment around the house.

 

[Mechcozmo]

I only have a 3.1, but there's a reset button the back of my router. Resetting it will set all the options to their defaults. Hopefully that'll work. From there you can reconfigure everything as you like it.

The reset button just restarts the router; you have to press and hold the reset button for 10 seconds, then pull out the AC cord and wait 30 seconds. That'll hard reset it.

Honestly, I have the same router, and can vouch that they are garbage.

What version do you have? The WRT54G used to run Linux, up to v4. But with v5 that changed to VxWorks, which brought about a host of stability issues, etc. Now, I think they are back to Linux... either that or there is a WRT54GL which runs Linux and handily beats the VxWorks version. (I have a v3)

 

[reubs]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I got it working w/ a hard reset a couple of weeks ago, but there's a new problem.

I woke up this morning, and the modem had gone on "stand-by". When I got it back to working, the wireless was shot.

I'm wondering if I'm not just better off throwing this router through the window and getting a new one altogether. If so, any suggestions on a new one?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I got it working w/ a hard reset a couple of weeks ago, but there's a new problem.

I woke up this morning, and the modem had gone on "stand-by". When I got it back to working, the wireless was shot.

I'm wondering if I'm not just better off throwing this router through the window and getting a new one altogether. If so, any suggestions on a new one?

Thanks in advance.

Restarting both the modem and router should fix it up for you.