Question Correct settings for using The Linksys WRT54G as an Access Point ?

[stingray230sx]

Helping a friend as his garage metal walls are blocking the wifi from his home router to the garage
He has a cat 5 cable ran when built used for his cameras
I have an unused Linksys WRT54G router to turn into an access point.
Optimum service provider.
cant access Optimum router to verify all info but ipconfig gives the router ip address.
set second [access point ] router to DHCP disabled
local ip to xxx.xxx.x.254
set SSID to same as home router as per https://www.wikihow.com/Convert-Linksys-WRT54G-to-Be-an-Access-Point
set key to same as home router as per same
this guide says home router should be channel 1 set access point to channel 6 or 11 etc.
default was channel 6 so I figured I was good
save settings
connect to cable from home router reboot and reboot home router

All we can get is still the weak signal from the home router
after several attempts to access the router with my lap top which times out, I reset router and cabled to my laptop with original ip 192.168.1.1
applied all settings again, but forgot to duplicate the SSID / key
restarted again.

Now it shows up as "linksys" open and the signal is found on both phones and my laptop plus his tablet.
again cant access router to change security to wpa2Personal etc, and match SSID/key
reset and try again but when the SSID /key is set same as home router the only signal is the weak inhouse router signal
could it be as simple as the channel is wrong? or is the instructions wrong for setting the SSID/key?
I am an amateur, but thought I could set this up, but I guess I am just dangerous, lol

any suggestions would be appreciated
thanks
doug

 

[kanewolf]

Helping a friend as his garage metal walls are blocking the wifi from his home router to the garage
He has a cat 5 cable ran when built used for his cameras
I have an unused wrt54g router to turn into an access point.
Optimum service provider
cant access Optimum router to verify all info but ipconfig gives the router ip address.
set second [access point ] router to DHCP disabled
local ip to xxx.xxx.x.254
set SSID to same as home router as per https://www.wikihow.com/Convert-Linksys-WRT54G-to-Be-an-Access-Point
set key to same as home router as per same
this guide says home router should be channel 1 set access point to channel 6 or 11 etc.
default was channel 6 so I figured I was good
save settings
connect to cable from home router reboot and reboot home router
all we can get is still the weak signal from the home router
after several attempts to access the router with my lap top which times out, I reset router and cabled to my laptop with original ip 192.168.1.1
applied all settings again, but forgot to duplicate the SSID / key
restarted again.
now it shows up as "linksys" open and the signal is found on both phones and my laptop plus his tablet.
again cant access router to change security to wpa2Personal etc, and match SSID/key
reset and try again but when the SSID /key is set same as home router the only signal is the weak inhouse router signal
could it be as simple as the channel is wrong? or is the instructions wrong for setting the SSID/key?
I am an amateur, but thought I could set this up, but I guess I am just dangerous, lol

any suggestions would be appreciated
thanks
doug

Which port on the WRT54G did you connect? It may have to be a LAN port and not the WAN port when using it as an AP.

 

[stingray230sx]

Which port on the WRT54G did you connect? It may have to be a LAN port and not the WAN port when using it as an AP.

yes, i was using the LAN ports, and it also worked as a switch, allowing his camera to access the LAN too.
as I mentioned, the only issue is when I follow those instructions and try to mirror the home router SSID, and all the guides I see online say to do this, so I am just trying to get it working secured.
I turned it off for now, as I didn't want it broadcasting unsecured/open.
I might just try to name it separately, and add a different passkey, and see if it still gives a strong signal.

 

[bill001g]

I tend to always recommend you use different SSID on each AP. So called roaming is controlled by the end device and they can be very stupid. Better if the person rather than the device chooses where to connect. Some people are very lazy though.

I would first start with a simple reset. Then change the SSID and password. You should be able to connect to the router with that id/password....of course since it will not be connected to anything it doesn't do much good.

Once you get to that point I would then do the change the ip and dhcp stuff and connect it to the main router.

 

[stingray230sx]

I tend to always recommend you use different SSID on each AP. So called roaming is controlled by the end device and they can be very stupid. Better if the person rather than the device chooses where to connect. Some people are very lazy though.

I would first start with a simple reset. Then change the SSID and password. You should be able to connect to the router with that id/password....of course since it will not be connected to anything it doesn't do much good.

Once you get to that point I would then do the change the ip and dhcp stuff and connect it to the main router.

yes, since it's working fine with a separate SSID the next step will be to test it with the security set to WPA2 Personal. it seems to only allow me access to the SETUP with the browser when its reset and has the standard ip of 192.168.1.1. If I pull the cable from the home router after It's working as an access point and attempt to access the SETUP thru a cable straight to my laptop it still times out while trying the static 192.168.0.254, just like the guy in the other thread, which I had read before posting my own. I am assuming it's a software trait and this has the latest firmware so I have no recourse there. But it performs flawlessly as a switch and access point as long as I set a stand alone SSID so no real biggy, as most setups connect automatically anyways after the first time entering the password, my older laptop and our iphones did just fine
I just dont understand why these guides state you must use the same SSID if it's not gonna work that way, as several I looked at said the same thing, [insert face palm here, lol]
some of the guides dont even mention the SSID part or the make sure the channels are different.
I appreciate all the convos,

 

[bill001g]

The SSID should work either way but some people are just lazy and think it should just magically switch between the 2 radio sources as you move around the house. It doesn't work very well and many times it stays connected to the wrong source. You then get into having to adjust the radio power to reduce the areas of overlap but you seldom if ever see that topic being discussed on the sites that tell how to setup AP.

You kinda will never use the IP address ever again once the AP is setup. Since the AP and the main router use different subnets you could leave it on 192.168.1.1 the times you would have issues is if the also was using 192.168.0.x subnet. You can if you work at it access the ap management address even from the other subnet by setting up a secondary ip address on your pc.

 

[stingray230sx]

You can if you work at it access the ap management address even from the other subnet by setting up a secondary ip address on your pc.

whoa, now you really are trying to make me dangerous, lol. I did a deeper dive into the zillion links about converting the router to AP, and a couple did say that sometimes they don't like sharing and you get the original wireless signal [in this case weak] so the separate SSID will just have to do since it works so well, but I will put a password on it. He wanted a good signal/and still keep his camera system, and it is doing that. May be something to do with the age of the wrt54g and it just doesn't like to work with the more modern stuff. At least one other mentioned the channel issue, and since I can't determine the channel that the home router is on, maybe changing the default channel of the AP will clear that only sensing the home router signal trait while sharing the same SSID.

 

[bill001g]

Most modern routers run 40mhz bands so they in effect use 1 &6 or 6 & 11. You can't run 2 routers without overlap so pretty much people just let it overlap. Now the linksys only support 20mhz ...i forget.. so you should be able to squeeze it in.
Generally it all doesn't matter. You can work very hard to not overlap your devices and adjust the transmit power so you get minimum overlap signals. Problem is your neighbor is going to blast all your devices anyway.

The router itself though should not care if other devices are on the same radio channel. You just get less performance and if it is really bad connection drops.

 

[stingray230sx]

well, just to update anyone watching this thread, I tried every combination of settings I could think of, similar to what the other thread mentions ie put the drop down on static IP and then set it at the end of the range 192.168.1.254, subnet mask at 255.255.255.0
The router wouldn't let me, with a pop up stating that was not valid, several tries later including changing the channel with the SSID mirroring the home router but it always had the same weak signal.
So final setup has a new SSID and password, same default channel 6. full signal and the switch works for the camera control box.
I used WPA2 Personal same as on my wrt320n at home [I know, it's old too, but I have a new to me Asus RT-AX82U for my new house Im fixing up] and will have the Frontier fiber at that house, will prob use the wrt320n as an access point as the rear bedroom office [computer/office etc] is a 130 feet at least from the front door and I have to use the internet for my cell service as the signal only works if I walk out to the road/mailbox [I know, pathetic] but they wont add a tower here to fix it.
on my iphone it says my connection to the garage wireless is weak security, web is saying WPA2 -TKIP is not really strong enough .
I guess that is a side effect of the age of the wrt54g?
My wrt320n is both.
I tested the strength outside with the garage door down and it is the dot and 1bar.
Garage door up and it does have full strength in front of the door.
So inside the garage prob no issues with neighbors signals
on the subject of firmware, I know I had updated the firmware while I used it, but now I can't even find anything for it on the Linksys site. I remember I had the latest, and then bought the wrt320n and my wrt320n has 1.0.05 and I am pretty sure I couldn't find anything after that, though now I see a 1.0.05 002 in .tar.tar on the Linksys site as a GPL, but I dont know enough about that to move forward or if it's even necessary since I will soon start using the Asus

 

[bill001g]

I forget the version of firmware that ran on that. dd-wrt and openwrt would be worth a look to see what they still have. I know the later releases have gotten too large to fit in the memory of the older equipment but they still have older images that might work.

This will not change the wifi strength maybe just fix the issue that it won't let you change the IP address.

 

[stingray230sx]

It is weird, it does let me change it, and works on the LAN.
It just won't let me access it after the settings are changed from 192,168.1.1.
so to do anything, it requires disconnecting from the LAN and then using a cable to my laptop and hitting the reset button, then apply the new or test changes, over and over. I believe I will let it ride, unless he wants something else, then just let him buy it.
He actually tried two free plug-in-outlet access points from Optimum, one was free and one is on his bill like his modem/router, but they did not work at all, which I told him before hand as the signal from the home router was too weak for the garage plug in to work.
just a red blink no worky, lol.
I said take them back !!