[WXC/VFX] Setup Help Linksys WRP400 and D-Link DSL-504G

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coffeebaron

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#120301 1-Apr-2008 19:53

The WRP400 uses 192.168.15.1 range, and you can connect back to the AM300 no problem, but yes a good point. I did similar to a DLink 502, changed to a 192.168.x.x range (normally 10.1.x.x) so I could connect back through an SPA2102.

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Kenshiro

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#121328 5-Apr-2008 16:17

Hello guys! Here's an update:

I have received my Linksys AM300, and thanks to your great advices have finally managed to get the AM300 and WRP400 running, albeit with some hurdles due to my inexperience.

During the setup I've stumbled a few times, which I still haven't managed to understand. They don't interefere with the running of the Internet, but nevertheless mysteries that I hope I can learn and resolve:

1) I followed the steps kindly provided by coffeebaron. I got the internet running with the AM300 device alone (both in normal and half-bridge mode), but once I have the WRP400 connected, I was unable to get internet. I sweept through all the available options in both devices and have also tried resetting them to factory defaults for a clean start. In the end I think I changed the NAT setting on the AM300 device to Disabled and from memory thats when I got internet running through the WRP400 router.

Does this make sense at all? I then looked at the WRP400 router which has the NAT set to Enabled, so at the moment only AM300's NAT has been disabled. Is it advisable to run with AM300's NAT disabled?

2) Once the internet was working through the WRP400, I tried switching off the DHCP function on AM300 (to save some resource) as I thought being on half-bridge mode, there's no actual DHCP needed from the AM300 modem. This move however immediately severed my internet connection. I looked at WRP400's Status page and under Internet Connection all entries (Internet IP address) were blank. I was also no longer able to access my AM300 modem interface via the 192.168.1.1 URL.

Can anyone suggest why the DHCP need to be running on the AM300? When it's a direct AM300 to PC connection, I have been able to run without AM300's DHCP by defining my own internal static IP in Control Panel -> Network Connections, under LAN -> TCP IP properties. Since the WRP400 is the only device connected to the AM300 modem, why does it require the DHCP to function? I thought DHCP's purpose was only for the convenience of automatically assigning internal static IPs to computers. And since the modem is in half-bridge mode, I thought it operates by forwarding the Internet IP connection transparently to the WRP400 router without any involvement of internal IPs.

3) The following may be a bug with the WRP400 interface but I am not yet certain: Upon my experience with Step 2 above, I reverted my AM300 settings to have DHCP enabled again. But strangely this alone was not enough to return my internet connection, WRP400 still reports with no Internet IP address in its Status page. The AM300's interface too remains inaccessible using the modem's 192.168.1.1 gateway address.

After trying different things, I tried changing WRP400's Internet Connection Type mode from DHCP to Static IP and input my 192.168.1.x address to correspond to the specified DHCP IP from the AM300. This at least returned the interface access of AM300 (via 192.168.1.1), but internet was nevertheless inaccessible. Strangely, I then changed the Connection Type back from Static IP to Automatic DHCP and all of a sudden the Status page shows the live Internet IP address from my ISP, i.e. the connection from the AM300 is forwarding and detected by the WRP400 router once again. Why's this step of going from Automatic DHCP --> Static IP (192.168.1.x) --> back to Automatic DHCP necessary? Is there perhaps a bug that require such manual step?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm hoping to understand and learn as much as I can. I'm certain that what I can learn from you can be applied in the future with other modem and router devices. I'm sure all these complicated questions look daunting at once! Any little bit of contributions will be helpful. Thanks for your precious time sharing your knowledge and it is really appreciated!

Kenshiro

coffeebaron

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#121368 5-Apr-2008 19:12

It's strange that you have had some issues setting this up. Once the AM300 is setup and working in non half-bridge mode, then half-bridge enabled - this should set the correct settings to forward the external IP. Did you check that the AM300 has the correct firmware - 1.19.04 ? If not, do this.

Perhaps somewhere during the setup process, you may have missed a save / reboot, or the WRP400 was plugged in whilst already switched on etc. The other thing that may have happened if you have VFX provisioned, it may have been sending config & firmware to the WRP400, this would have confused things too. I guess the real test would be to power it all off, then power up AM300, wait, then power up WRP400, and see if you are still all live.

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Kenshiro

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#121435 6-Apr-2008 02:02

Regarding the AM300 firmware, I've taken your advice and the first thing I did once internet was running was to update to the new firmware. I also followed with powering on the AM300 first, and once its Status page shows with the dynamic external IP I then powered on the WRP400.

I had the VFX provisioning setup on the WRP400 a few days before I got the AM300. Back then I was running the WRP400 with my old D-Link DSL-502G, which I've now replaced with the AM300. I'm so happy with this modem though, so far I'm on an System Uptime of 02:21:12:23 (hasn't gone down since I had them setup). Pretty impressive compared to my old D-Link. All this extra hardware and setup was well worth it, thanks for the recommendations!

I'm hoping that it wasn't a fluke that I have the AM300 and WRP400 running. I'm just a little worried that the same obstacles will happen again when the modem / router gets switched off next time. I did go through their manuals, and AM300's manual doesn't even mention the term half-bridge once! Yet this is one of its strength, strange x-D

I'm very happy with both these devices, I just hope that should they play up again I'll know how to solve them. There's nowhere else that I can find those answers from. I'm not even sure if Linksys can explain this... having 2 devices connected looks so complicated to me, I've only ever dealt with single (modem/router 2 in 1) units in the past.

coffeebaron

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#121548 6-Apr-2008 16:44

Kenshiro: I also followed with powering on the AM300 first, and once its Status page shows with the dynamic external IP I then powered on the WRP400.

Hmm, perhaps that is it - how could you see the status page of the AM300 when it is plugged into a powered off WRP400? If you had this plugged into the PC, then plugged it into the WRP400 without a power reset, it may not have forward the IP info correctly to the WRP400. Thus starting the confusing cycle of things not working & doing strange things.

Anyway, great to see all is working now for you.

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Kenshiro

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#121604 6-Apr-2008 19:39

coffeebaron: Hmm, perhaps that is it - how could you see the status page of the AM300 when it is plugged into a powered off WRP400? If you had this plugged into the PC, then plugged it into the WRP400 without a power reset, it may not have forward the IP info correctly to the WRP400. Thus starting the confusing cycle of things not working & doing strange things.

Anyway, great to see all is working now for you.

Actually I've tried it both ways:

A) AM300 powered on with Internet LED on (connected to WRP400), followed by powering on WRP400, and

B) AM300 powered on with Internet LED on (connected to PC), then unplugged the PC end to connect to the WRP400, then accessed WRP400's interface onto Status page, tried both Refresh and Renew IP (think I may have also tried the 3rd option: Release IP), to no avail :-<

But I'm very pleased with these 2 hardwares my internet is still un-disconnected after so many days, a record breaker by a long shot compared to my good'ol D-Link DSL-502G :-D Thumbs up for the recommendation!

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marwill2

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#121684 7-Apr-2008 07:46

Hi Kenshiro, you should find that if you power cycle the units in much the same fashion as they'd reset after a power cut they should reconnect without issue.

What should likely happen is:
WRP400 and AM300 power on at same time
WRP400 completes bootup
AM300 completes bootup
AM300 DHCP 192.168.1.xxx IP to WRP400
AM300 establishes DSL carrier and authenticates
AM300 sends DHCP renew command to WRP400, WRP400 drops 192.168.1.xxx WANIP
AM300 DHCP new WAN IP address to WRP400 e.g 58.28.xxx.xxx

The best rule of thumb here is resist playing with the devices during the reboot and reconnection phases - my rule of thumb is walk away for 5 minutes then go back and continue with the devices. This will make sure everything that needs to occur during the reconnect can occur without human meddling.

Also, DHCP needs to be left switched on in the AM300 as it uses DHCP to pass the IP address to the downstream WAN device. Of course you can still utilise the half bridge if you disable DHCP and use static IP on your downstream WAN device - although this is usually impratical unless you are on static IP.

Kenshiro

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#121720 7-Apr-2008 10:15

Hi Marwill,

Thanks for the explanation and breakdown. From reading your advice, I did make the mistake of accessing the modem and router's interface while they were negotiating for the DSL connection, I thought the devices can do their own thing while I monitored and refreshed to check their status. Guess I've been too anxious when the problems hit me.

Kenshiro

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#121721 7-Apr-2008 10:18

To Xnet Fusion users here (Naked DSL), are these line stats from this new setup looking fine?

DSL Status:	UP
DSL Modulation Mode:	G.992.5 (ADSL2+)
DSL Path Mode:	INTERLEAVED
Downstream Rate:	6368 Kbps
Upstream Rate:	512 Kbps
Downstream Margin:	14 db
Upstream Margin:	12 db
Downstream Line Attenuation:	25
Upstream Line Attenuation:	13
Downstream Transmit Power:	19
Upstream Transmit Power:	11
LOS Errors:	0

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