Trying to set up second wireless network - Connecting but DNS failing

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dramatic

41 posts

Geek

#111940 20-Nov-2012 14:09

Hi,
we are setting up in a new premises, and our main wireless/DSL Modem can't reach one of the offices. There's a connected Ethernet cable to the room next to it, so I've set up our spare wireless router there.

Primary: Cisco WAG 310G - provided by xnet. Set as 192.168.1.1, Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
- two desktops on LAN,
- phone (via VFX)
- WPA-Personal / TKIP Encryption Wireless on channel 11

Secondary: Asus WL520GC
- WPA2-Personal on Channel 9

we have a fixed IP address from Worldxchange

What I've done (following 2 sets of instructions I found, both for different brand routers!)
- connected secondary via an ethernet port, not WAN port
- set secondary's LAN IP to 192.168.1.2
- set gateway on secondary to 192.168.1.1
- DHCP is enabled on both. Primary limited to 192.168.1.64..127, secondary 128..255

A laptop can connect to the admin panel of the secondary ok. Internet requests give an unable to reach DNS server error.
I tried putting in the xnet DNS server IP's, same result.
I cannot access 192.168.1.1 admin page from a device connected to the secondary, and cannot reach 192.168.1.2 from this computer on the primary.

The cable is known to work - I've run a laptop on it.

Any clues or pointers to more specific help?
All I really want is internet access via thesecondary.

I've no networking training, so please answer in words of one syllable :-)

Ruphus

465 posts

Ultimate Geek

#720095 20-Nov-2012 14:20

Have a look at this guide:

http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=11&s=2&m=WL-520GC&os=17&ft=12&f_name=WDS_Configuration_Guide_v[1]0.rar#WDS_Configuration_Guide_v[1]0.rar

Is the router running in bridge mode?

cyril7

9058 posts

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#720096 20-Nov-2012 14:23

Hi, turn the DHCP server on the 2nd AP off, I would suggest that is the main problem. Also use Ch 1 or 6 as 9 overlaps with 11, ie there are 3 non overlapping channels 1, 6, and 11 so use those only.

Cyril

Edit, I should replace the suggest that is the main problem with IS the main problem.

chevrolux

4962 posts

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Inactive user

#720108 20-Nov-2012 14:31

Yea make sure all the routing functions are disabled on the Asus and that it is only acting as an access point.

So look for NAT, QoS, DHCP, Firewall etc and disable all these things. Then just set up the SSID and password the same as what you have on the Cisco and you should be able to roam between both nice and easy.

dramatic

41 posts

Geek

#720115 20-Nov-2012 14:39

Thanks

After disabling DHCP and switching to channel 6, I can't connect to the secondary's admin page any more. If I still can't after a reboot, I'll have to hook up a cable again.

cyril7

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#720121 20-Nov-2012 14:44

The correct setup should be.

First/Main NAT router, lan ip 192.168.1.1 etc, DHCP server should be on and DHCP pool should not start till 192.168.1.3 or ideally 192.168.1.20 to leave a static working space.

2nd AP, set to 192.168.1.2, DHCP server should be OFF, and gateway set to 192.168.1.1. Connect 2nd AP to 1st ap via a LAN port nothing on the WAN port of the 2nd AP.

You may need to ensure your PC gets a new lease address, just remove the lan cable and re attach to a port of either router/AP and it should get a new address from the DHCP server of the main router.

Cyril

dramatic

41 posts

Geek

#720184 20-Nov-2012 16:02

Thank goodness for the restore defaults button on the back - talking to AP 2 again via cable.

cyril7: The correct setup should be.

First/Main NAT router, lan ip 192.168.1.1 etc, DHCP server should be on and DHCP pool should not start till 192.168.1.3 or ideally 192.168.1.20 to leave a static working space.

2nd AP, set to 192.168.1.2, DHCP server should be OFF, and gateway set to 192.168.1.1. Connect 2nd AP to 1st ap via a LAN port nothing on the WAN port of the 2nd AP.

So does that mean I can totally ignore the WAN settings sections?
I've set LAN IP as 192.168.1.2 and put an xnet nameserver as DNS1 (DNS2 is disabled and showing the AP's IP)

cyril7

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#720189 20-Nov-2012 16:08

Hi, you dont need to configure anything in the WAN interface of the 2nd router (which you are running simply as an AP). If you turn the DHCP server in the 2nd AP off then the 1st router/AP is what dishs up addresses and provides DNS info from its WAN port.

Cyril

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dramatic

41 posts

Geek

#798280 12-Apr-2013 10:26

Just bringing this up to date, after leaving it unresolved for a few months, we finally have things working: There were two key points to the solution in addtion to the advice above:

1) When working with the (isolated) Asus directly from a laptop, attempts to set the AP's address as 192.168.1.2 failed, because it had already assigned that lease to the laptop before we disabled DHCP. Setting it as 192.168.1.3 worked.
2) Browsing ASUS FAQ's I came across an obscure documentation page which showed a config screen where the Role of the device was determined, with AP only as the third option. Our device had no such screen, but a small note at the bottom said that for models without that option, the same effect was obtained by connecting the cable from the primary to LAN1 port rather than WAN.
Having done both those, it works perfectly.