Cisco RE1000 range extender

I bought this piece of junk a few days ago and I can't get it to function properly. It keeps dropping the internet connection, sometimes I can't even connect to it for a few minutes.

I have read that putting it on static IP alleviated the issues that occur when it's on dhcp. The problem is my setup is different so i can't figure out how to do it.

The externder has three settings, internet IP address, default gateway, and subnet mask. The subnet mask i'm pretty sure i keep at 255.255.255.0 but as far as the ip address and gateway is concerned, i'm not sure.

My setup is as follows:

Main router with 192.168.1.1 IP address connected via ethernet to a cisco wrt54g2 router at 192.168.2.1. That gives the wireless signal that the RE1000 relays.

If someone can give me some pointers it would be really really helpful because i'm about to smash this piece of junk.
argggggg just as i went to submit this thread......the internet disconnected.... then i tried to connect to it and it said cannot connect... then i connected and it said no internet access... then finally it worked.
By the way, the issue IS with the re1000.... we have many laptops all with the same issue and they don't exhibit any of these issues of the re1000 is gone.
OMG... just as i went to submit again.... the net disconnected and i went through the entire song and dance agian... i better submit it quickly before it d/c again.

 

The default gateway is the router that connects to the internet, so I guess 192.168.1.1

The netmask is 255.255.255.0 (class C) and you can give it any 192.168.1.x IP that isn't used by something else on your network.

 

But 192.168.1.1 is the dsl router... shouldn't be 192.168.2.1 which is the wireless router that it's connecting to?

 

Oh that's a dsl modem, yes you want .2.1 in that case, and .2.x for the repeater.

 

ya modem, my bad. alright, thanks.