cisco linksys WAG54G2-UK "limited connectivity" error

Trying to setup a cisco linksys WAG54G2-UK for ADSL. Failing at the first step so far! Connected a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo L1300 laptop by ethernet cable, get a "limited connectivity" problem. Connected another laptop, this time vista, get same problem.
I didnt check on the XP laptop whether an IP was assigned, would it just be 0.0.0.0 otherwise?
on vista ipconfig looks very different, for IPv4 it gave an IP address but it wasnt a 192.168 local one and I had no paper on me so didn't write down what it said.
Its not at my house so just want some ideas before I go round again as I'll probably spend a while there.

Next steps I was going to try are
-disabling firewalls and antivirus software, though I can't imagine this will make much difference
-booting from Ubuntu USB/live CD and seeing what happens
-taking round a known working ethernet cable
-take round another ADSL router! then i can bring this dodgy cisco linksys one home and do some proper testing

Thanks for reading, any suggestions much appreciated,
Dan Gent

 

Unfortunately we don't have anything to go on--that ip address, if it began 169.254.x.x would indicate automatic private ip addressing which means you are not getting an ip address.

If the UK version is like the US version, the network address range should be 192.168.1.x

Given your description, I would say the issue is the dhcp function of the router.

What firewall do you have? I cannot think of any firewall that would even have a setting to disable bootp--in fact, it wouldn't matter, because the bootstrap protocal probably loads before the firewall, so that is out.

If windows is not getting an ip address, I doubt Ubuntu will.

That leaves taking a known good, as you said.

Before I did that, though, I would power everything down, plug in the router, press the reset button, wait for a couple minutes, then boot your laptop again.

You could try setting the ip address on the laptop to a static ip address--try 192.168.1.2, and then try connecting to the router at 192.168.1.1

 

yes bit of a lame post by me sorry, normally I like to make sure I can at least write an A4 page of what I've tried. I just wanted some ideas before I went back round, and to see if I'd not done something glaringly obvious!

When I go back round I'll write down what IP address, gateway, subnet and etc I get. Then I'll set the laptop to a static 192.168.1.5 (or similar) then try pinging it.

I'm going to get the woman to unplug her current ADSL modem for a good hour before hand, just in case anything needs resetting at her ISPs end (although even then the router should still do DHCP correctly?)

what is a private IP address? yes the Uk version is the same where computers behind a NAT are assigned addresses 192.168.1.x, i thought these were private IP addresses? sorry for the questions but my knowledge of IP stems from university when i'd never tried doing this stuff in practise!! CIDR and all that....

Thanks for your help,
Dan Gent

 

192.168.1.x is a private IP address, as is 10.x.x.x and 172.(16-21).x.x.

Add in 169.254.x.x which is the automatic private ip addressing range. When there is no dhcp address available, Windows will give itself an ip address in this range so computers can talk to each other on a network.

 

Went round again to this house, and this time I decided to try the Wizard CD that came with it. It all worked first time (apart from having to set the Wifi Encyption to WPA rather than WPA2 for compatibility). Crazy. i didnt check before running the wizard whether DHCP was working but normally i dont run all those bundled cds as they just add unneccessary software, but this time it really worked.

 

good to hear--I agree with you on the cd-wizards--usually a waste of time, but if it works, it works