router into a switch? seeking home networking help.

Hello,

I have two laptops and two PC's on my home network. i currently have have as follows.

Cable Modem
>Linksys WRT45GL on DDWRT
>>2 Laptops running off that. Secure Home Network.
> Dlink DI-604 wired into the Linksys.
>>1 PC wired from the DI-604.

So, that's the home network. I hope that is understandable. sort of hard for me to explain it.

Basically, i want to file-share between my home network. i can share with the first PC and the two laptops. however, the last PC that is connected to the D-Link will not connect to the home network to share. It DOES get the internet though.

So, basically, how do i turn that Dlink DI-604 into a dumb switch? i don't want to to do anything except 'add more ports' to my Linksys.

The Laptops are vista, and the PC's are XP.

Thank you for any help. I appreciate it.

 

Remove the dlink from you network you run nat twices

and plug wired pc direct into the linksys

 

Just a stab in the dark--All your PC and laptops ARE set to the same Workgroup, right?

I think XP defaults to something like "WORKGROUP" or "MS WORKGROUP", not sure what Vista defaults to.

I believe if the computers aren't using the same workgroup, they can't file share (among other things). But I'm not 100% on this...

 

The second router is issue you it will make you second group computers in diffent sub net ip range they for they can not see the main laptops

 

Yes, they're all in the same MSHOME group.

How can i solve this problem with the Dlink?

I need the d-link in the network. I'm not about to explain the blueprints of my house. just need it to work.

Thank you for the replies.

 

You need to turn off DHCP in the second router. Assign it a static IP. Then make the connection LAN to LAN, this will turn the second router into switch. The up stream router will managed the DHCP and all PC will be on the same subnet.

 

So, In the router firmware, it allows me to Disable DHCP, change the WAN settings from Dynamic IP to Static IP. However, when i try to change to static, it opens up a bunch of IP fields. I do not know what to put in them. They are as default:

Static IP
IP Address 0.0.0.0 (assigned by your ISP)
Subnet Mask 0.0.0.0
ISP Gateway Address 0.0.0.0
Primary DNS Address 0.0.0.0
Secondary DNS Address 0.0.0.0 (optional)

without filling those in i just get a 'Invalid WAN IP Address' error upon trying to apply the changes.

 

I need to clarify something. On the WAN (ISP) you can leave DHCP. We will not be using the WAN port. We just need to disable the lan side since the other router will be controlling it.

IP address will be 192.168.xxx.y where "xxx" is the same subnet as you other pc's, and "y" being out of the range the Other router DHCP range.

Leave Gateway and dns blank. This static IP is for you find it on the network. And have access to the admin page. Other wise you will have to reset the router to gain access.

 

How would i find the Subnet for my network? And also find the Linksys's DHCP Range?

Thank you.

 

Start -> Run -> cmd

Type "ipconfig /all"

Look at the IP Address.

Just a little FYI: Linksys defaults to 1.xxx and D-Link defaults to 0.xxx.

 

Bah, this is confusing. The Linksys has a subnet of 255.255.255.0. So does the dlink.

All these numbers and they're all the same. i really don't know what i'm doing.

Perhaps somebody can give me a simple-terms explanation?

This computer running on the linksys has the same subnet that the dlink does. from what i can tell the same ip.


i've disabled DHCP on the dlink.
the LAN portion just lets me change the ip/subnet.
The WAN portion i changed from dynamic ip to static ip. i added the following:
ip addr: 192.168.1.1
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
ISP Gateway Addr: 192.168.1.1
Primary DNS: 192.168.1.1

i'm so frustrated right now.

 

FourForty, you're looking at the wrong piece of the puzzle. The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. The IP address is usually (on a Linksys network) 192.168.1.xxx, and on a D-Link network it is usually 192.168.0.xxx. You are looking for the 1.xxx or 0.xxx.

The subnet is 192.168.x. Yep, it can be a little confusing, but you'll eventually get the hang of it.

 

At one time I had two routers connected to add wired ports to extra computers I was using. I found a nice guide on the 'net, but sadly I don't remember the link.

I took my second router, hooked a computer to it, and set the IP address on that router to something outside the DHCP range of the primary router. On my primary router (the one hooked to the modem), I set the DHCP range to start at 100, so I decided to set the secondary router's IP to 192.168.1.25.

I disabled DHCP on the second router. I made sure to point all DNS items to the IP address of the primary router. When I connected the two, I ran the ethernet cable from a port on the primary router to a port on the secondary router - but I made sure not to use the WAN port (the port that you connect to the modem).

Clear as mud?

 

Here are two links that may help.

http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Routers&message.id=26177
http://www.qudon.com/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=31