Author Topic: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....  (Read 7791 times)

cohenfive

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Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« on: April 16, 2011, 07:09:50 PM »

first post so apologies for the newbie questions...

 

i have a wired network (netgear fvs318 wired router and comcast isp and want to add a wireless access point. i just got the buffalo wzr-hp-g300nh wireless router/access point for the job. i didn't see any specific instructions for setting it up as a wireless access point on a wired network (although i see the switch in back to have it run that way), and am wondering what basic instructions i need to follow to get it set up and running properly with basic settings. thanks!


Madnick

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2011, 12:50:01 AM »

On the user friendly firmware, put the router switch in to "off" position and connect some of the ports (WAN or LAN, doesn't matter) in to your old router.

Thats it...


cohenfive

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2011, 10:21:04 AM »

sounds pretty simple...i'm going to hook the buffalo into the wired network via the blue 'internet' port and i guess that is going to be it (after setting the router switch to 'off'...what if i want to set up basic security for the wireless...


cohenfive

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2011, 09:36:35 PM »

i need some help. i am usually pretty good with hardware but totally draw a blank when it comes to networking, so let me repeat my problem...

 

i basically need step by step, from the beginning, detailed instructions on how to set up my buffalo device on my wired network as a wireless access point. i was told to download user friendly firmware 1.76 which i did, but when i try to open it windows 7 explorer asks me what program to open the file with, so i can't get anywhere that way. when i try to go to the ip address  i get timed out.

 

i also tried just plugging a wire from my network into one of the lan ports on the buffalo device and powered it up, and of course there is no wireless being broadcast. the only lights lit up on the device are the green power light and the blue movie engine off folder light..otherwise dark (but where the cat 5 is plugged into a lan port the green indicator is lit back there).

 

it would be great to get some basic help here, sorry for being dense but there are no step by step instructions anywhere and i can't even get the firmware working. thanks!


Madnick

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2011, 12:31:48 AM »

I'm not at my router at the moment, but if I don't remember all wrong now the IP address of your router is 192.168.11.100 after you have the router switch in "off".

Or did you try to burn the new firmware in your router and somehow messed it up?

In that case download the Linux Ubuntu Live CD (please Google) and follow the instructions for recovery given here:

http://g300nh.blogspot.com/2010/06/firmware-flash-and-brick-recovery.html (TFTP recovery in Linux)

 


cohenfive

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2011, 08:52:43 AM »

i don't think i got anywhere with the firmware. i downloaded the 1.76 update onto our desktop, but windows7 does not know what to do with the file. how does the firmware get onto the device? i had the buffalo device plugged into our wired network (not directly into the pc) via one of the lan ports. is the device just supposed to 'grab' the firmware off the network? how do i know this if it is working or not?

 

unfortunately there is no live help from buffalo, and getting an email response to a question takes the better part of a week which really stretches things out.

 

here is what i tried to do, not sure where i went wrong:

 

1. download 1.76 friendly update from buffalo. file downloaded fine.

2. try to open file--windows 7 does not know what to do with it

3. turn router to 'off' and plug one of our network cables into one of the lan ports of the router..not much happens, obviously it is not broadcasting on the network.

 

thanks again, pretty frustrating however. i may try to call buffalo tech support, but if it takes days to get an email response i'm not optimistic i can get someone on the phone...we'll see.

 


nhanquy

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #6 on: May 04, 2011, 10:14:24 AM »

 

Basically, the firmware which  you have downloaded to your Win7 machine somehow has to be in the router itself  and to run from there.

 

To update firmware, steps are:

 

1. Download to your PC (you have done that!)

2. Make your PC talk to the router ( you haven't shown us you did that!)

3. From the router (thru web interface), you tell the router to take the firmware (on your PC) to upgrade its firmware.

4. Wait let the router reboot.

5. Log in the router again (thru web) to configure the router.

 

steps 2 to 5 are not that difficult and all should be explained in details in the manual. So you need to read it!

If you don't have the manual , download it from Buffalo website.

 

Note that your PC and your router may need directly connected to make firmware updating easier.

 

Good luck.


cohenfive

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2011, 11:33:01 AM »

thanks...i was thinking about doing your last comment and you might be on to something. how about this as an idea...

 

i take our desktop (which has the firmware saved) and it directly via cat 5 to one of the lan ports of the buffalo router. i eliminate our wired network completely, which in a logical way might be the problem..since the router isn't yet on the network, trying to get the firmware to it over the network could be a fool's errand so to speak. in this attempt i take the pc and the router off the network and just hardwire them together via cat 5 cable.

 

if the above is a solution, should the router 'find' the firmware automatically or do i need to take other steps to get the download process going?


nhanquy

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #8 on: May 04, 2011, 11:41:56 AM »

>>> should the router 'find' the firmware automatically or do i need to take other steps to get the download process going?

 

Of course the router will not find the firmware automatically. Please read the manual.

You have to open a webpage (on the router -  most routers now have a webserver in its firmware, so you can interface with it to configure, update firmware,....). Again please read the manual.


cohenfive

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2011, 12:00:16 PM »

i have been looking at the manual, it is silent on the topic of 'wireless access point' for example. not even mentioned.

 

ok, assuming i get to this point, should the router switch be set to 'off' or does it need to be set to 'auto' during the firmware download process?

 

thanks


Madnick

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2011, 11:06:08 PM »

I wonder what firmware you currently have in your router?

 

Anyways... Put the router switch in "on" and directly connect it with a cat5 to your computer which has the new firmware downloaded.

Go to: http://192.168.11.1

User name is "root" and there is no password.

Click on the "update firmware" and tell your router where the new firmware is located on your computer.

 

This in case you have the user friendly firmware. If you have the "professional" version in it now, then follow the instructions I gave earlyer or just simply keep the professional one.

If you use the professional firmware, then you connect your current netwotk to the WAN port. Then disable the firewall in your router and change the IP ranges to match your current network.

 

Naturally you need to program the SSID, security settings and passwords to what you like in both cases.


cohenfive

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #11 on: May 04, 2011, 11:25:47 PM »

thanks, got tied up with the kids tonight, will hopefully get this cleaned up tomorrow.


Madnick

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #12 on: May 05, 2011, 12:40:23 AM »

Sounds good.

It's not that difficult, but naturally you need to know the basics to understand what you are doing.

I'm sure your kids have it up and running in notime...

 


cohenfive

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #13 on: May 07, 2011, 12:06:44 PM »

i was able to get the firmware dowloaded, had to reset the unit and then connect it directly to our desktop pc which had the firmware on it. check that box. do i need to set up wds if this is going to be a wireless access point? all i want it to do is to broadcast a wireless signal from our wired network. i guess i will put a password on, hopefully i can find where to do that. thanks.


Madnick

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Re: Basic Wireless Access Point Setup....
« Reply #14 on: May 07, 2011, 12:56:49 PM »

WDS is for linking two routers WIRELESSLY together. You don't need that.

You have two options:

1. The one I described earlyer. Put the router switch to "off" and your routers IP will be 192.168.11.100

2. Put the router switch to "auto" plug in the WAN (internet) port to your old routers LAN port and it will get IP from your old router.

In both cases you will get a basic wireless accesspoint.

All the rest extra you can program if you want to, but it will work out of the box just like that.

I recommend to change the SSID to something personal, setup the wireless security and setup new passwords though.

 

All this is in the manual...