Wireless Router Question

[Jeri Lynn]

Hi Everyone,
I had some problems with my older Linksys wireless router a couple weeks ago. Both my daughters laptops stopped working and I tried to problem solve myself but was unable to so I bought a new router in hopes that the old one had just gone bad.

My question is this:

I have a desktop and two laptops. Right now my Charter Cable modem is connected directly to my desktop and the two laptops are not working.

To set up my router do I have to go through my desktop? I found video instructions on youtube on setting up the router. I did not set up the laptops in the past so I don't know what was done.:confused:

In the past the wiring went as such: The ethernet cable from my charter modem went to the router and the blue cable from my router when to the back of my desktop and my two laptops were wireless.

I am wireless challenged and tried to set it up once and messed my computer up...I'm ready to try again!!!:blush::blush::blush:

TIA!

[Strmchsr]

Most of the time you'll have a disk to help you set up things. If not, check on the Linksys page for set up instructions.

To answer your specific question, though, yes, you use your desktop to set up the router. Plug it in as you had it before with the modem going into the router then the router into the desktop.

The only thing you need to check on this before you go through the set up process is make sure your router type is compatible with the laptops. For instance if you bought a G router, but the laptops have B cards it won't work. Just something to check.

[DizneyRox]

You need to follow the setup direction that came with the router. Any settings you made were/are on the router, not your desktop, or should be.

Things you want to do:

1. Use WPA-PSK (WPA Personal, or whatever)
2. Enable MAC Filtering and only allow the MAC addresses that you need (Not good security, but it doesn't hurt).
3. CHANGE THE PASSWORD ON THAT ROUTER!

I disable the SSID Broadcasting on my networks, but it's more of a matter of keeping the neighbors out of my network, they are stupid and that's enough to keep them away.

[brownie]

You'll connect your router to your modem, not your desktop. Your ethernet cable from your router should go to your desktop. Follow the instructions for your router, it should take you through all the set-up. I'll also second DizneyRox's comments on disabling the SSID broadcast and enabling MAC address filtering, only allowing those addresses you want to be able to to access the router wirelessly. You'll want to change the password on the router and you'll probably want to change the SSID from the factory default.

[cal5755]

desktop and routers also become "mated." Once the router is configured to work with a desktop, it has firmware to that desktop only. The router is also mated to the modem. It will have firmware to communicate with that specific modem. The router acts as a interpreter between all of your PCs and cable modem. If you have a sudden power failure to the modem or router you may have to reset the connection between your components. Otherwise there maybe a communications failure between your devices.

[DizneyRox]

desktop and routers also become "mated." Once the router is configured to work with a desktop, it has firmware to that desktop only. The router is also mated to the modem. It will have firmware to communicate with that specific modem. The router acts as a interpreter between all of your PCs and cable modem.
Can you identify a source of this information?

When configured as a DNS Server, the PCs on your network will request an IP address. That PC will keep that IP address until the lease expires at which it will request another, most likely getting the same one. That is really the extent of the "mating" between the PC and the router, but I wouldn't call it a firmware connection by any means.

I've never heard of mating a cable modem to the router either, there is no firmware connection between them. Your cable modem MAY be looking for a certain MAC address in order to provide an IP address, but there's no other connection there either. Turning the power off on the cable modem for about 2 minutes will clear that condition and you will be able to use any router again. Alternately you can spoof your old MAC adress on the new router to get around this, but only if you NEED to maintain the same Internet facing IP address. It is leased as well, so it can change at any point, so it's not something I would rely on.


If you have a sudden power failure to the modem or router you may have to reset the connection between your components. Otherwise there maybe a communications failure between your devices.
It is best to put your router and cable modem on a UPS to prevent this type of situation. Small power spikes/surges can wreak havoc on electronic equipment. You only really need it for the quick hits, if your neighborhood is out for any length of time, the cable company will have an outage as well and your connection to them will be hosed anyway.