Problem with connection b/t computer and router

[LinLin]

Hi,
I'm thrilled to be back with Idnet after an ill-advised stint with BT.
The old Netgear DG834 v3 router has been dusted off, and my connection is up and running.

Most of the time, that it. I keep getting these inexplicable losses of connection. I run Airport Extreme (a wireless station) from my Netgear router, and everything works fine for a while. Then my computers start telling me that I'm no longer connected to the internet. The Netgear router indicator lights show the connection is good, as does the Airport Extreme wireless station.

If I unplug the Netgear router for a minute, then plug it back in, everything is fine for a while...

What could be the problem? I am baffled.

With thanks,

LinLin

[pctech]

Hello

When you lose connection do you happen notice if the DSL light on your Netgear is flashing?

If it is this means the router has lost sync with the equipment at the exchange and is attempting to reconnect, once its done this it has to reauthenticate itself to IDNET, until the light stops flashing and the other 'i' light turns green meaning its logged back on you won't have a connection.

Note that your Airport router won't indicate anything is wrong as the connection between it and the Netgear hasn't been broken.

[Steve]

Is this a WiFi connection for the other machines and if so which WiFi access point are they using? Also just wondering if the Netgear DHCP server is playing up.

[LinLin]

Just lost my reply, so hope it won't double post.
The amber light on the Netgear unit that indicates internet connectivity sometimes blinks amber, but it resolves itself usually in under a minute.
The problem here is when that same light on the Netgear unit is a steady green. Every time when I go to the extreme of unplugging everything to reset, the Internet connection is restored without issue. So it is definitely a case of the signal not getting from the router/ airport to my machines.

I am running 3 machines off AirPort Extreme, which is a base station providing wireless through my house. It connects to the Netgear router via an Ethernet cable. I run 2 iPads and one laptop. Steve, what is dhcp?

[Steve]

I am assuming your setup is the Netgear providing the routing and the AEBS is purely a wireless access station -connection sharing is off (bridge mode).  This is how I use my AEBS (but with different router) the AEBS should have been given a static IP address outside the range of the Netgear's DHCP range to avoid any potential conflicts with other devices.

The DHCP server automatically assigns the LAN side IP addresses to any device when it tries to connect and allows access to the internet,I have had issues with a previous Netgear when it 'crashed' for want of a better word.

You could set one of the devices to have a static IP address again like the AEBS to see if that solves the issue as the problem does sound like a loss of routing to me


If DHCP server gives out addresses in the range say of 198.162.1.100-255 a non conflicting static IP address could be 192.168.1.50

[LinLin]

I am assuming your setup is the Netgear providing the routing and the AEBS is purely a wireless access station -connection sharing is off (bridge mode).  This is how I use my AEBS (but with different router) the AEBS should have been given a static IP address outside the range of the Netgear's DHCP range to avoid any potential conflicts with other devices.

The DHCP server automatically assigns the LAN side IP addresses to any device when it tries to connect and allows access to the internet,I have had issues with a previous Netgear when it 'crashed' for want of a better word.

You could set one of the devices to have a static IP address again like the AEBS to see if that solves the issue as the problem does sound like a loss of routing to me


If DHCP server gives out addresses in the range say of 198.162.1.100-255 a non conflicting static IP address could be 192.168.1.50

Thanks very much for this, Steve. It sounds like once I understand how to do these things it may well solve the problem.
AEBS is wireless, apart from the Ethernet connection to the Netgear (wired) router.

I'm not sure how to check if it is in 'bridge mode' but will investigate that.

How does one assign a static IP address?

Thanks so much. One reason I came back to idnet is this forum and how amazingly helpful folks are.

[LinLin]

Aha! Just moved from the iPad to the computer and got this error message on the computer:

Another device on the network is using your computer's IP address (192.168.0.4).

How do I know what range the 'DHCP' (still don't know what that means exactly, but it sounds like it is the Netgear router)  server is giving out addresses in?

[Steve]

The DHCP range can be found by accessing the web based Netgear setup menu


Which OS are you using? if on a Mac go to Airport utility,I'll give instructions for v7> AEBS>Edit>Internet> Connect using static>IPv4 Address


Ideally best outside DHCP range can't recall what Netgear is but say it's 192.168.1.100 -200 I'd pick something like 192.168.1.50 for the static address, you can see with the error you've got LAN IP conflicts , you'd be unlucky though to get conflict at the upper end of the range ie static in my example 192.168.1.199.

Subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Router Address - what ever your router's set at ie 192.168.1.0 or whatever it is

Then click on the Network tab Router mode = off (bridge mode)

If you need Airport Utility v5.6 instructions I can gives those as well.

You should be able to manage this without altering the Netgears settings. Netgear is DHCP server and AEBS is wireless access point.

[Glenn]

How do I know what range the 'DHCP' (still don't know what that means exactly, but it sounds like it is the Netgear router)  server is giving out addresses in?

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol

[LinLin]

Getting there!
I found Airport Utility, in one place it shows as version 6.1 (under 'about'), in another as 7.5.2.
And I am in bridge mode -- is that what I want to be in? I'm a bit confused because I read from your post that I do want to be in bridge mode but I'm having the problem in bridge mode.

I found this article
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_to_configure_a_static_dhcp_reservation_with_airport_extreme
and from that understand how to turn bridge mode off and assign static IP addresses to each device. But what numbers to assign confuse me.

The router's address is 192.168.0.1, but the range of DHCP shown when I turn off bridge mode and choose 'DHCP and NAT' is 10.0.1.2 to 10.0.1.200

I found the IP address range, which is 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254 and also see just below that where one can specify address reservation. And I do have the codes for each device (E0.d1.etc). Do I want to reserve an address for each one, and if yes, what address do I select?

[Steve]

You want AEBS to do no routing at all, this is provided by the Netgear otherwise it's gets very complicated as I don't believe the Netgear will pass the WAN IP address on to the AEBS (you can in theory with some Netgears use in modem only mode and then set the AEBS as router and connect via PPPOE)

So in my example Router is the Netgear , AEBS is a wireless access point and nothing else therefore it needs to be in bridge mode (routing is off) Try setting a static IP address for the AEBS at the upper end of the Netgear range i.e. 192.168.0.99. You got a conflict at 192.168.0.4 which could well be due to the AEBS pinching it, you'd need a lot of connected devices to get a conflict at the address I suggested.

If it's still falling over my suspicion is that the  Netgear's possibly faulty.


http://www.toobusyto.org.uk/tooBusy/2008/09/07/using-a-netgear-dg834gv3-as-an-adsl-modem/


The above link suggests that the Netgear can be used as modem only then the AEBS could be used to provide routing with a PPPOE connection

I struggled with a DG834N in modem only mode hence the reason I used a Draytek 120 modem with the AEBS.

[LinLin]

Try setting a static IP address for the AEBS at the upper end of the Netgear range i.e. 192.168.0.99.

OK. But how exactly do I do that?

On the Netgear setting page, the Router Status shows an ADSL port of 00:1b:2f:97:34:c3, which I'm assuming is the connection to the internet so I leave that alone.

It also shows a LAN port of 00:1b:2f:97:34:c2 -- is that the AEBS (which is connected via the ethernet cable)? If yes, where do I assign the static IP to 00:1b:2f:97:34:c2?

Lastly, is there/ do I need to find a MAC address for the AEBS? The three MAC addresses I've managed to find are for the 2 ipads and 1 computer.

Nearly there...

[Steve]

You assign the static IP address to the AEBS within Airport Utility itself no alterations need to be made on the Netgear.


From earlier  "Which OS are you using? if on a Mac go to Airport utility,I'll give instructions for v7> AEBS>Edit>Internet> Connect using static>IPv4 Address "

You can reserve IP addresses on some routers so that the DHCP server always gives the same address to an individual device which is recognised by their MAC.

[LinLin]

Success!   

Static IP address set, and everything seems to working just fine. It gave a warning about a DNS server which I clicked 'ignore' for, and then it rebooted and everything seems fine.

Thank you, thank you! You fellows are number 1.