Wireless Novice

[canarytops]

Hi, have been checking thru the wireless posts and am still uncertain about a few things, hope someone can assist.
I have a Samsung STB and have just bought a Linksys WRT54G router and a WUSB54G network adaptor.
I intend connecting my new PC via ethernet to the STB via the router and then connecting my old PC via wireless.
Having just read the Linksys user guide there seems to be info required from NTL, yet most posts seem to imply router connectivity is simply a case of powering all kit off, connecting cables and powering on in the correct sequence.
The info I'm querying is "Connection Type", can I assume that the default "Auto Configuration - DHCP" is OK for a STB ?
I'm also a bit confused as to defining the router to the STB, I had assumed this would need provisioning but I couldn't see how to do this. Is this what the various references to cloning MAC addresses relate to ?
Thanks in anticipation - please be gentle I'm still hurting after the Saints result of yesterday !

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by canarytops

yet most posts seem to imply router connectivity is simply a case of powering all kit off, connecting cables and powering on in the correct sequence.

Yep

Originally Posted by canarytops

The info I'm querying is "Connection Type", can I assume that the default "Auto Configuration - DHCP" is OK for a STB ?

Yep

Originally Posted by canarytops

I'm also a bit confused as to defining the router to the STB, I had assumed this would need provisioning but I couldn't see how to do this. Is this what the various references to cloning MAC addresses relate to ?

Two ways:

1) Register the router's WAN port's MAC address with ntl. See here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d...r.html#pacereg

or

2) Clone the MAC address of an already registered PC onto the router's WAN port - the set-up CD should have a wizard for this.
__________________

Extra: Don't forget to secure the wireless network - http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/article.php?a=12

[canarytops]

Thanks for the help. I'm making progress although have problems which I think relate to the USB adaptor on my old Win98 machine. Am going to exchange for PCI version.

Things that "confused" me to start with was what to do with the Host Name/Domain Name fields for the router which appeared to be required for the DHCP option. These were presumably optional as I didn't complete them and all seems OK.
I was also confused when I initially powered on the PC, I received the NTL provisioning screen as expected. On completing and powering off as instructed this screen was re-presented. It wouldn't allow the router to be added again and I think that I cancelled this session in confusion, rebooted and all seemed OK.
My problem with the Win98 machine is that I cant get the adaptor to show as "active". Having installed it in the WinXP PC it seems to work so am going to try a PCI version.

Thanks again.

[Hector's House]

Originally Posted by canarytops

Thanks for the help. I'm making progress although have problems which I think relate to the USB adaptor on my old Win98 machine. Am going to exchange for PCI version.

Things that "confused" me to start with was what to do with the Host Name/Domain Name fields for the router which appeared to be required for the DHCP option. These were presumably optional as I didn't complete them and all seems OK.
I was also confused when I initially powered on the PC, I received the NTL provisioning screen as expected. On completing and powering off as instructed this screen was re-presented. It wouldn't allow the router to be added again and I think that I cancelled this session in confusion, rebooted and all seemed OK.
My problem with the Win98 machine is that I cant get the adaptor to show as "active". Having installed it in the WinXP PC it seems to work so am going to try a PCI version.

Thanks again.

did you set the network type as infrastructure?

[canarytops]

Yes, it worked fine on the XP machine.

Have just got the PCI version will post how I get on.

[canarytops]

Hi everyone, just a quick note to let you know that all seems to be working although I'm not sure how !
Fyi, I had quite a few problems getting the PCI adaptor setup. Installed hardware OK, on booting Win98 found new hardware, set up driver info and then attempted to copy required software and hung. This happened 3 times sometimes the "copy box" appeared but the percentage complete never left 0%. Then uninstalled the software and re-installed, on rebooting samething ! Tried again and this time it worked !
On loading Linksys wireless monitor adaptor shown as inactive. Went into "site survey" and no SSID was shown even though I had checked the SSID had been configured correctly. When I "enabled" SSID broadcast on router the SSID was visible and I could then manually connect. (May seem obvious but I had assumed that if configuration details matched they would still be able to see each other !).
On connecting, the adaptor objected that WEP wasn't enabled. This wasn't because I hadn't taken heed of all the security advice, I had opted for WPA-PSK security which to my uninformed eye appeared to be more secure. However even though the Linksys router supports this their adaptor appears not to (am waiting on their support line on that one).
Once I'd reset the router to WEP I was able to set the adaptor to the same settings and we connected - sigh !
This is where I get really confused. Although the adaptor monitor showed nice radiating circles of connectivity to the router there was a big red/orange "sun symbol" between the router and internet icon and sure enough on loading my browser I couldn't connect to the web.
Tried various websites to no avail and eventually decided take a break. After around half an hour when I returned to the PC I had a Norton Firewall prompt asking whether I should permit the Linksys software to access the internet. Having said OK there was a connection to the internet. I'm not sure if this was coincidence as there were no such prompts during my initial attempts. The bottom line is I seem to be working but don't really understand the initial delay (about 10 mins).
If anyone can explain I'd appreciate it.

[canarytops]

Hi, if anyone is interested it has taken some little while for Linksys tech support to backtrack on their initial view that their adaptor supported WPA-PSK. Apparently with Win98 you need a third-party product to enable this protocol. Linksys have recomended Boing - have downloaded and am waiting to test.

Will post results.