750k Router problems

randomdug · 17-10-2004, 18:33

Hello, i'm looking for any advice anyone can give me regarding sharing a set top box (samsung) connection using a router. I've tried setting up the connection using a cnet cnig904s broadband router but to no avail. For some reason when i try and set it up from the provided cd it wont let me use the router. The problem comes when the setup checks the hardware of the computer. to network the computers in the house i run the 'setup home or small office..', which bridges the onboard lan connection with the router. However, for some reason when running setup, the lan card is not visible and the only way to get setup to find it is to remove it from the bridge, ie. disconnecting it from the router and disabling the network. (btw this is the onboard lan on a shuttle sn41g pc). Does anyone know of any reason why the setup shoudln't work. The chain is set top box -> router (wan port) -> onboard ethernet port. Also, for some reason, over the summer the previous tenants ntl subscription was still active, and as there was a modem in the house already (ntl 10/100) we were able to plug the router straight into it and have instant access to the internet.
I have hjstu attempted to setup the conenction using the router, and (if anyone is familiar with the ntl setup cd) it gets as far as obtainign an ip adress, and then goes to teh registration page in internet explorer. It attempts to load the web page, and aftert a long wait it times out.
I'm really sorry for the length of this post, but i just wondered if anyone had any advice on how to get this setup to work, either by bypassing all of the setup stuff that it seems you have to do to get online, or by doing something within windows. Basically, is there anwyay of just connecting the set top box to the back of the router and (as we've already registered online with ntl) manually setting up the internet connection.
If anyone can offer me any advice or has any questions about this please email me at randomdug(at)hotmail.com, i can provide more information, screenshots etc.
Again, thanks, and sorry about the length. This forum is a godsend, the thought of being on hold to ntl for an hour doesn't really appeal.
doug adams

(oh, also, i'm available on msn messenger)

Florence · 17-10-2004, 18:51

If the problem is the router phoning NTL will not work. I have no experience with your router or STB but lets see if we can find something.

1. have you cloned the mac address over to the router from the main pc the one that was used to register with NTL.

2. Have you tried to ping the other computers on the network.

3. can you open the routers configeration file to see what its set to and do port forwarding, view the internal IP numbers.

sorry its not the best but without more information about your router I cannot find the reason.

randomdug · 17-10-2004, 18:58

well, the problem is that it won't let me connect using the router, when the pc is directly linked to the set top box there's no hassle, but when the router's in line, and i set up the network it just doesn't 'see' the internet. it's quite odd because it does try and load web pages but then times out, so it seems to think there's a connection there. sorry i can't be of more help, i have no experience of networking at all. the router i'm using is fine for networking, gaming etc with 4 computers. i'll try out some of the things you mentioned tonight and get back to you. thanks for your quick reply.

do you have any experience of usign the set top box as the internet access point?

swoop101 · 17-10-2004, 19:04

Type 'start' in for the url, when you put the router in-line the servers are finding an unknown system and you need to register this with NTL.
You may need to reboot the stb for the process to start.

Paul K · 17-10-2004, 19:09

You can do as sugested and clone the MAC address of your NIC (if you are using one) into the router so that the STB sees the IP address that is registered against your account. (you can get this information from a dos prompt, start menu, run, cmd, ipconfig /all (don't leave the space out of that command)
Or you can register that router against your account by going to the provisioning page that is in the NTL setup manual you get with your welcome pack and CD.
Also make sure that if you have any firewall running that it is not blocking the new network connection (router) and that your security settings for internet explorer are set at the default levels for now so that the provisioning page can load properly.
There's a lot more info here
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d...s/macaddr.html

randomdug · 18-10-2004, 17:16

thanks guys, i've been tryign a few things, but it's still not working. i think it's more of a problem that needs to be seen to be understood...i'lll try soem more this evening. what fun. cheers

Chris W · 18-10-2004, 17:25

Right,

Power everything off. To start with you need to make sure that you have the stb plugged in via straight ethernet cable to the uplink or wan port of the router.

Then turn the stb back on. When the mcns light comes on solid (light on the middle panel) turn on the router.

Then connection one of the ethernet ports on the router to your computer with another straight ethernet cable. Then power on the computer.

There is no bridging of connections necessary, and probably no need to run through a setup cd. Delete any bridges that are appearing and then check the status of your local area connection. It should be enabled and connected. The click on status. You should then have an ip address appearing there, which will probably be in the form 10.xxx.xxx.xxx or 192.168.xxx.xxx. If this is there all is good.

Open the internet explorer and type the address 172.30.16.83 and press go. This will take you to a logon page asking for your PID and password to register the new device. Follow all instructions and then power everything down again. Turn all back on in the same order- stb, then router, then pc.

You will then have full internet access. And will be able to simply plug any other computers into the router and be up and running straight away.

If you have problems.... post back!

randomdug · 18-10-2004, 20:04

thanks monkeybreath, i'll just try that adn get back to you. this should hopefully get the other housemates off my back

randomdug · 18-10-2004, 21:09

little old me, just tried usign the rotuer in teh steps you suggested both on my computer and one with a totally different hardware setup but teh same problem occurs on both - when the router is in line, the lan connection assigns itself an IP Adress beginning with 169.254.xxx.xxx, this happens on both computers. when the connection is bridged with the router no ip address is visible. is this possibly a problem with my router? last night i was able to get on to the router console to try and change its MAC address as suggested by someone else but that didn't help either.
if it helps at all it's a CNET CNIG904S 4 port broadband router, and the STB is a samsung, i have an nVidia motherboard - onboard lan, sound, video etc running an athlon 2700.
back to the problem though, when trying to access the ntl registration page, or in fact any page it tries to load and comes up with "search page not available", to get back on the internet now, all i needed to do was connect the stb directly to my computer, power it down and on again and it connects straight away.
any suggestions at all? i'm sorry about this, and really appreciate your help. I'm goign to attempt a full reinstall of XP pro tonight, and i'll (hopefully) get back to you later.
oh - and my ip is now in the format 80.7.xx.xxx

Florence · 18-10-2004, 21:39

Have you downloaded the latest drivers for the router? just incase they are
here

Have you tried another cable between the STB and router?

Can you connect through USB from router to computer or STB and router? Ikow USB sucks but if it works then its the cables at fault.

What RJ45 cable are you using between the PC and the router?
If crossover try a straight one if the other way around still try another between the router and pc

Can you borrow another router from a friend to see if you can connect with that one?

Chris W · 18-10-2004, 22:11

If the pc is getting an ip starting 169.254 that means that your computer cannot connect its dhcp server- which in this case is your router.

Try opening a dos window (start-> run -> command.com ) and typing
ipconfig /renew

then check the ip address again and see if it is still starting 169. If it is, power down the router and if it has a reset button, press and hold this for 30 seconds. Then try renewing the ip address again and see if it is still 169. If it is, it suggests that the router is dead. If it is something else then you should be able get to the provisioning page

nb- i made a boo boo in my post earlier- the server address is 172.16.30.83

randomdug · 18-10-2004, 22:32

thanks, i'll try both those things. just going to download the drivers and have *another* try.

randomdug · 19-10-2004, 11:33

hi again, i dtried these thing - resetting the router, turning the things on in a different order, used different cables (all straight) and tried using different computers. The only conclusion i can coem to is that the router is broken for some reason, i'll try and borrow one today. Thanks again