Problems with linksys befsr41 router

[IceSicle]

Hi, I'm having a few problems with my satellite modem and router. I have a business network, 13 computers including the server, and I live out in the middle of nowhere so I can't get a cable modem. The satellite modem is horrible but it is what my company wants. The satellite company will not work with networks, it installs the satellite and hooks it up to one computer, then you're on your own. The computer company that I was referred to has serious problems with these modems. The main problem at first was I couldn't get any of the computers to access both the network and the modem at the same time, after a week of trying with just the modem and my switches I decided to purchase a router. This has helped a little in that I can get my win98 machine to access both the internet and network at the same time but no other computer on the network will access the internet. All of the other machines are windows 2000. I have my cpus setup to obtain an IP address automatically, none of the LAN settings options are checked, and I can access the router setup page from any computer. However, to access the setup page I must type in an address that is not the address assigned to it. For instance, in the address bar of IE I must type 192.168.000.047 if it is assigned 192.168.000.039. The same goes for pinging in the command prompt, ever since I hooked the router up when I ping an address it says it is pinging a different address. If I ping 192.168.000.039, it pings 192.168.000.033. I have never seen this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[John Prophet]

Welcome to the forum!

that is a weird one...

what if you go to a dos box on one of the win2k machines and do "ipconfig /all" and copy and paste what the readout is so we can see it.

also, isnt there a limit of 10 machines per workgroup name (or something along thos elines) on Win2k?? could that be related?

What if you just try it with a few machines at first?

JP

[IceSicle]

Here is the ipconfig /all for the win2000 machine.

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com 3C918 Integrated Fast Ethernet
Controller (3C905B-TX Compatible)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-C0-4F-02-5C-53
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.131
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . :
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, July 20, 2004 2:41:49 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, July 20, 2004 4:41:49 PM
And here is the ipconfig /all for the win98 machine.

4 Ethernet adapter :

Description . . . . . . . . : D-Link DFE-530TX+ PCI Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-40-05-82-BF-97
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . : 192.168.0.39
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.39
Primary WINS Server . . . . :
Secondary WINS Server . . . :
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 07 20 04 1:24:21 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 07 21 04 1:24:21 PM

I know for the win2000 machine that I should have the same default gateway as the 98 machine. I have tried releasing and renewing the IP addresses for the win2000 cpu and that didn't work. It renews the same IP address. There is not a limit of cpus per workgroup, the network has one domain with no workgroups. I do not know how many cpus our server will handle but it has had up to 22 machines working on it at once with no problems whatsoever. Even now with only 13 the network is fine, the win2000 computers just won't access the internet.

[M_Six]

Your setup should be satellite modem to router to switch and out to the machines. The router should be giving out the DHCP addresses. If you have a server set to act as DHCP server and the router is also acting as DHCP server, then you're going to have conflicts. Try one machine at a time. Satellite modem to router to one machine. Cat5 from modem should go to the router WAN port. Then Cat5 from the router LAN port(s) to one PC set for DHCP. See what happens.

Also, is that satellite modem just a modem? Or does it have a router built-in?

BTW, Welcome to TechIMO.

[IceSicle]

Ok, my setup is modem to router to switch to machines. That is how I have had it setup. Unfortunately I have a network that cannot go down until late at night so I can't do any changing to the server for a few more hours. The satellite modem does not have a router built into it. What do you think would happen if I disabled the router as the DHCP server? I have everything setup properly as far as hardware goes, I just don't have something configured right. When you say try going from modem to router to machines should I disconnect the router from the network? Here is my problem with going from modem to router to machine(s). I can hook up 4 cpus to the router and have no problem, but can't log into the network if I disconnect the router from the network. If I plug 3 cpus into the router and one cat5 going from router to switch then my original problem persists, I can't get on the internet with the win2000 machines.

[M_Six]

Just so I'm clear on this, you said you have a server running. Is it running DHCP? If so, and the router is also running DHCP (which is the default), then your problem may be there. You can only have one DHCP server running on a network of that size.

[John Prophet]

that sort of sounds like it might be the issue....what were you using for dhcp before you got the router???

if you are using the router then IT will be handling the dhcp chores so you should disable any other dhcp you have coming from any server on the network..otherwise the router and the other dhcp server will be in conflict.

[IceSicle]

Before the router was hooked up my server was taking care of the dhcp. I have not disabled the dchcp on the server just yet because if this is the conflict then why would I be able to get even one computer using both the network and the interner? Before I disable the dhcp on the server do you think I should reset the router?

[John Prophet]

well there is no debate involved on this one...you simply cant have two dhcp servers on the same network.

you can reset the router all you want but you will just be getting random results with both dhcp servers fighting each other.

Simply disable the dhcp on the server and let the router handle it.

---

th eonly other alternative is two take the router out altogther and use internet conenction sharing....but personally I would rather have the router handling the dhcp because it is basically zero maintenance that way..and the server's resources are freed up to handle other things

[IceSicle]

Alright, something I neglected to mention earlier is this, my company only wants a few computers to have access to the internet. At the most there will be 5 computers who have access. I have figured out how I am going to do this. It's really simple but it will take a little bit of manual labor. Without disabling the DHCP on the server all I have to do is unhook the router from the network, hook a cpu up to the router since the router is still hooked to the internet, go to the command shell and type "IPCONFIG /RELEASE" and then "IPCONFIG /RENEW" and I have access to the internet since it is getting it's IP address from the router. After this I hook the router and cpu back into the network and everything is peachy. Each cpu that needs access to the internet has access and every computer that doesn't need access doesn't. Problem solved. However, there is one little thing I'm curious about. When I am in a command shell and I ping an IP it still does the weird thing by pinging a different IP than the one I typed in. It did this even when I had the cpu connected just to the router. Other than that everything is now fine.

[John Prophet]

dunno...cuz the way you have it hooked up will only keep giving random results and headaches

there are other ways to only allow certain machines to have internet access. (I dont know them off the top of my head but I have seen them posted here before, lol)


The problem if you leave both dhcp servers there is...what happens when the "lease" expires on one of the machines ad they then go to renew the lease? which dhcp server do they get it from?

dude, if you are going to be doing the tech work on this network, do yourself a favor and use the dhcp the way it was meant to....you'll thank yourself later.


maybe start another thread about limiting internet access to certain machines..i am sure it isnt too hard to do (maybe blocking port 80? but I am not sure)

[IceSicle]

Oh thanks, I forgot about the leasing. I will disable the DHCP on the server as soon as I can, it's just that when I get an oppurtunity to shut it down 30 seconds later it needs to be back up so that makes it kinda difficult to work with. Thanks for the info, and ya, I will probably start one or two more threads.

[John Prophet]

call in a bomb threat..then you have all the time u need!

[IceSicle]

Ya, that would work. Unfortunately we are one of the companies that would be called if a bomb threat were made somewhere.

[John Prophet]

oh, do anthrax then

[IceSicle]

Ahhh....genius.

[IceSicle]

Well, it will be another 2 or 3 hours before I will even have a chance of working on our server. I appreciate the info so far and if I have more problems I'll let ya know. Thanks.

[M_Six]

The Linksys router has a config page where you can allow/block internet access based on a PC's MAC address. You can also get that info from ipconfig /all. Block the MAC addresses of the PCs that should not have internet access. Another way is to not fill in the Gateway section of the network config on the PCs that are not supposed to use the internet. As long as they have an IP and Subnet Mask, but no Gateway, they won't access the internet but will be able to access the local network.

But you MUST either stop the DHCP service on the server or stop it on the router. You cannot have two DHCP servers on the same network segment and not have problems.

[IceSicle]

Halla-freakin-leujia!!!!!!!!! Or however you spell it. Alright, I disabled the servers dhcp and everything is great. And ya, I forgot that I can assign IPs without a gateway and they can still access the network. Still have the little problem of pinging an IP and it pinging a different address so I think I am gonna start a new thread. Thanks everyone.