Wireless connection to wired router? - Tech Support Forums

JohnE. · June 19th, 2007, 12:49 AM

Here's the scenario: I have this computer connected to the internet via a wireless router/wireless NIC. I'm using the computers built-in wired NIC to network a second computer via a cross-over cable. Works great, no problems at the moment.

My question is, can I connect a wired router to the onboard NIC in order to network (and give internet access to) more than a single machine, i.e. a third computer? Would I still use the cross-over cable to go to the router and then standard cables to go to the other 2 machines? Currently I have to disconnect the cross-over cable from #2 and plug it into #3 to get access for #3. Internet access for #3 isn't a big concern but it would be nice to have my local network all connected for file transfers, music sharing, etc.

Usually, I would just hook it all up the way I thought it "should" go and hope for the best but since the current setup is working well for 2 machines I wanted to check with others in case there was some detail I missed that would make this not possible. I don't want to mess up my current setup until i have a good idea this can work, heh.

**RicheemxX** · June 19th, 2007, 01:04 AM

How far from the wireless connection is the main pc? and other pc's why not just use wired ports from the original router for those? or does it not have any? Doing it your way you'd be funneling your bandwith through one connection to 3 pcs. With a router and separate connections for each pc you share the bandwith more evenly.

JohnE. · June 19th, 2007, 01:37 AM

Aye, there's the rub... I'm connected to the wireless router through 3 floors of concrete. I've tried the wireless NIC in the other machines and they just can't pick up the signal in their current locations. Only the #1 machine can pick up the signal well enough.

**RicheemxX** · June 19th, 2007, 01:54 AM

Ahh I see you are stuck trying something creative. Well someone with a little more knowledge on ICS might have to correct me on this one.

But as far as I know all you'd need to do is Disabled DHCP on the router and plugged the crossover cable into a LAN port instead of its WAN port you might have to Allocate each PC a static IP. But then yeah enable ICS in the host run the networking wizard to set up ICS and you should be set.

JohnE. · June 19th, 2007, 02:28 AM

Ok, I'll give it a try.. worst that can happen is I won't have a home network for a while if it doesn't work. Hope those aren't "famous last words", hehe.

Bizkitkid2001 · June 19th, 2007, 02:29 AM

All you have to do is set the router to work as a standard switchm or just ditch the router and buy a switch.

JohnE. · June 23rd, 2007, 06:09 PM

I finally found the time to tackle this today and it's all good, thanks for the input guys.

I tried several possible configurations of cross-over and standard network cables and WAN/LAN ports and what ended up working, after I disabled DHCP on the wired router, used the Network Setup Wizard several times and disabled the Windows Firewall on all machines, was: standard cable from the #1 computer's (the one with the wireless connection to the internet) onboard NIC to #7 LAN port (not the WAN port) on the wired router, then standard cables from the other 3 machines to remaining LAN ports on the wired router. Full home network and internet connectivity on all machines.

Yay, no more cable swapping or CD-RW burning to move files 5 feet over. It would have been easier with a hub I'll bet, but I couldn't find the darn thing.

Bizkitkid2001 · June 23rd, 2007, 06:40 PM

All of the big name brand router companies (Linksys, Netgear, D-Link) have instructions on their website on how to do exactly what you did. When I posted my first reply I forgot that it was the Linksys website where I learned how to do that with my wired and wireless router.

RamonGTP · June 23rd, 2007, 06:55 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162168

That's what you need... This will connect to the wireless router that's three floors away and has a built in 4 port switch. You can plug your wired computers into it instead of having to piggy back to your laptop. This way your laptop can remain portable while the wired computers have their own connection via the Buffalo Ethernet Converter.

It's very easy to setup, i've used these on three seperate occassions and they are very stable.

JohnE. · June 27th, 2007, 08:12 PM

Well, I spoke too soon... as soon as I rebooted the ICS host machine my network disappeared and I had no internet connection on any of the machines connected to the router. No amount of cable swapping and Network Setup Wizarding has got this working again. For some reason the router keeps re-enabling DHCP no matter how many times I disable it (and save and reboot the router each time).

What boggles my mind is that it worked perfectly until I rebooted the host machine.. argh. I had to go back to a single shared connection via NIC>crossover cable>NIC but I'm going to try this again and try assigning static IP's in the routers config.

On the plus side, my walk-in closet is getting a good cleaning while I hunt for that old hub, lol.