Linksys repeater with DDWRT

By i11usive
in Smart Home, Network & Security

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Grand Master

i11usive

Posted
Posted

Hopefully I've got this in the right forum.

 

I have a Linksys E3000 router running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (03/25/13) big. It is double natted into the ISPs cable modem and giving us VPN access to UK IP addresses for all local WiFi clients. That's all working fine and has been for a while now.

 

However, last week I purchased a Linksys RE3000W WiFi repeater in an effort to extend the WiFi signal from the E3000 to the end of our house. I connected the repeater up and connected to the HTTP interface, ran the Site Survey wizard, selected the SSID of the E3000, entered the WPA2 Personal key and it seemed to link up. A DHCP lease for the RE3000W was present on the E3000.

 

So I moved the repeater to a midway point in the house. Any client connecting to the RE3000W gets full signal of the WiFi and can connect - retrieving an IP address from the main router. But there is zero internet access -- it seems to run in limited connectivity mode.

 

I've moved the device closer to the main router and can connect to it's HTTP interface using the IP address that was assigned. Ping diagnostics on the repeater give request timed out errors to all internal devices - including the main router itself - and, obviously anything on the Internet.

 

I've been at this for hours now and am about to launch the repeater out of the window, but thought I'd ask here for any help/advice.

Thanks in advance. I hope I haven't confused you with my attempt at explaining what's going on. If you need further info, just ask.

 

Cheers,

 

i

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Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Sure your not in a nat mode on this "repeater"?  Set it up as wireless client to your main routers wifi is what it sounds like to me.  When you say the repeater got an IP from the man router?

 

More than happy to help you troubleshoot this setup, but the best option for extended wifi coverage is to use an AP with a wired to the main network.  Any wifi router can do this,just connect a wire to your man network from one of its lan ports, turn off its dhcp server and give its lan an IP on your main network.

 

When I read your setup it really sounds like you are in client mode with doing nat and its dhcp server is still running?

 

I don't see how this would be a repeater setup "A DHCP lease for the RE3000W was present on the E3000."

 

So does a wifi client connecting to the repeaters wifi signal get an IP from the main router?  What are the IP ranges in use?

Grand Master

i11usive

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hey BudMan - thanks for the response.

 

Clients connected to the extender do get a DHCP address from the main router - there are no DHCP services on the extender. I'm using a 192.168.123.x class C network.

 

After setting up the extender from scratch, it is listed as a client on the main router's DHCP table. The WiFi security seems to work - although I've tried with zero security to see if that was causing issue. When the extender is connected and I'm connected to the main router, I can connect to it using http://192.168.123.110 (which is the address assigned to it). The ping from the web interface times out when trying to ping local clients and hosts on the 'net.

 

i

Apprentice

witboy

Posted
Posted

I have similar configuration :).  Router E3200 with tomato and RE2000. Configuration was without any problem. At first reset RE2000. Then connect with a cable on it on 192.168.1.1. Do a manual configuration as it is on the second half of this video.

Everything works great, even ipv6 :)

Grand Master

i11usive

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks witboy -- I've done the manual setup and it is linking up to the main wireless as you can see below - that's a screen shot from the extender status page .. just any clients connected to the extender get no internet access (although they are receiving IPs from DHCP). Internal ping diags on the extender don't work either.

post-189086-0-62041000-1425308245.png

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

So on your clients that connect to repeater wifi and getting IP from main router dhcp.  Can they ping the main router IP, what is that?  And what IP do they get, and what IP is on your repeater?

 

If clients that are connected to main router wifi work and can ping the routers IP, and clients on the repeater wifi can not ping the main router (this would be their gateway to the internet) then NO its never going to work..  You need to figure out why clients on wifi repeater can not ping main router.  Is it a security setting, mac filtering on main router?  etc. etc.

 

Again is there anyway to run a wire, or use powerline adapters to get a connect to where you want to put this repeater?  Repeating is /2 of the already limited shared bandwidth, etc.  Never a good solution - it is a solution where there is just no possible other way.. And even then it is crappy solution..

Grand Master

i11usive

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah - they're getting IP config from main router - 192.168.123.x client address / 255.255.255.0 sn mask / 192.168.123.1 gateway. There is something really odd going on .. I'm starting to think the unit is faulty. I've factory reset it, manually adjusted the WiFi config to match the main network and voila, it works. Unplug and move the extender and it stops working. Factory default in situ and repeat the process and it works (randomly) - change the password, the extender reboots and it's gone again .. I'm doing a firmware reinstall from the bin files on Linksys' support site.

 

Agreed - cable repeaters are better ... guess I'm just being lazy. The powerline adapters are quite dear too aren't they?

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