WIFi in the shop

[klepape]

I've run 200' of Cat6e cable from my Shaw Blue Curve modem in my house out to my stand-alone shop/garage. Plugged directly into a computer I have excellent connection. But I wish to set up a wireless network in the shop, specifically using a Linksys WRT54G router I have. When I plug the cable into the internet port of the WRT54G, no connection. I have tried some setting changes on the WRT54G, it's set to Auto DHCP, changed to router mode instead of gateway and MAC is set to clone. That's the extent of my knowledge. And it still doesn't connect. Can someone help with this?

[dragonstone634]

internet port as in the WAN port?

For your  Linksys WRT54G you want it in AP mode not router mode. In router mode you could have a dual nat as NAT from the shaw gateway and NAT from your equipment. Plus you have 2 individual networks that can not see one another for sharing purposes.

All I can say is make sure the firmware for the  Linksys WRT54G is the current one, do a factory reset and start over.

[klepape]

The firmware is the latest for this hardware version and... there is no AP option in the operation mode, only gateway or router. Guess I'm out of luck on this old router and need to get an actual WAP.

[mdk]

1. Did the computer in your shop get a "public" IP-address from Shaw's DHCP-server, or did it get a "private" IP-address from the DHCP-server inside the BlueCurve?  If it was a "public" IP-address (not starting with "10.0.xx.yy" nor "192.168.aa.bb") then the BlueCurve is "enforcing" your limit of having only one "public" address on your account. Disconnect the computer's Ethernet cable, power-off/power-on the BlueCurve, to reset its "enforcement" to "currently ZERO IP-addresses are being used", and then connect the Linksys, so that it becomes the FIRST and ONLY computer to get a "public" IP-address.
2. Disconnect the "WAN" port on the Linksys, and then power-off/power-on it. Connect your computer to one of the "LAN" ports, and logon to the router's web-server. Check the range of IP-addresses that the Linksys is configured to hand-out. If necessary, change the range to something like "192.168.234.101" to "192.168.234.200", and change its "router" IP-address to "192.168.234.1". Restart the router. Restart your computer, so that your computer gets an IP-address in that new range. Connect to the router's web-server, using "192.168.234.1".
3. Now, connect the "WAN" port on the Linksys to your long Ethernet cable, and check the web-server on the Linksys for the IP-address that it has received from the BlueCurve's DHCP-server. It must be something NOT in the "192.168.234.xx" range.
4. Or, does the Linksys router work when connected with a short Ethernet cable to the BlueCurve? If not, it could be a "dud". Does the Linksys get a "public" or a "private" IP-address for its "WAN" port?
5. Note that there is nothing WRONG with a "double-NAT" (Network Address Translation) setup, provided that the range of IP-addresses used by the BlueCurve is disjoint from the range of IP-addresses used by the Linksys.
6. Your Linksys should be in its "normal" mode, namely as a router, so that its DHCP-server can hand-out "private" IP-addresses, e.g., "192.168.234.1xx", to your WiFi device(s).
7. It's perfectly fine to have two WiFi networks -- one inside your shop, and one provided by the BlueCurve, if all you need is Internet access inside your shop.  It will take some networking talent to "print" from a WiFi computer in your shop to an Ethernet-connected (or WiFi-connected) printer inside your house -- the BlueCurve router would need to be configured to "allow" the "unsolicited" network traffic from your shop to reach the printer. In your shop, it would be much easier to copy a file to a USB memory-stick, and then "walk" that stick into your house, to connect that stick to a computer in your home, and then "print" to the printer, and then grab the printed pages, and "walk" the pages back to your shop. (Or, E-mail the file to be printed to the "home" computer, and print from the E-mail message.)

[klepape]

Thanks for this. Because this WRT54G is at least 15 years old (V3) and I dug it out of my box of miscellaneous bits including an impressive collection of wall warts, I'm thinking the better choice is to get a new WAP. I think a true WAP doesn't require or hand out IP addresses, simply passes off to the Blue curve. So it should be a simple plug-n-play? And internet access in the shop is all that I want, no need to print or transfer files or anything else. The auto tuners have changed the game lately: used to send you a file to upload to your ECU but now you need a live internet connection to the ECU to upload from their server... and charge appropriately for each and every change/revision...