Help (networking stuff)

[Zeus]

OK, yesterday I switched from a cable modem to a DSL 'cause Rogers decided that fucking me in the ass wasn't enough, they took away the reach-around too.

So, I got the modem working properly with the CSR. Then I told him I wanted to put it through a router. So we went into the modem setup and changed it to a "bridge" setting. I plugged the modem into my Linksys Wireless G (54mpbs) router (the popular model). I have both my comp and my 360 hardwired to it.

Only the comp seems to work. Neither the 360 nor the wireless signal seems to connect to the Internet. I tried unplugging and resetting the modem then plugging it back into the router. I tried unplugging the router so it reset but it don't work.

I think it's a setting thing but I'm not sure how to set the router. The 360 says it's missing an DNS address. I haven't tried eliminating then reconnecting the 360 yet.

So the question is: what do I need to do to get the router working properly?

[Shellie]

You should have the modem plugged into the wan port of the router and your computers into the numbered ports.

Looks like bridging is for people with multiple routers.

Unplugging the router doesnt reset it... Theres a reset button that will take the settings back to default, but then you will lose any wireless security you have set up, if any.

[Mully]

They shouldn't have taken you through a router setup.

[Zeus]

They shouldn't have taken you through a router setup.

They didn't, they just set up the modem so that it's on "bridge" setting now.

Seraph, it's connected to the right ports. I was using the exact same cables and setup I had with the cable modem. My main computer is on port #1 and it works fine. I just can't get port #2 and the wireless to work

[Shellie]

Well Im not familiar with DSL modems, so I have no idea what they mean by bridging on the modem.

If you plug the 360 into that port for the computer, does the 360 work then?

[Lox]

Well Im not familiar with DSL modems, so I have no idea what they mean by bridging on the modem.

If you plug the 360 into that port for the computer, does the 360 work then?

Some friends of mine had a kinda similar issue. Only they couldn't get anything to connect to the Internet.

Some DSL modems have to be set to "bridged" mode. I think it tells the modem to merely act as a passer of data rather than a router of data. They had to set theirs to bridge to be able to use their router.

Why one port works and the others don't is beyond me though. I'd also like to know if the 360 works on port #1.

[Zeus]

I'll switch it when I get home and see

I'm curious: I had the 360 set up the connection with the old modem. Maybe it needs to be set up again? I may just try eliminating the setup and seeing from there..

Now that i think about it, I didn't have TVersity on either. But that should only be for sharing files and not whether or not it connects to the Internet.

Argh, I'll have to figure it out tonight

[Tessian]

Is your Xbox set up to do DHCP or static addressing? If it's set to static your network settings have most likely changed since switching. If not, then does the Xbox get an IP address and such through DHCP?

[Zeus]

Is your Xbox set up to do DHCP or static addressing? If it's set to static your network settings have most likely changed since switching. If not, then does the Xbox get an IP address and such through DHCP?

DHCP

OK, what I've noticed is that the network is up, you just can't connect to the server. That's a bit odd. I'm gonna fiddle with it, I think I may take that "bridge" setting off off modem and see

[Imakeholesinu]

Is your Xbox set up to do DHCP or static addressing? If it's set to static your network settings have most likely changed since switching. If not, then does the Xbox get an IP address and such through DHCP?

DHCP

OK, what I've noticed is that the network is up, you just can't connect to the server. That's a bit odd. I'm gonna fiddle with it, I think I may take that "bridge" setting off off modem and see

I have AT&T and I didn't have to set the modem in "Bridge" mode. I did when they were using the 2wire pieces of shit, but they went back to the Siemens and all I had to do was plug it into the router and the router detected it and made an address space change from 192 to 10.0 so all of my equipment connected to the router is a 10.0.0.xxx address since the connection between the modem and the router is a 192.168.1.xxx address.

Z, I am assuming that as soon as you un-bridge the router, you'll be able to connect to anything and your router should know the difference and that all it is doing is acting as a switch.

[Lox]

What model of modem did they give you?

I've never had to change any of the settings on my modem either, but I know some of the newer ones that Verizon uses require it to be set to bridge.

Did you google for info on your specific modem model? I bet there's info on how to get it to work with a router.

[Zeus]

What model of modem did they give you?

I've never had to change any of the settings on my modem either, but I know some of the newer ones that Verizon uses require it to be set to bridge.

Did you google for info on your specific modem model? I bet there's info on how to get it to work with a router.

Speedtouch 516

I'm gonna try unbridging like Lox suggesting. I think (hope) that should work

[Lox]

What model of modem did they give you?

I've never had to change any of the settings on my modem either, but I know some of the newer ones that Verizon uses require it to be set to bridge.

Did you google for info on your specific modem model? I bet there's info on how to get it to work with a router.

Speedtouch 516

I'm gonna try unbridging like Lox suggesting. I think (hope) that should work

Remember...if it works, I suggested it. If it doesn't, then Barret suggested it.

[Imakeholesinu]

What model of modem did they give you?

I've never had to change any of the settings on my modem either, but I know some of the newer ones that Verizon uses require it to be set to bridge.

Did you google for info on your specific modem model? I bet there's info on how to get it to work with a router.

Speedtouch 516

I'm gonna try unbridging like Lox suggesting. I think (hope) that should work

Remember...if it works, I suggested it. If it doesn't, then Barret suggested it.

.....If it works, then both of us suggested it.

[Lox]

.....If it works, then both of us suggested it.

Lies!!!

[SineSwiper]

A cable modem is a Layer 2 bridging device already. (It has an IP address, but that's for mgmt use only, not for routing.) That means that it's simply designed to take traffic from one port (the cable port) to the other (the ethernet port). Unless the cable modem has more than one port (ie: a combination CM/router), it's always going to be a bridge.

A home router is designed to be a Layer 3 NATing device. That means that the router will get a public IP address (on the WAN side), and then give all of your PC/consoles on your network private IP addresses (on the LAN side). A NAT device will share the public IP address. Unless you pay for it, you only have one public IP address.

Therefore, if you change your home router to a bridge, it's basically going to be a Layer 2 bridge without any IP address. So, only one computer is going to get a public IP address, and there won't be any NATing. You don't want that.

Anyway, I explained all of that because sometimes it's better to understand the network so that you understand what's wrong. The first thing you should be doing is pinging everything. All of your PCs/consoles should have 192.168.* address (standard NAT private IP range). If not, something is wrong (bridged router?). If that is okay, try pinging all of your other PCs. If the other PCs have the 192.168.* address and one PC doesn't have an IP address at all, then either it's not set to DHCP, or you have a connection problem between it and the router.

So, that would be pinging all of your network, which should all ping fine, including your router itself on the LAN side (usually 192.168.1.1). Now, from a PC, ping your router's WAN side gateway (look it up on the router webpage). If you can reach that, you can probably get online. If you can reach the gateway but can't get online, it might be DNS. (Compare domain pings with IP pings.)

Also, don't even fuck with wireless yet. Wait until you're sure that all of your wired network can work first.

[Zeus]

OK, talked to one of my buds last night and got it fixed. I'll explain it in my layman's terms for those who are reading this that aren't techies. I'm a newbie on the networking stuff myself so I'm still learning.

Essentially, Sine hit it right on the head. The reason my computer was working but nothing else was is because my router wasn't even a part of the equation. The "bridge" setting on my modem essentially meant "there will be this thing in the way (the router) between the comp and you, so ignore it". That's why when I changed ports it wasn't working for the Xbox 360 but the comp was.

What I actually had to do what change the modem's settings back to "routed" instead of "bridge" and then change my router's settings to "PPPoE" instead of "Automatic DHCP". From what I understand, what that did is actually make the router the central source of calling into the DSL provider to access the internet instead of the computer. Once that setup was done and I disconnected the comp from dialing into the DSL service and after a router reset, everything was working perfectly.

What really annoyed me was the fact that the technical service guy purposefully set it up so only my computer would work and it would ignore the router. We set up my modem to work and when I told him I had a router, he had me reset the modem settings and told me "we don't support routers, you'll have to get other help". Well that's cool and all, but to purposefully set it up so only the comp would work ignoring the router? That's just stupid.

[Lox]

I forgot about configuring the router for PPPoE. Thinking back, that was part of the solution for my friend with a new DSL modem. I should have remember that! Whoops!

Glad it works now though.

[Zeus]

Thanks for the help guys