[BPOS]

Apologies for the dumb question - I'm not a computer guy.

Recently installed a wireless router - I use two desktops - no laptop. The wirelss is strictly to access the internet on the second computer, nothing more.

This thing drives me nuts! It's very temperamental, and fails on a regular basis, prompting about a one hour phone call to Linksys to reconfigure the router each time. Uggghhhh.

I was wondering if it's possible to just hard wire the computers to the DSL modem without using the router. Some sort of ethernet cable splitter after the modem, with an ethernet cable going to each computer?

It sounds too simple, so I'm pretty sure it won't work.

Thanks, guys.

Al

[wiskeesour]

I think you should be able to do this. Take the linksys back and trade it for a netwrok router(non-wireless). We do it at the shop all the time....

[67FamilyFun]

your wireless router may have ethernet connections on the back?

[67FamilyFun]

you really want that/any router between your modem and your network because it acts as a firewall to keep out the bad guys.

[JimM]

your wireless router will have 4 ethernet connections on the back, so you could use those to hardwire it if you choose, but...

I'm assuming you are connected like this:

phoneline to dsl modem

dsl modem to WAN port on router

1 PC hardwired to one of the LAN ports on the router

Wireless adapter on second PC.

Correct me where I'm wrong (are both PC's on wireless?), and tell me, is it only the computer on wireless that is losing it's connection? Or is it both of them?

If it's only the one on wireless, you might try getting an updated driver for the wireless adapter in that computer. I've found these things to be kinda "hinky" sometimes.

[67FamilyFun]

yes. hinky. my wireless will drop if the microwave is used. also, one of my neighbors got something for christmas that they use in the morning that causes my wireless to drop. I tried every freq, to no avail. As more and more people are getting wireless devices, the spectrum is becoming very noisy. The further you are from your antennae, the more troubling it is...
I understand the desire to hardwire to the router.

[BPOS]

Jim - you are correct in the wiring. Phone line to modem, modem to router, one PC hardwired from router, the other is wireless. The router DOES have 4 ethernet connections on the back of it.

The problem is that when the router has a hiccup, NEITHER PC will access the internet. The hardwired one will work if I bypass the router, but that sucks when I hafta disconnect cables and all.

[DjD]

Don't loose the router Al! As others have said it should have several hard wire connections in the back. Get yourself 2 rj45 jacks and enough cat-5 cable to get from the router to the second computer. Run the cat-5 cable along baseboards and through walls and terminate each end with an rj45 jack. You can also go into the Attic or under the floor for a cleaner install... Keep it under 300 feet and your good to go. Now get 2 pre-terminated cat-5 cables, one for the pc to the jack and teh other from the router to the jack. This way you don't need any special crimpers and as long as you wire each jack the same you are good to go, you don't need to know any more about the cabling...

Don't forget you will need a LAN card in the second PC and don't forget to disable the wifi from your router...

You could buy a hub and do the same thing but the router provides a hardware firewall that you don't want to be without... Also your router acts as a dhcp host and assigns IP addresses to the PC's. If you choose to run a hub instead of a router you will have to pay your provider for additional ip addresses most likely.

If by chance your router doesn't have more than one lan drop you can still use it and buy an inexpensive hub and feed the hub from the router. Then connect the pc's to the hub.

[67FamilyFun]

hows does the hiccup manifest?

Is your computer, modem, router all on and working fine...and then they don't? Do you leave your computer (the one wired to the router) on all the time? Do you have a software firewall? How frequently does this occur?

Routers can be bad, but it seems unusual. Is it new? Has it always done this?
If you've been online with linksys, you've probably done a firmware update, but if not, here is the link:
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper

Scott

[BPOS]

Thanks for the replies. I like your idea Dennis - I could do that easily running the cable through the attic.

Scott - The first time the router goofed was during a power outage. When the juice came back on, the router needed to be reconfigured. Yesterday, it just quit for no apparent reason. Funny thing is, it started working again about an hour later for no apparent reason. I'm fairly sure it was the router, because when I bypassed it on the hardwired PC, I had internet access.

Regarding the LAN card - the PC that is currently wireless has an R45 jack in the back. Should I assume I'm good to go?

Oh yeah - how do I "disable" the wireless in the router?

Thanks again.

[67FamilyFun]

I went back and read some of your other networking posts to refresh my memory. Is one of these computers still ME...which one?

[BPOS]

Good memory, Scott. Yes - the wireless PC has the dreaded ME.

[67FamilyFun]

Originally Posted by BPOS

The first time the router goofed was during a power outage. When the juice came back on, the router needed to be reconfigured.

This could be bad. If you got a power spike and internally damaged the equipment. If it had to be reconfigured, something happened to cause it to do a "hard reset"...

Originally Posted by BPOS

Yesterday, it just quit for no apparent reason. Funny thing is, it started working again about an hour later for no apparent reason.

By quit, you mean you lost internet access, or the box lost power?

Originally Posted by BPOS

Regarding the LAN card - the PC that is currently wireless has an R45 jack in the back. Should I assume I'm good to go?

yes

Originally Posted by BPOS

Oh yeah - how do I "disable" the wireless in the router?

In your browser, type in 192.168.1.1 for the internet address. This will access the internals of the box. On the wireless tab, you will see an enable or disable select bubble. On the Administration tab, there is a firmware upgrade subtab...this is where you go once you have uploaded the latest firmware file to your desktop or wherever you downloaded it to.

[DjD]

If there is an rj45 in the back of the PC it's a LAN card. If it's a modem it will be a smaller jack (rj11). You access and control the router through a web browser window. You connect to the router by it's internal IP address... To find that open a command prompt (dos) window and type "ipconfig" from the PC that is working on the hard wire already. The default gateway is the routers internal IP address. Mines 192.168.0.1

[BPOS]

Scott - the power outage was about a month ago. The problem yesterday was loss of internet, not loss of power to the box.

On the 192.168.1.1 - which PC do I do that from? The hardwired or the wireless?

Thanks - and sorry again for my ignorance.