I realize most of you home repair and wireless router gurus
probably already know all of this; but, it took me quite a
while to figure out (from various sources) how to set up
a spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 home broadband router as a wired
access point, so, I post my generic notes here for the
benefit of whomever might need these details.
How I set up a spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 as a wired access point:
Note: The Linksys WRT54Gv2 can NOT be set up as a wireless AP
without flashing the software with DD-WRT or equivalent; so I
opted for the wired access point which required running a cable
under the house from the main router wall plate to the spare router.
HOME WIRING:
- Connect the primary home broadband router numbered port to the wall plate
- From the primary wall plate, run a cat5 cable to the secondary wall plate
- The wiring order was as follows for both ends of all cables:
(1) solid brown, (2) striped brown, (3) solid green, (4) striped blue,
(5) solid blue, (6) striped green, (7) solid orange, (8) striped orange
- From the basement wall plate, connect to a numbered port on the spare WRT54Gv2
ROUTER RESET:
- The spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 firmware was at Firmware Version v1.02.8
- Disconnect all connections on the spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 router
- Tape shut the Internet WAN port of the spare WRT54Gv2 router
- Connect the power supply to the spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 router
- Hold the reset button for 30 seconds (keep holding the reset button)
- Remove the power for 30 seconds (keep holding the reset button)
- Power the router back on for 30 seconds (keep holding the reset button)
- Finally, let go of the reset button when the third 30 seconds are up
NOTE: This is often termed the 30:30:30 factory-reset procedure.
ROUTER SETUP:
- Turn off the wireless NIC on the laptop (usually by a hardware switch)
- Connect an Ethernet cat5 cable to the laptop eth0 port
- Connect that cat5 cable to a numbered port on the WRT54Gv2 router
- Set the laptop eth0 IP address to 192.168.1.X (anything higher than 1.1)
(e.g., on Ubuntu, I used: $ sudo ifconfig eth0 92.168.1.2)
- Make a note of the MAC address of the laptop wlan0 network interface card
(e.g., $ sudo ifconfig wlan0 | grep HWaddr) == 00:A0:00:9B:88:C1
- Log into the WRT54Gv2 using
http://192.168.1.1 (blank/admin)
Make a note of the MAC address of the spare WRT54Gv2 router LAN ports
(the sticker on the bottom of the spare WRT54Gv2 says 00:16:B6:88:A0:8A)
(the spare WRT54Gv2 Setup-MAC Address Clone reports 00:16:B6:88:A0:8B)
- Setup-Basic Setup-Internet Connection Type-Automatic Configuration - DHCP
- Setup-Basic Setup-Network Setup-Router IP-Local IP Address=192.168.1.200
(where 200 is anything unused on the primary router's network, and also
outside the primary router DHCP range of 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.150)
- Setup-Basic Setup-Network Setup-Router IP-Subnet Mask=255.255.255.0
- Setup-Basic Setup-Network Setup-DHCP Server=(o)disable
(This makes the primary router the only DHCP server, for all connections)
- Wireless-Basic Wireless Settings-(set up the same as the primary router)
(i.e., SSID = whatever, Security = WPA2-PSK [AES] with the same passphrase)
(If the primary router is on ch1, then put the secondary on ch6 or ch11)
- Change the spare WRT54Gv2 default administrator name & password as needed.
Administration-Router Password-Password=snafu (repeat)
Note: There is no way to set a WRT54Gv2 username (i.e., use a blank username)
- Disconnect the wires, and now the spare WRT54Gv2 is a wired access point
TESTING AP:
- Turn on the wireless switch for the WiFi NIC on your laptop
- Select the spare router SSID (which is the same as the primary router SSID)
- No need to enter the passphrase if this is the same SSID as the primary router
- Connect to the Internet, as desired!
NOTE: The SSID & security is the same on both routers; so, the only difference
is the signal srength and the channel. Your equipment should roam seamlessly.
DOUBLECHECK SETUP:
- While wirelessly connected to the spare Linksys WRT54Gv2 router ...
- Using any web browser on the laptop, log into
http://192.168.1.200
- Enter the previously set blank username and "snafu" administrator password
- Check to ensure you're actually connected to the spare router SSID AP
$ nm-tool
Reports the primary access point SSID strength of 58 (84:1B:5E:AF:89:A4)
Reports the secondary access point SSID strength of 100 (00:16:B6:88:A0:8F)
Reports that I am connected to the (stronger) secondary access point SSID
Note that nm-tool will place an asterisk next to the SSID you're connected to.
Note the two duplicate SSIDs will have different frequencies listed.
Note the two duplicate SSIDs will have different MAC addresses listed.
Note the two duplicate SSIDs will have different signal strengths listed.
In summary, the procedure above will enable you to wire a spare Linksys WRT54Gv2
router, using default Linksys firmware, as a wired access point.
Well, at least it did, for me.
