Running a network switch off a wireless router.

[Apotheoun]

Alright I'm wondering how I would go about adding a network switch to my wireless router. Upstairs with the modem is a Netgear N600 set up as a base station and downstairs I have another Netgear N600 repeating both the b/g and n signals. I now have a Linksys EtherFast 4-port switch that I want to add into the network on the repeating router. Is it possible for me to do this? Also, how would I go about doing it?

 

[newtekie1]

If you plug a computer directly into one of the LAN ports the repeating router does it get an IP and work? If so, then yes you can plug a network switch into one of the LAN ports on the repeating router and it should work.

 

[Apotheoun]

When I plug a computer directly into the repeating router, it works fine, but when I try to plug the switch into the router then a computer into the switch, the computer just gets an unidentified network. Not only that, but I can't get into the switch to configure anything. When I try to connect to 192.168.1.1 it times out.

 

[newtekie1]

There is nothing to configure on the switch, and AFAIK, a basic Linksys etherfast won't have any ability to configure anything. The switch should be invisible to the network, basically, so plugging a computer directly into the repeating router or plugging the switch into the repeating router then a computer into the switch should be the exact same thing. What model switch is it?

You might need a crossover cable to go between the switch and the repeating router, but you shouldn't since the repeating router should auto-sense that.

 

[Apotheoun]

My bad, it's not a switch, it just has a 4-port switch. It's a Linksys BEFSR41. I'm thinking that even though it's a wired router I should be able to turn off the DHCP and use it just as a repeating router but wired.

 

[Mussels]

My bad, it's not a switch, it just has a 4-port switch. It's a Linksys BEFSR41. I'm thinking that even though it's a wired router I should be able to turn off the DHCP and use it just as a repeating router but wired.

yes, you'll need to disables its built in DHCP and onboard features as much as possible, and turn it into a dumb device.


IMO you should just cough up the $20 (or less) it costs for a 5/8 port 100Mb switch for the ease of use.

 

[newtekie1]

Ah, yeah that makes a big difference.

First, reset the BEFSR41 to its factory settings by pressing the physical reset button.

Then plug a computer into one of the LAN ports of the BEFSR41, don't connect the BEFSR41 to anything else at this point other than the computer. Then log into the BEFSR41's configuration page by going to 192.168.1.1. Once you are logged in you want to change the IP address of the BEFSR41 to something outside the DHCP range of your original N600, so something like 192.168.1.254 usually works, then you want to disable DHCP. Both of these options should be on the same page, and you want to do both at the same time, don't do one and save it, then the other. Do both, then save them both at the same time.

Now, run a cable from a LAN port on the BEFSR41 to a LAN port on the repeating router, and any computer connected to any of the other LAN ports should work.

IMO you should just cough up the $20 (or less) it costs for a 5/8 port 100Mb switch for the ease of use.

Yeah, that is what I would do... You can get a 5 port switch from newegg for $11 shipped.

 

[Wile E]

The question needs to be asked, however, why do you need the switch? You should just plug directly into the repeater.

If you can't get an IP address for at least 4 devices hardwired to the repeater, you can toss DD-WRT firmware on your repeater, and it WILL allow you to run 5 hardwired devices off of it (DD-WRT generally supports adding the WAN port to the switch in this config). That's how I had my house setup prior to hardwiring the upstairs.