Second router in AP only mode, cannot remember/find it's IP address!

[newconroer]

My topology is Cable modem > WNDR3700 > RT-N56U > Zyxel switch.
The WNDR3700 has it's wireless disabled and the RT-N56U is purely an access point for the wireless internally.
I hid the SSID(s) for on the N56U and while I remember the names of them, I have two issues:

1. When attempting to manually connect to it in Windows(New wi-fi connection) it says my password/key pass is incorrect
2. I cannot see the IP address of the device any where.

To combat number 2 I have done :

A) Connected to the router directly(Ethernet) from a laptop
B) Ran arp -a command on that laptop
C) Used Asus Device Discovery from that same laptop

The laptop connection comes up as Ethernet and states the connection name as one of the wireless SSID, as I expect it would
However at no point does the Device Discovery program, or the arp results show any IP that I can connect to.


I am considering using the MAC of the router/AP to try and identify it's IP e.g. BSSID though not having much luck.


Ideally I can avoid factory resetting, as I don't have all the channel and other config data backed up.

 

[Jetster]

Just reset it. Start over. The IP should be listed on the first router when you log into it

 

[newconroer]

Thank you, updated original post to address that option.

 

[newtekie1]

http://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com

I use this in situations like this. Just set the scan range to 192.168.0.1 to 192.198.254.254. If it doesn't find it there, try 10.0.0.1 to 10.254.254.254. Look for something that comes up as Asus or Pegatron.

 

[jboydgolfer]

I'm not certain of the specifics of your situation ,but I use a asus AC66u for my main router ,and a while back I added a netgear WNDR 3800 as an access point as well as a kids network for my children. I believe I noted all my steps taken in the thread I created a while back I'll link it below, maybe it will help,

Either way,good luck

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...ter-for-kids-network-easy-and-helpful.229769/

 

[Mussels]

a lot of the time when you setup a router as an AP, the best method is to disable DHCP entirely - if thats happened, it doesnt have an IP you can access until its reset.

 

[jboydgolfer]

a lot of the time when you setup a router as an AP, the best method is to disable DHCP entirely - if thats happened, it doesnt have an IP you can access until its reset.

That's 100 percent correct. When I set mine up ,I used an ethernet cable and set everything up on the secondary router before hand ,and then disabled all router specific functions, turning it into an access point only. You just have to make sure everything is resolved because it's kind of a "do everything before you set it" situation. I did learn some routers just do not play well with others. I had the most difficulty trying to pair up a Linksys with my AC66u. I also had difficulty using a netgear as the main router ,and the AC66u as the secondary, it would only work with the net gear as secondary. I can't say why this was the way it was ,but just the same it was, and so it went.

 

[Mussels]

That's 100 percent correct. When I set mine up ,I used an ethernet cable and set everything up on the secondary router before hand ,and then disabled all router specific functions, turning it into an access point only. You just have to make sure everything is resolved because it's kind of a "do everything before you set it" situation. I did learn some routers just do not play well with others. I had the most difficulty trying to pair up a Linksys with my AC66u. I also had difficulty using a netgear as the main router ,and the AC66u as the secondary, it would only work with the net gear as secondary. I can't say why this was the way it was ,but just the same it was, and so it went.

my method is to set everything up with DHCP on, make a backup of the config file and then disable DHCP - only takes 5 minutes to reset, upload the backup, make changes, new backup, DHCP off

 

[silkstone]

a lot of the time when you setup a router as an AP, the best method is to disable DHCP entirely - if thats happened, it doesnt have an IP you can access until its reset.

You can actually assign it and ip address still by using the command terminal on the router

ifconfig `nvram get wan_ifname`:0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx netmask 255.255.255.0#!/bin/sh

where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is one above the ip address of your AP

Though you should be able to access an AP fine, so long as it is set up as a DHCP forwarder


@newconroer why not just remove the WNDR3700 entirely as it doesn't look like it has a use in your set up.

 

[arbiter]

After you figure or you do reset which ever, What i have i have 2 routers 1 at each end of house for good wifi even to my garage. Main router is we will say 192.168.0.1, the 2nd router you set its ip as 192.168.0.2. That way in the future you won't have any issue of forgetting the ip.

 

[newtekie1]

a lot of the time when you setup a router as an AP, the best method is to disable DHCP entirely - if thats happened, it doesnt have an IP you can access until its reset.

Most routers when you disable DHCP still have an IP address that you assign. Disabling DHCP and the IP of the router/AP are two different options in the GUI usually. In fact, I've never come across a router that didn't have an IP address section that was controlled by the DHCP. It is the other way around, the IP address you assign adjusts the DHCP pool, but disabling DHCP does not remove the router's IP address.

For example, this is the RT-56U's LAN IP address page. It doesn't matter if DHCP is enabled or not, the IP you set on this page can always be used to access the router. Now if it is set to the same IP as your main router, then that will cause issues, but that is why you don't do that, or if you have to access the router that has DHCP disabled you just unplug it from the main router and hard-code an IP into whatever computer you want to use to access it.

 

[jboydgolfer]

When I set my secondary router up, the moment I set it as an access point, I was no longer able to connect to it using cat6, so I always just made sure to have it properly set up ,and then would make the switch over to access point. It was never really a problem ,since it was almost entirely set n forget. Another thing I always found weird is my secondary router used a different sequence of local IP addresses. The main router would always assign you something along the lines of 192.168.1.(2-250). The access point used 10.0.0.(1-100).
I never figured out why, not that its important though.

 

[newtekie1]

That's why you can access it, it is on a different subnet than your computer. Somewhere in the router config is a LAN IP address setting, I guarantee it, if you find it and set it to something on the same subnet you'll be able to access it.

 

[SamirD]

Yep, you can lose the IP of a router used for just an AP if you don't remember it or are not on the same subnet. I actually use this as a bit of security since nothing on the lan can touch the ap unless it changes subnets, and even then it has to be a wired device.

But the downside to this is forgetting what the IP is! Luckily, the default wouldn't interfere with my main router, so I could leave it at that and refer back to the manual for the original IP when I forget it, lol.

 

[newconroer]

Thanks again all.

I did try everything that was suggested and it could still not see the device, therefore did a reset.
Samir is correct, it's great for security and a pain when you forget it!