yet another networking question

[Bob Coxner]

I'm trying to get my HR20 connected to the network in order to try VOD. No joy so far. I'm very good with PCs but relatively new to networking, so I'm not sure where I'm going wrong.

My setup is:
HR20-700
Road Runner with Motorola SB5120 cable modem
Netgear FS605 v3 *switch* (not a router)
Cat5e cable between switch/HR20 and switch/PC
Windows XP MCE SP2 (non-Viiv PC)

I have the HR20 set to defaults:

IP 169.254.9.86
Subnet Mask 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway nothing
DNS nothing
Mac Address 00:50:49:ED:B2:76

When I do ipconfig/all I get the following values:

IP 24.160.142.97
Subnet Mask 255.255.248.0
Default Gateway 24.160.136.1
DHCP Server: 10.70.192.1
DNS Servers 24.90.41.125
24.90.41.126
Physical Address 00-12-3F-F8-86-A6
Description: Intel Pro/100 VE Network Connection
DHCP enabled Yes
Autoconfiguration enabled Yes

What settings do I need to plug into the HR20 Advanced Setup to get it connected to the network? I originally went with the ethernet switch rather than a router because I was told here that it was sufficient. Is that true or do I need a router?

[thumperr]

Bob, you are going to need a router also. In your current setup, It appears only one device is recieving an IP from the cable modem. This is typical. Most cable modems will onyl hand out 1 address, i have a friend who is lucky enough to get 2. You are going to need a router/switch combo. The linksys wrt54g is a good combo device. It is a 4 port 10/100 switch, a router, a wireless access point, and a DHCP server.

--Add
Another quick test if you have a few minutes. You can unplug you computer and HR20 from the switch. then reset your cable modem, unplug then replug. Wait a minute for the cable modem to start up. Then only plug in your HR20 to the switch. Check the IP settings on your hr20, and it should have the same settings your computer previously had, or very similar. now if you plug in your computer it will not get a valid IP and will not work on the network.

You will need to repeat the process above, only connecting you computer to switch after restarting the cable modem, to get your computer working again. The HR20 will not work now.

[Stuart Sweet]

Whomever told you you don't need a router is wrong. It's a good solid part of every home network setup.

[Bob Coxner]

Thanks for the helpful advice. As for a router, the reviews on Amazon and Newegg seem to strongly favor the WRT54GL over the WRT54G. I guess I'll give that a try.

[jabrwocky7]

Thanks for the helpful advice. As for a router, the reviews on Amazon and Newegg seem to strongly favor the WRT54GL over the WRT54G. I guess I'll give that a try.

You only need the WRT54GL if you want to use 3rd party firmware like DD-WRT on the router. The WRT54GL is essentially the same as the older versions of the WRT54G that use more flash memory and have a linux o/s. If this is something you don't anticipate a need for, then I suggest you just get the WRT54G router.

[HouseBowlrz]

Bob, you are going to need a router also. In your current setup, It appears only one device is recieving an IP from the cable modem. This is typical. Most cable modems will onyl hand out 1 address, i have a friend who is lucky enough to get 2. You are going to need a router/switch combo. The linksys wrt54g is a good combo device. It is a 4 port 10/100 switch, a router, a wireless access point, and a DHCP server.

Once I got high speed internet at home a few years ago, I used an old, low-end Pentium box to build a Linux firewall machine (Smoothwall - www.smoothwall.org). That box also does the routing and network address translation (NAT) so I didn't have to purchase additional IP addresses from the provider.

Many routers have NAT built into them so it's really your call how you want to set it up. This includes wireless routers ... (in my case, I got a wireless access point since I already had the routing capabilities in place)

I've had issues with networking my HR-20 in that it would freeze up on a regular basis. I'm hoping the national release of 0x18a, which noted improvements to networking, will alleviate that. The only thing I have not tried is to statically assign an IP address to the HR-20 ... I can't see where that would make a difference.


cheers

[thumperr]

Thanks for the helpful advice. As for a router, the reviews on Amazon and Newegg seem to strongly favor the WRT54GL over the WRT54G. I guess I'll give that a try.

The reason I recommended the WRT54G is that it is the plain old standard piece of hardware that linksys has made for a long time, and it is inexpensive. I believe linksys is on Version #8 of the hardware. i had version #1 and now have 2x of the version #6. The feature set is basic, but it does what it does very well. It also didn't sound like you need the wireless components at the moment, and most of the models that have additional features are for wireless support. The version # is important when updating the firmware, linksys has updated firmware that you can apply. They are still reason new firmware for these models.

there is one model i suggest avoiding, and that is the model in which the cable modem is part of the device. It is a cable modem, router, switch and WAP(wireless access point) all in one. i have a friend that got one and it is a pain to assist with.

[Bob Coxner]

You only need the WRT54GL if you want to use 3rd party firmware like DD-WRT on the router. The WRT54GL is essentially the same as the older versions of the WRT54G that use more flash memory and have a linux o/s. If this is something you don't anticipate a need for, then I suggest you just get the WRT54G router.

The reviewers on both sites rave about the ability to utilize firmware like DD-WRT and some of the features (like QoS) sound like they could be useful if you're going to be downloading a lot of VOD. I put a lot of weight on Newegg ratings, especially for bestsellers.

WRT54G - (839 reviews) 70% excellent/very good 24% below average/poor
WRT54GL - (719 reviews) 93% exellent/very good 4% below average/poor

Amazon is similar:

54G - (1352 reviews) 64% five/four stars 28% two/one star
in fact, there were 301 one-star reviews on Amazon...that's alarmingly high
54GL - (178 reviews) 92% five/four stars 6% two/one star
it's even better when you consider the GL gets 138 five-star ratings out of 178

I don't think I've ever seen better ratings on Newegg for an item with that many reviews. The same goes for Amazon. Even if I don't need all the bells and whistles (at this time) of the GL, it still seems like the better way to go. The cost is about $15 more than the 54G but that's acceptable.

[bobojay]

Just ordered a 54GL yesterday from Newegg. $52.99 delivered to the door after mail in rebate........

[sonicsi16]

I would suggest getting a router that you can flash with DD-WRT like the GL, even if you don't reflash it right away. DD-WRT gives you features found in $600 routers and its pretty fun to tinker with.

I run a WRT54GL as my main router with DD-WRT and it has been very solid for over a year. The Buffalo in my sig is also an option...it is cheap ($37), but it requires a beta version of DD-WRT and is still a little buggy.

[Bob Coxner]

An update. I got the 54GL. It literally took about 1 minute to hook it up and get everything connected. I didn't bother with the installation cd and it wasn't needed. The HR20 was online instantly. I checked my account online and the engineering charge is there now.

Adding mp3s took a bit longer, but that was because I haven't been able to get WMP11 to do it properly. I installed TVersity and immediately had access to music and it played properly on the tv.

Add one more vote for the outstanding WRT54GL and Linksys. I even get a $10 rebate. :-)

[biggie4852]

OK this is about set up issue. I purchase the 54G not the GL did not read fine print but oh well. But my issue is my Fios service you can only use a D-L624 which I have wired to my desktop with Vista. My laptop is wireless XP and access the net just fine until now I'm setting up the 54G to be wireless access point and hard wired H20 to it. But there is the rub I now can't get on with laptop or even see H20, I follow all the set but no joy. Any help is appreciated:confused:, if more information is need to diagnose just pm me or post suggestion.