Buffalo Router WHR-G125 Owners PLEASE Help Me With Setup

Documentation here:
http://www.buffalotech.com/support/downloads/wireless-g-high-speed-router/

 

You said you flashed them. Did you put on a third-party firmware, or a more recent version of the Buffalo firmware?

If you put something like DD-WRT on there, I wouldn't expect the Buffalo setup CD to work.

 

Since you're new to router setup, I would have suggested not going straight to the DD-WRT firmware. You probably should go back to the default Buffalo firmware and use the setup CD that came with the equipment. That will walk you through some of the basic setup steps, security, etc.

Then, once you have a working knowledge of how the routers work, and you're ready to tinker, you can jump to DD-WRT. It's pretty complicated (well, definitely more complicated than your run-of-the-mill firmware, which is why people like it) and yeah, there is a lot of stuff in there you will probably never need/use.

Do some Google searches, as I'm sure there are some basic home networking setup/securing guides out there.

 

DD-WRT does not have a visual setup and the buffalo disc will not work with it. But we can help you get it going. I'll even show you how to setup wireless security since you asked so nicely, but first things first....

Get the internet router working first. Ignore the wireless part. Connect a wired computer to one of the LAN ports and your internet connection to the WAN port on the router using Cat5 patch cables (normal ethernet cables). The router doesn't care about "crossover" cables, so if the ends fit, give it a go. You should get a green light on the ports you plugged in on the router and some indication of link on the computer and internet connection device as well (I don't know what kind of net connection you have).

Now, set your computer to use DHCP. It's probably set up that way already, so if Windows isn't complaining about "Limited or no connectivity" you're probably fine. If Windows is complaining, try right-clicking the little computer icon in the task tray and selecting "repair" and see if that helps.

It sounds like you can see the DD-WRT web interface as you stated you are confused by the settings pages, but if you haven't gotten there yet, open a browser and go to "http://192.168.1.1". You should see a DD-WRT webpage.

If you can see that, try going to a website like tivocomunity and see if you can get that much working. It should work unless your ISP has something irritating to deal with like MAC locking or PPPoE. If it doesn't work, does your ISP have you install some program on your computer to get online? If so, tell us what it is, if not, try using MAC cloning in the DD-WRT setup page on the WAN port. The DD-WRT wiki has info on that, but if you can't find it, post again later when I'm at home and I'll find it in my router for you.

Let me know when that much works and I'll help you get wireless going. It's not hard, you just have to know which 90% of the options you can ignore.


EDIT: For the small text size, try CTRL+ in firefox/mozilla. I think IE has a similar command but I can't remember it. You can change what size your browser displays fonts.

 

So wired internet works. Does wireless? Do you have a wireless computer, tivo, console, whatever? I'm curious what IS working right now.

As for the bridge, it depends on what you want from it. What are you trying to connect? Is it just that you want some wired devices to connect via wireless bridge to your internet connection on router1? If that's all, you might want to try WDS. It's easy to set up, and will get the job done. Probably easier to use than the Client Bridge mode.

First, plug the second router in place of the working internet router. Just disconnect the working internet router and place the one you want to be a bridge in there for now. This is because the new one will be using the same IP address (192.168.1.1) and you can't have 2 devices with the same IP running at the same time. So get it plugged in, and connect to it with the browser. Now, go to the setup page and disable the WAN port (Connection Type to Disabled). Now scroll down and set the Router IP to 192.168.1.2. Netmask 255.255.255.0 .. Gateway and Local DNS can be 192.168.1.1 (the IP of the main router). Scroll down and disable the DHCP server. Now click "Apply Changes" at the bottom.

Now you won't be able to connect. Give the router a minute to reboot and try connecting to it on it's new address (192.168.1.2) and check the settings you changed to make sure they are correct. If they are, you can now disconnect it and put your internet router back in place. Connect router2 to the network as well (connect router2 to the network with a LAN port, ignore the WAN port on this one). You should be able to talk to both of them now on their addresses. And your internet should work again.

Now go to the wireless tab on both routers. Set the SSID to be the same on both of them. I suggest something specific to you. It's your network name, so remember it. Wireless mode will be "AP". Set the channel to 1, 6, or 11. Whichever one is most clear. Enable SSID Broadcast, Network Mode "Mixed".

If you need to locate a clear channel, go to the status tab, wireless sub-tab, and click the "Site Survey" button. It will bring up a dialog showing you all the networks it can find and what channel they are using. If 1, 6, and 11 are all used, try the one with the lowest signal strength or fewest people using it.

Go to the wireless tab, security sub-tab. Disable security for now. We will turn it on later.

Now you want to click the WDS sub-tab under Wireless on both routers. Find the "Wireless MAC" on router1, it's at the top of the WDS screen, enter this in the top WDS slot on router2. Set the drop-down to "LAN" and give it a name in the text box on the right. Now enter the MAC for router2 into the top slot on router1 and set it "LAN" and give it a name. So each router knows the other's MAC address. Apply Settings on both of them.

When they both reboot, go to the main status screen (Status->Sys-Info). Scroll down and look for a section called something like "WDS Peers" and see if the other router shows up on both of them in there with a signal strength. Now anything plugged into one of them should be accessible on the other. You should be able to plug your TiVo into router2 and access the internet. If this works, move on to security.

Go to wireless->Security and set the mode to "WPA Personal", Algorithm to "AES" and set a password in the "Shared Key" field. This must be the same on both routers. Then apply changes on both of them and make sure the WDS links back up again. If they do, test the connection from the TiVo again and make sure it works. That should do it, it's always worked for me.

 

That will work. Give the WDS setup a go and let me know what happens.

 

It worked without the security stuff enabled? Can the routers see each other? On the status screen they should both have the other router listed in the WDS section.

 

I don't have them set up right now. I took down the WDS link I had. Have you tried the information here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/WDS_Linked_router_network

If that doesn't help, or you've tried it already, I'll power up the WDS routers I've got around here somewhere and get screens for you.

 

You can download the screenshots to start with from here:

http://www.tabbal.net/wds.zip

You should reset to factory defaults to make sure you don't have anything wierd in the way before starting. You shouldn't have to change much from the defaults, just a few settings.

Note that the SSID must be the same in both routers. I suggest copy-paste to be sure you get them set right. They also must be on the same channel and have the same security settings (disabled for now).

At the bottom of the status screen on mine, you can see the section for WDS Nodes. Once you set the WDS screen up, you should see that as well. You do not need to have an active link to see the configured nodes. If you don't see them here, you did something wrong, go check again.

Start with them both connected to the same wired hub/switch to your main computer. I usually set them right next to each other on my desk, connecting the client router to the computer alone first to change it's IP address, then rebooting the router. Now connect the main router to the back of the client router, so that they are both connected together with your computer at the same time. This way, you can look at both of them at the same time to make sure you are setting them up right.

Now, on the WDS screen, you have the MAC address of the router you are talking to at the top of the screen. This MAC will be typed into the top row of the OTHER router in the boxes separated by colons. You can see in my screenshot that the "Wireless MAC" listed at the top of the window is NOT the same as the one in the first row you can type in. That is what you want. You want the one you type in to be the one you can only look at on the other router.

Once you set the channel, SSID, and WDS MAC addresses, you should be able to see the other MAC show up with the name you selected on the WDS screen, on the main status screen. You can just type the IP address of the router in again to get to that main status screen.

If you still can't seem to see the devices in the status screen under the WDS section (you have to scroll down), send me screenshots of your status screen on both routers. There is no personal or secure info on those, so don't worry about that.