I swear, I don't know how I killed your internet

September 3, 2009 8:03 PM

Please help me unb0rk my cousin's router.

Partly, I'm just trying to figure out what the hell happened.

I just landed at my cousin's place temporarily. I pulled out my laptop (running Windows Vista), pulled up the network connections to hook up to the wireless. Everything seemed to be going normally, when it asked me for the PIN number on the Router. I had the WEP key in front of me, so this was surprising.

Got the PIN, continued in what I thought was an otherwise normal connection set up, and clicked "OK". BAM! Cousin on another computer loses internet access, and the connection is now named after my computer. I spend a bit of fiddlig trying to undo it, then get pissed off and hold in the "RESET" button on the back

Now:

1. I can't connect to the generic "Linksys" connection


2. She can't connect to it either.


3. I can't access the router's settings using 192.168.0.1 (conection times out) from the computer that's directly connected to the router--yet I can access the modem's settings just fine.

What the hell happened?

Router's a WRT54G2, if it matters.

posted by Decimask to computers & internet (6 comments total)

192.168.1.1 is likely the defaul ip address when you connect to port #1-#4 on the back
username is blank, password may be ADMIN
posted by bottlebrushtree at 8:07 PM on September 3

Reset your router to factory defaults- see above post for login information- i believe password is lowercase 'admin'

1. Press and hold the reset button for 30 seconds.
2. Then, unplug the power keep holding down the reset button for
another 30 Seconds.
3. Plug back the power back in, and keep holding down the reset button
for 30 Seconds.
4. Release the reset button.
posted by wongcorgi at 8:12 PM on September 3

Man, good. Progress. I at least have an active network (unsecured) again, and I can access the router.

... and, there, I restored the old WEP key. Awesome. Still wish I knew what the hell happened, though.
posted by Decimask at 8:55 PM on September 3

Also, I <3 metafilter.
posted by Decimask at 9:00 PM on September 3

It may be a good idea to upgrade the security on that bad boy. I've probably used your cousins wireless at some point...
posted by razzamatazm at 9:37 PM on September 3

What happened is probably two things:

1- The firmware got corrupted in the area that stores the passwords and IP addresses, but the basic routing and DHCP functionality still worked.

(For future readers of this question, you can find out what IP address it thinks it is by plugging in, getting your DHCP address and then looking at what the "gateway" IP address is. That address should get you to the router's config page.)

2- Someone got access to the router and changed the IP and password. This is more likely.

I've been meaning to set up a "honeypot" WAP in the house. Wide open, firewalled from my network, throttled speed, etc., so that the freeloaders can get what they want without trying to hack my "real" wireless connection.
posted by gjc at 6:41 AM on September 4