Why do they torment me? I'm not a bad person, am I?

November 27, 2005 5:33 PM

SpeedStream 5360 DSL modem, SBC Yahoo DSL, Windows XP, and a brand new Linksys WRT54G wireless router. "Easy-setup, gets-you-working-in minutes" CD was of course a complete wash-out. Does a non-geek have a chance in Hell of getting it all to work together?

After going through the CD steps I get "Connection to Internet not detected. Make sure PPPoE username and password are corect; power cycle DSL modem and try again." Uh-huh. Still no workie.

I'm not trying to achieve anything fancy; I just want to be able to access the net from both my wired destop PC and my wireless laptop. Thanks.

posted by ZenMasterThis to technology (8 comments total)

desktop
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:34 PM on November 27, 2005

Is this a new DSL connection? Is it active? Some DSL providers require you to register the MAC address of the computer (in this case, your router) on a special setup page before you can gain access to any other connectivity. Sometimes you'll be automatically redirected to that page, sometimes you have to find it yourself.

Also, if you've previously connected without a router (ie. you had the modem directly plugged into your desktop), you'll have to reregister.

Phone your provider and find out if any of these might be the case before trying anything else (if only to eliminate them and save yourself some time).
posted by converge at 5:49 PM on November 27, 2005

Oh yeah, is your LAN connection functional? Can you see your desktop from your laptop and vice-versa? If you can, its almost certainly a WAN issue. If not, it might just be an internal misconfiguration.

Might.
posted by converge at 5:53 PM on November 27, 2005

At the risking of stating the obvious: make sure you're telling the router to connect using PPPoE with the correct username and password.

I had a similar arrangement once. I first ran the setup CD without the router (a direct connection between PC and the DSL modem) to get the account set up, then put the info into the router.
posted by exogenous at 6:21 PM on November 27, 2005

Have had the DSL 2-3 years now. Never had to register a MAC address of the computer. LAN connection is functional. Can run the DSL without the router. Have configured the router via HTTP and it's IP address for PPPoE and passwords. Interestingly, there are more stars in the password after I save it than there are when I entered it.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:54 PM on November 27, 2005

Your setup is one very similar to one I set up for a friend. Long story, but the problem I encountered was that the cable modem had cached the MAC address of one of the PCs on the LAN, and would only give an IP to that MAC, instead of to the router, which is what we wanted. The fix was to unplug the cable modem & leave it unplugged for 10 full minutes (so the memory can clear), then powering it back up, making sure the only network device it could see was the router, then plugging everything into the router.

Here's a thread where they discuss a problem with your exact setup (but no solution).
posted by Brian James at 7:20 PM on November 27, 2005

I have your setup... almost. Instead of "Windows XP" substitute "OS X" and instead of "Linksys WRT54G wireless router" I have a Gentoo Linux box :).

Here's how I did it:

1) Connect the SpeedStream to the DSL and your Windows machine directly to the SpeedStream. Don't change any other settings yet.

2) Put in their connection software and follow the instructions. You'll have to install some stuff, choose a username, etc, etc. (you can actually do this without installing their software, but it's tricky and I've lost the instructions)

3) Verify that your internet is working in this configuration. If it's not then you need to get with their tech support and figure out what's wrong. If it doesn't work here then it won't work through the wireless router.

4) Enter the administrative interface on the SpeedStream. There's instructions, but it's something like pointing your web browser at http://192.168.0.1.

5) Under "Advanced" choose "PPP Location". It needs to be set to "Mode PPP on the computer, gateway or router". You'll be asked to restart the modem.

6) Now, disconnect your computer from the SpeedStream, and plug the wireless router into it instead (using the WAN port). Now plug your computer into the wireless router and go to it's configuration screen.

7) Set the wireless router to use PPPoE to connect. Enter in your username ( [e-mail]), password, and service name (sbcglobal.net).

8) Tell it to connect.


That should be it! I'm a little uncertain about how the wireless router gets configured, but that's basically how it will go.

One caveat: the SpeedStream will give the wireless router an address like 192.168.1.x. If your wireless router gives your computer a similar address (192.168.1.x) then you might have to change the wireless router's DHCP configuration. Telling it to be something like 192.168.2.x should be safe. But only start screwing with this if things otherwise don't work.
posted by sbutler at 8:07 PM on November 27, 2005

Interestingly, there are more stars in the password after I save it than there are when I entered it.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:54 PM PST on November 27

That's pretty common, supposed to be a security measure. Don't worry about it.

Make sure your username as entered into the router either does or does not include the domain (@sbcglobal.net) as required. If I recall correctly, for SBC I think it does need to be there.

As Brian James mentioned, be sure to power cycle. After setting everything up, power down the router, modem, and PC. Spend a few minutes hooking it all up right, then power on 1)the modem, 2)the router, and 3) the PC. Wait for the modem to fully initialize before turning on the router; you shouldn't have to wait between router and PC.
posted by attercoppe at 8:25 PM on November 27, 2005