this is what im trying to do: i have 2 wireless routers (xmicro 108mb, smc 54g). upstairs i have the xmicro is the wireless router connected to the cable modem. downstairs i have a mac mini and a ps2 i want to connect to the smc wireless router. so im trying to setup the smc to connect wirelessly to the main router upstairs, the xmicro. i am not trying to connect these with wires, im doing this all wirelessly. the guy at microcenter told me i could set them up to work that way, but i cant figure it out. any suggestions?
Not sure what SMC model you have, but basically what you want to do is put your downstairs router in "Bridge" mode. Get into its config and see if such a thing exists. Basically it will then act as a Wifi adapter for all the devices connected to it.
this is the model for the ps2 downstairs router.
SMCWBR14-G
Barricade? g Wireless Broadband Router
2.4GHz 54 Mbps Wireless Cable/DSL Broadband Router
i know there is a wifi option on it. ill mess with it and see what happens. i have 128-bit hex key on my w-router connected to my cable modem. is that going to cause problems tying to communicate with the other router? i few other people told me to give both routers the same information. but when i do that, my pcs pick up the signal from the opposite router. i will check out the wifi and see if i can configure that. thats for the reply.
Or one of those cheap 'game adapters', which are really just bridges too. Of course if you want to connect multiple items downstairs you'll need either a hub for the adapter, or one adapter for each client.
There are some routers that can be set to operate as a bridge. Namely, the Linksys WRT54G series, which operate on Linux. You need to get special third-party firmware to have a bridging capability though. The WRT54's are solid routers, I have atleast three myself.
i understand. the guy at microcenter said it can be done with what i purchased. i didnt buy the secondary router intending to use it for ps2 wireless. we needed an extra router and the wireless was only $7 after rebates. but the salesman said it can be done. so if its possible to do it with my setup then id like to know how. but if its not possible, or too complicated, then thats fine.
Salesmen will say many things. Sometimes these things can be stupid or just straight out incorrect. I try to ignore them as much as I can. Unless your SMC has a specific function to bridge (which again I highly doubt, since its a consumer router), it will not be able to act in the way you intend it to.
Basically imagine a router as a tool which takes an upstream network connection (on its WAN port) and shares it with many computers on the other side (its LAN ports). Your internet is coming into the WAN port of your upstairs router, and is being shared out to the LAN and Wireless LAN. What you are wanting to do is to connect downstairs SMC router to one of the Wireless LAN of the upstairs router. However, there are two problems 1) the SMC router can only connect its upstream through the WAN port (which is a physical plug, whereas the WLAN is not), and you want to connect to the upstairs router through its Wireless LAN. 2) if you somehow got that to work, your downstairs router would be creating a separate subnet, which would cause a bunch of hassles when you attempt to ftp into your ps2.
There are a few solutions here, from least to most expensive:
1. Put SMC router into switch or hub mode (so it doesn't create its own subnet) and either connect a game adapter to its WAN port, or connect its WAN port to one of the LAN ports on the upstairs router with a cable.
2. Buy two game adapters, one for your ps2 and one for your mac mini.
3. Buy a dedicated bridge, to serve both your ps2 and mac mini.
