At work we've got two Linksys routers chained together, handling 3 ethernet and 2 voice lines apiece.

I can get to the admin panel for the primary at its IP (192.168.0.1), and I can see the IP for the second one (192.168.0.100) -- but I always timeout trying to access the admin panel for that second router.

Anyone know how I can fix this? My network skills aren't very good, I don't know what's tripping me up.

2/9/2006 10:28:49 AM

I still need help here:
http://www.brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=383799

2/9/2006 10:48:22 AM

The routers in my case are 2 Linksys RT31P2's if that helps.

Paging BobbyDigital -- you guys own Linksys, any suggestions?

2/9/2006 11:11:30 AM

are they supposed to all be the same subnet? If so, all you need is one router and 1 or 2 switches.

V D
| |
[switch]
|
[router]
|
[switch]
| | | |
H H H H

key:
V = voice
D = data
H = host

this is assuming you have seperate lines for voice and data

[Edited on February 9, 2006 at 12:37 PM. Reason : this probably depends on the router a bit]

2/9/2006 12:32:28 PM

I'd be lying to you if I said I knew. There's never been an IT-knowledgeable person in the office b/c they never really needed one (as a mildly humorous example, all of their POP email used to be routed through AOL b/c no one knew you could use Outlook). Supposedly everything always "just worked".

So even though my job is completely non-IT-related, I've started trying to streamline and upgrade our office tech and I'm having to figure things out from scratch b/c there are no records of anything (no install discs around, no serial numbers I can find, no password lists, etc...fortunately whoever installed the routers never changed the default passwords )

The setup is currently like this, with internet provided by TWC RR Business and phones now handled by Vonage:

Teh Intarw3b
||
||=> Motorola VoIP/Cable Modem
    ||
    ||=> Primary Linksys RT31P2 WAN port (192.168.15.1)
		||
		||=> LAN 2 – PC running WinXP Home (192.168.15.103)
		||
		||=> LAN 3 – PC  running WinXP Pro (192.168.15.104)
		||
		||=> VOICE 1 – Primary telephone line
		||
		||=> VOICE 2 – Primary fax line
		||
		\/
	     LAN 1 - Secondary Linksys RT31P2 WAN port (192.168.15.100)
			||
			||=> LAN 1 – HP Laserjet 1320n (IP unknown)
			||
			||=> LAN 2 – Synology DS101g (IP unknown)
			||
			||=> LAN 3 - empty
			||
			||=> VOICE 1 – secondary telephone line
			||
			||=> VOICE 2 - empty

2/9/2006 2:31:14 PM

is your network subnetted?

ie, is your subnet mask something other than 255.255.255.0?

[Edited on February 9, 2006 at 2:37 PM. Reason : *]

2/9/2006 2:36:52 PM

^
negative, looks like 255.255.255.0 across the board

side question: once I reprogram the second router, shouldn't the LAN 1 on the primary connect to a LAN port on the secondary (leaving the secondary's WAN empty)?

[Edited on February 9, 2006 at 2:41 PM. Reason : more]

2/9/2006 2:39:29 PM

The second router should be a switch. You cant have both sides (WAN and LAN) of a router on the same subnet.

You can just use the switching capability of the second router by plugging a LAN port from the first router into a LAN port of the second. LAN3 on router 2 is empty. Take the cable from the WAN and plug it into LAN3.

[Edited on February 9, 2006 at 2:45 PM. Reason : ]

2/9/2006 2:44:05 PM

all you need to do is go

cable modem 
||
||=> router
          ||
          ||=> switch 
                    ||
                    ||=> as many hosts/switches you need

2/9/2006 4:32:55 PM

^ what he said.

2/9/2006 4:41:48 PM

hotness, thx. I'll fix that first thing tomorrow morning. god bless you network-savvy ppl

2/9/2006 6:53:31 PM

Tried that suggestion this morning, but doing so kills the secondary phone line (no dial tone or anything else).

Question: if I disable DHCP and NAT on the secondary box, give it a static IP outside the main box's range (like 192.168.15.50), and add a static route between it and the primary, would that be a workable workaround?

2/10/2006 10:56:31 AM

that fixed it. thanks again everybody!

2/10/2006 11:16:39 AM