After much procrastination I finally went high tech and purchased a Linksys wireless router. I had no problems installing and configuring the router and wireless card in my computer and making the connection to the router. The problem I am having is with no connection to the Internet. If I disconnect and plug the cable modem back into my Computer, I can connect to the Internet. What am I doing wrong?
Actually you did a nice job of getting to this point. Setting up a Wireless home network can be daunting for novices, but the benefits and learning experience is well worth it.
The problem you are having is common when connecting another device (Router or Computer) to your ISP provider after you had established the initial connection because some cable ISPs use MAC Authentication to establish connections.
All Ethernet Network cards are assigned a number value known as a MAC (Media Access Control) address that can uniquely identify each Network card (similar to your house address number, street name, city, state). Because of this type of authentication used by your ISP, the connection is being denied since they are seeing a different MAC address.
You can find the MAC address for the Network card in your Computer, by opening up a Command Prompt window and typing:
ipconfig /all
and look for the Physical Address value, similar to this:
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-18-BF-3E-48-40
At this point you can either contact your ISP provider or use a feature in Linksys known as MAC Cloning. MAC Cloning is a procedure which enables a router to copy the MAC Address of the Computer that’s registered with the ISP. I prefer to use MAC Cloning since it allows me use my Computer if my Router stops working.
To set-up your Linksys router with MAC Cloning, first make a backup of the Router configuration by connecting to the Router admin interface and selecting Administration \ Config Management from the menu and saving it to a location on your Computer.
NOTE: menus and screen shots may be different from your Linksys Wireless Router depending on the model you have.
After you have made a backup, select Setup \ Mac Address Clone from the menu.
Then select Enable and click Clone Your PC’s MAC and click on Save Settings (at bottom). Next click on Status from the menu and check to see if you have an IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, etc.. If you do, you should be connected to the Internet.
If you have zero's for IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, etc.. click the DHCP Release follow by the DHCP Renew buttons at the bottom of the screen
If you still have zero's, you will need to perform a power cycle to synchronize the router with the modem:
1 - Shutdown the computer.
2 - Unplug the router’s power cable.
3 - Unplug the Cable modem’s power cable and wait for 30 seconds.
4 - Plug in the Cable modem’s power cable and wait for its lights to appear stable.
5 - Plug in the router's power cable once the modem’s lights appear stable.
6 - Power on the computer on and test the Internet connection.
You should now be online and surfing the Internet!
Comments on How To Connect A Linksys Router To Your ISP Cable Service
Ian McCorquodale @ 12:05 pm
My problem is that when i connect to the router i cannot connect to the internet and when it is reversed it works ok how do i connect to the Router admin interface?
@Ian
Not sure what you mean by "and when it is reversed it works ok". Can you explain further.
To access Linksys admin interface, the default address is http://192.168.1.1 or
https://192.168.1.1 if you had enables HTTPS.
Angel @ 7:04 pm
Thank you so much for this blog. I was able to finally get my internet working after trying to figure it out myself for several hours. Once again thank so much
Helena @ 1:36 am
I have a wireless network already set up using a Netgear wireless g router networked with my XP wireless Toshiba notebook, MAC computer, and HP wireless all-in-one printer & Cable modem . Lately i've been losing internet connection and my ISP says it is my router. So I purchased a Lynksys Wireless N router. I am having trouble installing it however.
My attempt using the disk that came with the router failed. THe message said I could not do this using a wireless connection.
But when I try to disable the wireless network and try to connect with a local area connection I get a message that while connected it is only a partial connection and may not be able to access internet. Is there some network setting that I need to check? What am I doing wrong? Thanks so much for any advise you can give me.
mob @ 8:42 am
That was nice but I undertsand what the person was asking…there are no available ports for keeping your main computer plugged into the ethernet connection. you would have to buy more crap to keep this up as the main computer will need an extra ethernet connection to plug in/ plug out. Most cable companies do not have dual port ethernet boxes available…but for a price…anything can be had. Good luck guy, the other advice was useless.
JB @ 2:23 pm
I've done every step above.
Enabled and Cloned MAC address.
DHCP Release and Renew.
Power Cycle.
Everything in order, and I am still getting all 0's for the IP Address, and no connection to the Internet.
Modem-straight-to-computer works fine, my ISP is working, so the problem is with the router. Any further suggestions after someone has followed all steps above would be nice. The router itself (WRT54G) is only about a year old, but just out of warranty, so no free phone help, and the idea of replacing it already really bugs me.
Thanks.
JB @ 2:25 pm
I should add that it is updated with the latest firmware as well.
Ansari @ 3:33 pm
I have an antenna connected to my home for internet. Cable from antenna is going to a power supply and output is coming to my laptop. It is working fine. Now I want to connect Linksys router.
Can anyone tell my how do I connect cables. Should I connect antenna cable directly to the router or via power supply.
Johnsin @ 9:54 am
I'm having the same problem with JB. I tried every ace up my sleeve and it won't work, I even searched for hours in the internet for alternate solutions but no luck. I'm hoping anyone who actually encountered the same problem and worked things out to kindly post their troubleshooting solutions or any site related to solving a mystery of technology.
Thank you
Anil Neema @ 9:42 am
I used to connect internet through the method of MAC address cloning described above. Now a days my ISP uses some extra security (I am not aware of that). I am able to connect to my ISP and ping all the websites but i cannot open any pages via the web browser. However when i connect using my system i am able to surf the internet.
Any pointers in resolving this issue will be much appreciated
Thanks in advance
CJP @ 11:57 pm
Hi there,
Slightly different from your OP but hopefully you have some sort of answer or can point me at a knowledgebase that covers this.
I have a linksys WAG200G Annex-A DSL router modem. I am connecting it to a Cable modem and wanting to use it as a *Router only*.
All settings configured as per the Cable modems requirements (IP Address/Gateway/DNS etc etc.)q
The issue is that the Router looks to the onboard DSL modem for the internet connection when I would like it to look to the Cable modem attached by Ethernet cable (Cat5 I think).
I can see no setting that allows me to point it to the Cable modem for Internet/WAN access and am at a loss as to what to do next.
Have been trawling through the linksys forums for a bit but haven't hit on the answer yet. Am thinking I may need to put some kind of third party firmware/interface on the device such as DD-WRT or this piece of software http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/wag200g-modified-firmware-avaliable-testers-wanted.19092/
Any thoughts?
paul @ 4:44 am
@CJP:
Hi did you manage to get it working?
I try to do same thing : wireless and wired pc and printer connected to old adslmodem/hub wired to a cable modemrouter do you know the settings for the old adsl modem to use it as accespoint and hub/repeater only
Thanks paul
CJP @ 1:40 pm
You have to reassign one of the ports to WAN for that to work. Basically not possible.
CHan @ 3:34 pm
We do not currently have internet in our home. No landline or anythign either. Is Linksys Wifi bundle something we can still purchase and get wifi in our home with?
@CHan:
If you get a wireless router you will only have access to anything connected to your router. For Internet access, you will need to contact an Internet Service provider.
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