How to setup 2 routers in 1 LAN

[avz10]

I initially had a laptop and a desktop with one router, running both wireless and wired (Ethernet cable)



My daughters got laptops, and I bought a Netgear Wireless N300 Router/Modem for a better signal.

The signal is good, but at the extremes of the house poorer.

I read the internet and built a "Windsurfer". The results were not that impressive.



Bedroom 2 had the best signal with a flat foil behind it.(Measured with Network Stumbler)

So I thought to incorporate the first router somewhere in the system for a boost.

I got info, but it did not work for me. I know I need to change the Default Gateway; IP address, etc, but need more guidance.

Start By Gathering Information About Your Network
You will need several bits of information before you're able to run two routers together. The first is, you must know the main router's internal IP address. You router receives two IP addresses, one the outside world sees and another the internal network sees. The easiest way to figure this out is to login to a PC and go to Start>Run and type cmd and hit OK. At the prompt type ipconfig /all and you will see the Default Gateway address. This might be something like 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or even 10.0.0.1.
You will also need to know your second router's default login because we are going to reset it to system defaults. If you have a D-Link, the username and password might be admin / admin or admin / with no password.
If you have a Linksys router, the username and password will be something like admin / admin or no username and admin as the password.
You can then depress the tiny red button at the back of the router to reset it. Next, connect an ethernet cable to the router and a PC or laptop. Open your browser window and type in the router's default IP address. You should now see the router's login box. Try the default password for that model and you should gain access to the router's configuration window.
Turning Your Router into a Wireless Access Point or Hub
Now that you have access to your router, you can turn off some of the features that make it a router. You will first want to disable DHCP. You will then want to set its IP address to something loacl to your current network. For instance, if your router is 192.168.1.1 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, you can set the static IP address on the second router as 192.168.1.11 or something similar that doesn't conflict with any other devices on your network. You can specify whatever SSID you want. If your main is also a wireless router and its SSID is OFFICE, then you can make the second router OFFICE2.
Be sure to enable WPA (or if you have to WEP) on the second router. It's a good idea to keep the security and passwords the same as the main router to keep it simple. But you can give them both different setups for security.

Can anyone help?

[redwudz]

That quote you added pretty well covers it. You can have only one DHCP router on your system. That means the non-DHCP router will have to use fixed addresses for the computers it links to. Turn off DHCP on the second router.

Write down the present addresses for each computer. You have the 192.168.X.X address for them, along with the 255.255.255.0 subnet. Then add the two DNS addresses which will be from your ISP and common to all computers in the system. Take the output from the first router and plug it into one of the output LAN sockets on the second router. Don't use the WAN (Input) socket. The second router should act just like a repeater. Then on the second router, add all the addresses of the computers you want to link to that router. Make sure the second router has a address that doesn't duplicate any addresses you use on the system. As mentioned, 192.168.X.11 is a good choice. Or you can use 5 if you need a lower number. Last, change the gateway address on each of the newly configured computers to the gateway address on the second router.

You may have to reboot both routers and each computer to get it all working. I've used the same setup a couple of times with no problems. Of course it depends on the routers you are using. Some aren't so easy to set up.

[avz10]

I surfed the internet a bit and got something like this. Not sure if this will work, because when I inserted a new IP address, I could not access the router.

Well, I post a few screenshots. Comment if I am winning!

This is the old modem- the one that I try to change









Does the last shot indicates that is no longer a modem?

So, the wired setup will be as follows:

Netgear with 3 LAN cables:

1. To Desktop
2. To laptop with wireless as backup
3. To Router

The Netgear will the also supply all the wireless laptops in the house

Thanks for any comments!