Linksys WRT54G Wireless Connection Issues

Having a wireless network available and being able to roam about the house and work anywhere is a great advantage, but only when things are working correctly. You actually have several issues to contend with:

• First, you cannot remember password, and therefore you cannot configure the router.

• You are not sure about the firmware

• I wonder about wireless compatibility.

• Finally, I think that you need to look at the security options

Password Reset:
Looking at the instructions for resetting the password to the wireless router, there are a couple of options/ways depending on firmware.

Option 1)

You unplug the power from the router, hold the reset button in, and plug the power back in, wait about 30 seconds and release the reset button. This should reset the IP address to 192.168.1.1 with a username and a password of admin.

Option 2)

Push in the reset button for 30 seconds on the router. This should reset the IP address to 192.168.1.1 with a username and a password of admin.

Upgrading Firmware:
The first step inupgrading firmware is to determine the current firmware. Open a web browser and log onto your router, in the upper right hand corner is your firmware version. Go to the Linksys web site www.linksys.com, go to support, and put in your router model #. Then select "Get Downloads", select from the list your version # (version# can be found on the front of the router) all firmware upgrades available will be shown on the left hand side of the page. Download the file, then using the web admin utility for the router, go to the Administration page, and select the sub page of Upgrade Firmware. On this page, browse to the location of the firmware file, make sure to select the file, and then click the upgrade button at the bottom of the page.

Wireless Compatibility:

One thing that I wonder is the networking protocols used on your router and on the laptops. The wireless router that you have supports 802.11g / b. Although these are the most common these days, the new laptops have been shipping out with 802.11n. They laptops should be backward compatible with the

802.11g & b, but I have seen some rare conflicts where laptops with 802.11n just do not connect well with the 802.11g / b. I have seen this more on the security end, which I will address in the next section.

Security Options:

Finally, you will want to look at your security settings. Most of the new WRT54G routers support WAP security while some older ones do not. Then there are the different portions of the WAP security that can hang up the system. For an example, I have a newer laptop (under 2 yrs old) while my wife's laptop is about 3+ yrs old. She can connect fine to the wireless router, but as soon as I enable WPA security, she can no longer connect. I had to work with the wireless router, play with all the different options available, and then do a lot of trial and error until I was able to find a solution.

Final thoughts:

You might find that your router is at end of life, meaning that it is just not working properly. Alternatively, that there is an issue with the firmware, but no fix available. Before purchasing a new route; I would reset the password, and update the firmware (this will need to be done with a direct-wired connection to the router from another PC or from the lan port on the laptop). Then make sure there is no security setup for wireless connectivity. Try connecting both laptops to the router via wireless. If both laptops can connect to the router ok, get IP addresses and browse the Internet you are most of the way towards fixing your issues. Next, try setting up WPA security and see if the laptops can connect. If one does, but not the other then you know that you are having some sort of compatibility issue. Therefore, you might have to do some tweaking.

If you have reset password, updated firmware, and ensured that there is no security for wireless connections, and you still have issues connecting via wireless, then it is most likely time for a new router. Be aware that a new router might not solve all issues; there could still be some compatibility issues between the network protocols.