Icebox2 Setup Problems

[mudjeep]

Hello all.

I am having a devil of a time trying to get my icebox2 to connect to my network. I followed the instructions that came with it, but once i switch it to Automatic -DHCP and try to connect to my wireless network I get nothing.  My router does not seem to see it, despite that I have turned off all security.  I haven't tried the static IP address yet because I'm not sure what to put in the bottom two fields.

Any ideas?  I have a Belkin wireless router.

Jason.

[brianh]

Hi Jason,

You need to know what the IP range of your network is set up as; this can vary with each person, but whoever set up uyour network would be able to find this out.

I would reccomend using a static address, so you can find it to log in to - eg.

I have an ADSL modem (non-wirelss) with IP address range of (say) 192.168.2.1 - 192.168.2.20
The address of the modem/router is,say, 192.168.2.19

I could then set up my Belkin wireless router as an access point with a static IP of 192.168.2.18
I could then set up my IceBox2 with a static IP of 192.168.2.17

The default gateway would  then be 192.268.2.19 (ie. the modem's IP address).

Your modem device (probably your Belkin?) should have DHCP enabled to issue IP addresses to any PC's on your network, but anything like wireless bridges, wirleless routers that can be logged into & configured, should have a static IP so you can locate them reliably.  Keep a list somewhere so you know how it is all put together when you later need to add or modify anything.

Cheers,
Brian H

[goldcoastguy]

The one issue I had in setting up the Icebox 2 was with step 2 of the instruction guide.

You will need to specify an IP address for the Ethernet port in your computer that is connected to
the Asus Bridge. If you are not sure how to do this you will need to refer to your operating
system manual. The details that need to be specified are:
a.
IP Address – 192.168.1.2
b.
Subnet Mask – 255.255.255.0
The rest of the settings can be left blank.

It took me a little while to work this part out.

Here's how it should work on Windows XP.

1. Start Button -> My Network Places (if it isn't there, right click on the Start button, select Properties, click on Customized next to "Start Menu" on the Start Menu tab. Click on the Advanced tab. Tick the box in the "Start Menu Items" list next to "My Network Places")

2. Click on "View Network Connections" on the right hand list

3. Right click on Local Area Connection and select Properties. At this stage, make sure the Local Area Connection is enabled (not disabled).

4. On the General tab, click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and press Properties.

5. Put in the details as per the ICE Install instructions. Hit OK all the way out of there.



Evan :->

[brianh]

Oh, and don't forget to do what Evan said above....    (of course, I SHOULD have thought of that....)

Once you have done the above, it helps you
1) find the IceBox2 -
2) assign a new static IP address
3) then you can return your PC to get it's IP automatically, as it probably was before - following Evan's instructions above....   

Hope this helps, 

Cheers,
Brian H 

[mudjeep]

Thanks for your help guys.  I had managed to do the first step and got initial access to the icebox - my main problem lies in connecting it to my Belkin.

To explain things better, I have an ethernet port in my wall which comes from a wireless broadband antenna/modem on the roof over which I have no interaction.  This plugs straight into my Belkin.  The Belkin address is 192.168.2.1.

Attached directly to that are:
- 192.168.2.2 Netcomm VOIP desktop phone (which doesn't appear on the client list despite being connected)
- 192.168.2.3 Desktop

Connecting wirelessly is:
- 192.168.2.4 Laptop

All addresses are assigned by DHCP

After following the instructions with the Icebox2 I disconnected it from the laptop and connected it to the toppy, but cannot find it connecting to the Belkin, no matter where I look and even when I disable all security.

So now I m ready to try a static IP address as per your advice but haven't done this before.  What do I put in the "default gateway" and "DNS Server" fields on the Icebox2 config page?  Do I need to do anything on my Belkin?

Cheers,

Jason.

[goldcoastguy]

I also have a Belkin, so I'll assume you can access the same pages

At this address http://192.168.2.1/wireless_bridge.html is "Enable Wireless Bridging" ticked? It should be.

At this address http://192.168.2.1/fw_mac.html is "Enable MAC Address Filtering" ticked? It shouldn't be.


Evan :->

[peteru]

If your router has an address of 192.168.2.1, then your default gateway and your DNS server are almost certainly 192.168.2.1 as well.

[mudjeep]

Okay I've done all those things, setting up the icebox at 192.168.2.19 but I'm still having no luck.  Any more ideas, or troubleshooting things to try?

[brianh]

If your router has an address of 192.168.2.1, then your default gateway and your DNS server are almost certainly 192.168.2.1 as well.

Peter,

would the default gateway possibly be the IP address of the Antenna/modem in the roof??  From memory, I tried to set the "default gateway" to my wireless access point & the DNS server to my modem & this wouldn't work - it wasn't until I entered my modem's IP for both settings (following a support call  to Ice) that it worked.... (with my modem being the DHCP device)  I know you are much more knowledgeable about networks than I am ever likely to be, just seeking clarification..

mudjeep,

have you set your Belkin up as your DHCP device? (just so I understand your setup correctly)

Cheers,
Brian H

[mudjeep]

I'm pretty sure the Belkin is the DHCP server.  If I try to put my modem's IP address in those last two fields it says it's not a valid gateway address or DNS host address.

[mudjeep]

Okay folks here's an update.  It looks like the original problem was down to operator error,  I didn't put my network name in the SSID field.  I thought that it was supposed to stay as Icebox2 for it to show up on my network as that.  So I changed it and whammo.

So with no security everything worked fine.  Upon reintroducing some security to my network I struck problems again. I use WPA-PSK and I set this up on the wireless settings page.  I go back to the info page and it sees my Belkin with the right MAC address and a strong signal.  When I try to set up the IP address, whether auto or static, it doesn't connect properly despite working when there was no security.

I tried many variations of security settings and new paswords but to no avail.

Daniel from the help desk has been helping me but we are stuck at this point.  He suggested that Peter might have an answer to this one.

Jason

[peteru]

It's too hard to tell you what should go where without knowing the full setup of your entire home network.

Best bet would be to provide screenshots of all the various setting pages on you access point, modem, router, DHCP server, IceBox2 and any other device that forms part of your network. Once I can see what's configured and how, I can probably give answers that will make it work.

[perthwa1]

It is interesting to see that I am not the only one who has/is having problems getting the icebox to join a wireless network.  Does anyone have any experience connecting to an Apple Extreme Base Station?

Where my attemps to set up the Icebox fails is at that terrible step two (network settings) in the set up instructions.  I have tried both manual and DCHP, having the base station with and without security (WEP at first and then WPA).  When I click the save button in the Network Setting page, it just hangs and I can no long connect to the icebox via Cat 5 using its factory default IP address (I then just reset and try again).

This is my set up:
Netgear NB5 ADSL modem connected to an Apple Extreme Base Station via Cat 5 Ethernet cable.  2 X Laptops and 1 desktop (all Macs) join that network and successfully connect to the internet.

I noticed that the Modem has the same IP address as the Icebox (192.168.1.1) -don't know if this is important.  The Apple base station distributes IP addresses to the computers in the 10.0.1.1 range (Base Station is 10.0.1.1 and the 3 computers connected to the wireless network has sequencial address 10.0.1.2 to 10.0.1.4).

I figure that once I set up the icebox's wireless set up page and save that info (always successful) the base station then changes the icebox's ip address.  I have tried to reconnect to the icebox by using the next ip addresses in line but alway get an error message in the browser "fail to connect etc".

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
 

[brianh]

Hi,

In the absence of any gurus, I will do my best...    

I don't understand your IP setup; you mention one lot on 10.0.1.n and the modem & icebox on 192.168.1.1 -  Definitely, you will have problems with two IP's the same.. but as far as I can tell, you also have a problem with your network?

Whatever you decide to use, I would keep your whole network on the same range... then if you can connect your Icebox to a laptop/standalone MAC via cable first & set the IP address to somthing unique in that range. You may need to set a static IP on the standalone to get it to talk, then change it back once you have reset the Icebox with the new IP.   Don't worry about security until you have that working.

We really need to know more details of your setup in order to help further, but hope this can get you somewhere.

Cheers,
Brian H

[perthwa1]

Sorry I didn't make myself clear. Maybe it best to focus on the issue of connecting to my wireless network.  My Apple Extreme Base Station (AEBS) distributes the ip addresses to all the clients using DHCP and within the 10.0.1.1 range.  All those clients access the adsl modem that is attached to the AEBS via the WAN port with a Cat 5 cable.  As far as I understand, what I am trying to do is get the icebox to join that wi-fi network so that it can also access the adsl modem, right?  So, the AEBS should be giving the icebox its new ip address and allowing it to join the network and tunnel through to the modem as it does for all the computers in the house that connect to it.  That what seems not to be happening.  As I said before, following instructions, I set up my laptops' ethernet port to 192.168.1.2 and when I put the factory default IP address of the Icebox into the address line of a browser I see that 'special' icebox page.  Next, I input the WI-FI info as directed and save it.  That seems successful.  At this point I can ping the icebox by using its default IP address (192.168.1.1) via the cat 5 as I can all the computers on the network on the 10.0.1.X range via my wi-fi connection to the base station from my laptop. Now here is where it all falls apart. If selecting auto-DHCP in the network setting page, I get a "can't find the server message".  If selecting manual-static and giving it a 10.0.1.27 ip address (so I know an exact ip address to get back to icebox) and a net mask of 255.255.255.0 and the gateway and server address of the AEBS router (10.0.1.1) ( this is exactly what each wi-fi client on the network has (except for a different ip address of course) I get the same result.  At this point, I try to ping the icebox again but that doesn't work either on the old default address or on the one I gave it (10.0.1.27).
Does this give you enough info?  If not, let me know what settings etc. you need to do a diagnostic.
Thanks for you help in this matter.
Cheers,