IceTV Forum

IceTV Guide for IceTV enabled PVRs => Topfield => Topic started by: Mantorok on July 15, 2005, 12:59:40 PM

Title: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: Mantorok on July 15, 2005, 12:59:40 PM
Anyone here using the Netgear WGT634U to update their IceGuide without the need of a PC?

I'd like to hear what you think of it as I'm considering getting one.

Thanks...
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: pvogel on July 15, 2005, 02:33:20 PM
There are only three people using it so far, and I am one of them!  If you'd like to be #4, we can offer a 30 day money back guarantee, if you're not happy in any way.

Also, you can flash the software into your own WGT634U if you prefer - we will supply the firmware for free.

Peter Vogel
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: Mantorok on July 15, 2005, 04:35:17 PM
Thanks Peter,

I may take you up on that offer.

I have a couple of Harvey Norman vouchers that I want to use up so I'll see if I can get it there.  If not then I'll be in touch.

Cheers....
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: Mantorok on July 17, 2005, 03:27:35 PM
QuoteThere are only three people using it so far, and I am one of them!  If you'd like to be #4, we can offer a 30 day money back guarantee, if you're not happy in any way.
Hi Peter,

I've decided to take you up on this offer.  Do I just order the Router via the Online Store?
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: pvogel on July 17, 2005, 03:47:33 PM
Yes, order online and it will come in a couple of days with the Ice software installed.  

Note that the firmware also allows file transfers beteen PC and Toppy but not recording downloads, since tehre is a maximum file size of about 2MB.

Please report your experience back to the forum!
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: mikewilson on July 29, 2005, 10:49:34 PM
Hi Peter

 You can make that four.. I flashed my Netgear today and so far it's working very well.

Mike
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: GrantW on August 03, 2005, 04:26:46 PM
I love the idea but I would also like to use the bridge to connect my Xbox to it. I realise you would not be able to use the toppy and Xbox at the same time but when the toppy is off does any know if you could access the Xbox? I think this device would be similar to the WGE111 from netgear but has the bonus of a USB port. The reason behind this is because the toppy and Xbox are next to each other and i am unable to get an ethernet cable there and would prefer to save a few $$$ and only buy one bridge.

Or is the firmware upgrade primarily for use with Iceguide?

BTW is the 30 day money back trial still available?
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: pvogel on August 04, 2005, 07:18:42 AM
QuoteI love the idea but I would also like to use the bridge to connect my Xbox to it. I realise you would not be able to use the toppy and Xbox at the same time but when the toppy is off does any know if you could access the Xbox? I think this device would be similar to the WGE111 from netgear but has the bonus of a USB port. The reason behind this is because the toppy and Xbox are next to each other and i am unable to get an ethernet cable there and would prefer to save a few $$$ and only buy one bridge.

Or is the firmware upgrade primarily for use with Iceguide?

BTW is the 30 day money back trial still available?

Unfortunately we were unable to get the required infromation to allow the router part to still work, so once flashed it's toppy-only.  I'll ask our engineers if they have any other ideas.

We're happy to offer the 30 day trial but as we've completed testing now we'd have to charge you a handling fee of $30 if you returned it.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: GrantW on August 04, 2005, 11:12:14 AM
Thanks for the info. I noticed that one of the ethernet ports is still active as you can use it as an uplink to a router. It would be very interesting to know if you could use that port to connect it to your Xbox; even if you could only use one at a time.  If you were able to some how get the router part to work this would be so usable as most people now have xbox, playstation, toppy, all near each other.

Thanks for looking into it.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: pvogel on August 04, 2005, 11:53:41 AM
I've discussed with our engineers whether the other ethernet ports could be used to connect other devices, and the answer is that it can't be done with the present firmware and the cost of adding this fucntionality is too great to make it viable at this time.

Best regards,

Peter
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: GrantW on August 04, 2005, 04:29:57 PM
Thanks for following up on it.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: RubberChicken on August 05, 2005, 10:11:38 AM
QuoteI've discussed with our engineers whether the other ethernet ports could be used to connect other devices, and the answer is that it can't be done with the present firmware and the cost of adding this fucntionality is too great to make it viable at this time.

Best regards,

Peter

Thats's a real shame, as I wanted to do the same thing. I don't really want to buy a bridge for each. That seems a great waste of money - and yet another powerpoint.

Is it true that this bridge (once flashed) does not support WPA? I currently run a hidden WPA network. Would I have to downgrade my network to connect this bridge?
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: toddsta on August 07, 2005, 10:43:52 AM
I am also keen to use a network bridge with my toppy. I have a Netgear ADSL wireless router (DG834G) which I don't use. I was wondering if anyone knows if this can be used as a gateway bridge, and if so, whether it can have the firmware upgraded to accept IceGuide. I know this is a long shot, but could save me a couple of hundred dollars if possible.

Cheers

::)
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: mexiwi on August 09, 2005, 10:59:36 AM
Another question about the WGT634U, as I would like to add it to my wireles network at home with my Toppy, does it support WPA wireless encryption over 802.11g?

Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: xerodude on September 15, 2005, 12:27:41 PM
Hey There...

I understand that once you flash the Netgear, you cannot put the original firmware on. But what happens when you update your ice/netgear firmware? Will I be able to load that.??

I am also not clear on one point. Am I able to load small files to the Toppy? As in new taps etc.

Wayne.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: pvogel on September 15, 2005, 03:48:24 PM
QuoteHey There...

I understand that once you flash the Netgear, you cannot put the original firmware on. But what happens when you update your ice/netgear firmware? Will I be able to load that.??

I am also not clear on one point. Am I able to load small files to the Toppy? As in new taps etc.

Wayne.

Yes, the firmware can subsequently be upgraded from our website

You can also load new files up to 6MB through the browser-based file manager

Peter
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: mexiwi on September 17, 2005, 09:21:59 PM
This is not a good solution I was unable to make it work with my wireless network.

I originally bought a refurbished WGT634U off eBay, flashed the ICE firmware okay but it bricked on me without ever working, probably due to bad flash memory - my punt on eBay.

Bought a new Aus unit and flashed the firmware and it never once connected to my wireless network, I was able to plug it into my laptop LAN port and change the wireless settings to no avail, WEP or no WEP, SSID or not. I opened my network completely, SSID not hidden, no MAC access control, no security - no WEP key in ICE setup, SSID and no SSID specified, nothing. If a product won't connect to an open network then it must be flawed.

Nice try but please wake me when there is a decent product available - lucky I only got a Trial ICE membership.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: pvogel on September 18, 2005, 07:33:54 AM
If you'd like to send us the Netgear we can test it for you at no charge.  If there is a problem with our firmware we'd like to see what it is.

Peter Vogel
CTO IceTV
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: mexiwi on September 18, 2005, 08:48:03 AM
QuoteIf you'd like to send us the Netgear we can test it for you at no charge.  If there is a problem with our firmware we'd like to see what it is.

That would have been good but unfortunately the unit has been put to death. Now residing in my wheelie bin in a number of bits.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: delbz on September 18, 2005, 12:28:03 PM
Some anger management required? ???

My unit off Ebay is working perfectly. It is connecting to another Netgear Internet router with 128bit WEP. Even if mine failed I would have asked for some advice before breaking it.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: mexiwi on September 18, 2005, 04:35:22 PM
QuoteSome anger management required? ???

Quite possibly, I once had a PS2 fail in similar circumstances during a GT3 licence test, I bought a wheel with the neaxt PS2 and it didn't break once.

QuoteEven if mine failed I would have asked for some advice before breaking it.

Yeah - but I'd already been thru all the suggestions made when my first one bricked. I couldn't even get it connecting to an open network, that smacks of incompatibility and I was mighty pissed off.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: peteru on September 19, 2005, 01:47:46 PM
Wireless networking can have many compatibility issues, both new and older equipment. The only way to resolve them in many situations is to keep things as simple as possible and use a systematic approach to eliminate one thing at a time. This can be very time consuming and frustrating and is one of the reasons why the ICE firmware is as simple as possible. Every network connection has at least two end points and unfortunately the AP end point is a big complicated unknown quantity in most cases.

In your case, the inability to connect to an open network sounds a lot like there may be MAC address filtering enabled on your AP. Of course, it could be any number of other things.

Either way, it's always a good idea to report problems to the manufacturer. Even if the manufacturer can not help you on the spot, they can become aware of any potential issues and improve the product in the future.

Half the effort of fixing a problem is reproducing it and identifying the cause. Yes, it is more effort to post the router to someone and have it examined, but at least there is a chance of having the problem fixed. I doubt that your rubbish bin will be much help.  ;)
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: mexiwi on September 19, 2005, 07:09:25 PM
QuoteIn your case, the inability to connect to an open network sounds a lot like there may be MAC address filtering enabled on your AP. Of course, it could be any number of other things.

My initial configuration was with MAC filtering enabled, I added the 2 MAC addresses on the bottom of the unit and then during setup I noticed a third MAC address in the status page in the icebox interface so added that too.

My normal network configuration is SSID hidden, MAC filtering on and WPA-PSK.

I had the initial conditions for this one as SSID Hidden, MAC Filtering on with the 3 Icebox associated MACs in there, and "WEP or WPA-PSK" security. WEP kep was the example WEP 128bit HEX just copied straight from my router management page into router and icebox setup page.

After initial failure I went to WEP only on the router.

Next no security on router and deleted the icebox key.

Next MAC filtering off.

Next SSID un-hidden.

Next SSID deleted from icebox.

Next flying lessons.

Shits me that it didn't work but I can see I'm going to end up getting another one and dammit I want it to work.

I'll make sure I skip the flying lessons if I try it again.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: peteru on September 19, 2005, 10:43:37 PM
QuoteMy initial configuration was with MAC filtering enabled, I added the 2 MAC addresses on the bottom of the unit and then during setup I noticed a third MAC address in the status page in the icebox interface so added that too.
Ignore the MAC addresses printed on the box. Instead, go to the "Device Status" page, where you will find MAC addresses for both the wired and wireless interface. You only need the one for wireless.

QuoteMy normal network configuration is SSID hidden, MAC filtering on and WPA-PSK.
Paranoia mode. ;) Nothing wrong with that - if it works. When it doesn't, you can relax a few of these settings to troubleshoot the problems, without making your network insecure.

If you have hidden SSID, you will have to specify it exactly in the icebox web interface. Keep in mind that the SSID is case sensitive and that it should not have any leading or trailing whitespace. To be on the safe side, keep it to alphanumerics with no spaces or punctuation. Something like "My1stHiddenNetwork" is good, but "My #1 network!" is not the best choice.

WPA-PSK is not supported right now. Main reason is poor interoperability between various vendor implementations.

QuoteI had the initial conditions for this one as SSID Hidden, MAC Filtering on with the 3 Icebox associated MACs in there, and "WEP or WPA-PSK" security. WEP kep was the example WEP 128bit HEX just copied straight from my router management page into router and icebox setup page.
That sounds almost right. I find that various vendors have varying levels of compatibility with "WEP and WPA-PSK" mode. Most of the time it does not work properly, especially with mixed networks that have WEP only as well as WPA-PSK TKIP and WPA2 AES clients.

QuoteAfter initial failure I went to WEP only on the router.
I'd suggest the following approach:

Start with the AP configured for:
* MAC filtering - OFF
* WEP - 128-bit key in hex
* Broadcast SSID - ON
* DHCP server - ON

Icebox wireless settings:
* Enabled - ON
* ESSID - blank
* WEP key - 128 bit key in hex
* Address - blank (use DHCP)
* Default gateway - blank (obtained via DHCP)
* DNS server - blank (obtained via DHCP)

That should be the easiest to get working, without making your network insecure.

Assuming that this configuration works, you can further enhance your security by enabling the following features one at a time:

* Specify ESSID on the icebox and turn SSID broadcasts OFF on the AP.
* Enter icebox MAC address in AP access list and enable MAC filtering on the AP.

I'd expect things to work up to this point.

Other adventures you can try, however you are likely to encounter problems:

* Mixed WEP / WPA-PSK mode
* Afterburner / SuperG / Turbo modes
* WDS

This isn't really an issue with any particular product, it's just the current state of the wireless marketplace. Each chipset vendor has different ideas on how to get the most performance out of their product. As soon as you start using anything new, compatibility ends up going out the window. WEP is fairly well understood, WPA is a disaster zone, WPA2 / 802.1x is not mature enough to be properly supported by most vendors.

Good luck with it, I'm sure you'll get it working.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: peteru on September 19, 2005, 10:58:30 PM
Just thought of another few things.

1. Physical position with respect to the AP.

When I got my first lot of wireless equipment, I wasted about 40 minutes trying to get things going. As it turned out, my AP was almost directly above the client and the two devices were within each other's blind zone.

Ensure that both devices are at the same height and at least 1-2m from each other. Both antennae should be as vertical as you can get them - ideally parallel to each other.


2. Routing loops.

Once you configure your wireless network properly, you may end up with both the wired and wireless networks connected at the same time. Depending on the exact setup of your home network, this could present issues related to routing loops. The fix is simple. Wait about 30 seconds, power down the icebox, unplug the wired network and power on the icebox. Wait another 60 seconds, then check the web interface of your AP to see if the icebox is on the network.


3. Firewalls and proxies.

Always a good idea to check that there isn't something else in the way, like a firewall rule or a caching proxy.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: mexiwi on September 20, 2005, 07:21:38 AM
QuoteIf you have hidden SSID, you will have to specify it exactly in the icebox web interface. Keep in mind that the SSID is case sensitive and that it should not have any leading or trailing whitespace. To be on the safe side, keep it to alphanumerics with no spaces or punctuation. Something like "My1stHiddenNetwork" is good, but "My #1 network!" is not the best choice.

Yeah - my SSID was "Brendan's LAN" which worked fine with my laptop, was changed to "BrendanLAN" for the second attempt.

QuoteOnce you configure your wireless network properly, you may end up with both the wired and wireless networks connected at the same time. Depending on the exact setup of your home network, this could present issues related to routing loops. The fix is simple. Wait about 30 seconds, power down the icebox, unplug the wired network and power on the icebox. Wait another 60 seconds, then check the web interface of your AP to see if the icebox is on the network.

I thought that may have been an issue with my first one so the second time I used a direct connection to my laptop which had it's wireless disabled and was isolated from the network.

How long should it take for the unit to succesfully negotiate a connection? At one stage after I changed the settings page it came up with a green band and "associated with network BrendanLAN" but on the status page it said the wireless failed. But that only happened once. Can it take a while for the dhcp to allocate an ip?

I did also try specifying a fixed ip with the second unit via telnet into the DHCP server of my router. But no good so I deleted that.

Quote1. Physical position with respect to the AP.

A lot of the time the unit was sitting beside the AP on my desk when I was trying to set it up. When connected to the toppy it's about 5m away thru a wall.

Might take my laptop out to the lounge and try setup from there with a bit of distance.

Hmm - I can definately see I will be going out and buying yet another one this weekend.

One thing I will do is download the ICE firmware again to make sure that isn't corrupted. How long should a restart of the ICEd unit take, the normal Netgear firmware took a minute or two to initialise, the ICEd one seemed to start within a few seconds (power light goes from yellow to green) - does that sound about right?
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: mexiwi on September 24, 2005, 01:15:15 PM
[size=36]SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!![/size]

Thanks peteru

IceBox mkIII is now connected and working.

Set up exactly as you said above

QuoteStart with the AP configured for:
* MAC filtering - OFF
* WEP - 128-bit key in hex
* Broadcast SSID - ON
* DHCP server - ON

Icebox wireless settings:
* Enabled - ON
* ESSID - blank
* WEP key - 128 bit key in hex
* Address - blank (use DHCP)
* Default gateway - blank (obtained via DHCP)
* DNS server - blank (obtained via DHCP)

And worked first time.

The other things I did were:
- Re-downloaded the Ice firmware
- Changed my wireless channel to 1 (was on 6 and neighbour has an open network on 11)
- Turned my neighbours SSID off (tee hee, but they shouldn't have it unsecured)

Now to play with it for a couple of days.
Title: Netgear WGT634U Firmware Flash
Post by: gomax on September 28, 2005, 05:24:33 AM
 Hi All

My experience with setting up WGT634U (WasGonnaThrow634metresUpwind):

1. Tried to flash IceTV, page error on browser.
2. Tried to flash Netgear firmware from 1.4.1.5 to .10, same result.
3. Reset router, nothing but power light flashed from orange to green continuously, left off for a week.
4. Searched on google for answer.
5. Found on on Netgear forum http://forum1.netgear.com/support/viewtopic.php?t=7406&highlight=wgt634u
6. Successfully flashed .5 to .9 Yippeeee!
7. Successfully flashed IceTV firmware.
8. Setup router using defaults from IceTV howto.
9. Connected to IceTV servers.
10.Data transferred wirelessly to Toppy.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: recur on September 28, 2005, 10:34:03 AM
So what Ice have effectively done is knobble a quite useful product and turned it into an application specific gateway?

Why would providing the ability to reflash the unit back to a NetGear image be too tough to provide?

I've seen Optus make this possible with dumber devices (DLink DSL300), where they just replaced the web front end for the box, but left the original content available so if you knew the right URLs you could still access the material.

I've just bought a Netgear WGT634U through one of our distributors to have a tinker with. They seem to have 40 odd of these in stock still, wholesale buy price is about $155.

I'll see how it goes with the Toppie, but I'm less than impressed about having to run a separate bridge in the lounge room for the XBox, PS2 and my receiver, when this NetGear unit could have done the job of both units.

We don't need the routing functionality on the unit, just bridging the LAN ports to the wireless interface would have more than sufficed.

Hopefully this stuff will get ironed out when / if a dev kit for this gets released.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: pvogel on September 28, 2005, 12:51:57 PM
The Netgear firmware was not easy to work with. and it cost us a small fortune to get the functionality we have.

The open source will be released any day now. There were some bits that we would have liked that Netgear could not get for us.

There are a number of improvements to the icebox, including the one you mentioned, that would be great to see.   I hope the open source developers will be able to help out!

Peter Vogel
CTO IceTV
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: recur on October 03, 2005, 12:33:44 PM
I have noticed that there is a fully functional SSH v2 server running on the IceTV enabled NetGear router.

What are the user credentials for this?

Are they documented anywhere?
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: peteru on October 05, 2005, 04:58:13 PM
All the major components have been published either as part of the GPL release available from the IceTv GPL page (http://www.icetv.com.au/gpl.php) or as part of the icebox project (http://icebox.sourceforge.net/).

There are no plans to provide plaintext versions of any passwords to the public for obvious security reasons.

If you are planning on doing icebox development, I would suggest that you join the icebox-devel mailing list, hosted by the icebox project (http://icebox.sourceforge.net/) and start a conversation there.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: eclipse on October 10, 2005, 03:16:53 PM
Hiya,

Ok, I've had a few problems setting up my netgear still to no avail... I've spoken to the Daniels at ICE and I must thank them for their efforts so far!

Here's the story.... Um..... Three times I've locked myself out of the netgear. Twice i've sent it back to Sydney to be reflashed. Hopefully not a third time.

Here's the scenario....

I have a Wireless Access point that was originally sitting on 192.168.1.254.....

The third time in trying to set this up and talking with Daniel we unfortunately pointed the unit to a static IP address of 192.168.1.3 and the dns/gateway settings at 192.168.1.1

We Daniel and I realised our error, we changed the IP of the access point to 192.168.1.1

When I try and access the 192.168.1.17 all get is timeouts when trying to connect.

The parameters for the install are:

WEP key (128bit) enabled (hex characters only)
Pointing to the right SSID.... no problems there.

When I connect the unit to the back of my router I can see it come up on the connected ethernet devices as icebox66

But still no connection via the wireless componet.

Is there any way I can get access to my unit. Or will I have to send it back to Sydney (boo hoo....)

The next time I think i'll try the standard DHCP settings again. Does the hard-coding of the dns/gateway perm. lock me out from resetting this device?

Any help would be great!

Cheers.






Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: peteru on October 11, 2005, 12:21:06 AM
You are probably violating a simple network topology rule and creating a routing blackhole. It sounds like you have made the same configuration error multiple times. Let's see if we can figure out where the problem is and how to get around it.

We'll need to start with a description of your existing network and how you expect to connect the Netgear to it. Please describe your existing networked equipment, how it is connected and what IP addresses and netmasks you use. Please also provide details of any network services that may be available, such as DHCP servers on access points or DNS proxies on firewalls / routers. The more information we have, the easier it is to see the whole picture.

In the case of the Netgear router, you should configure it with the least amount of information required. You should prefer DHCP over static configuration. Unless you fully understand the routing implications of a multi-homed network, I would not recommend entering any details for the static IP, default gateway or DNS servers.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: peteru on October 11, 2005, 12:39:11 AM
Procedure for accessing a WGT634U that you think you misconfigured:
The above should work in most instances. If the above does not work, it almost certainly means that your wireless connection is working and the WGT634U is connecting to your access point. If that is the case, repeat the steps above, but ensure the access point is turned off before you start.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: eclipse on October 11, 2005, 09:51:06 AM
Hi Peter,

Thanks for the quick reply. I think personally I've made three seperate errors. The first two were definately my fault however I would have thought that the third attempt would have worked.

Here's the setup:

Wireless Access Point : Billion 7402VGP Router
PC : D-Link DWL-G122 (USB Wireless connection to my billion router)
Laptop : Work laptop connect wireless from anywhere in the house

Originally the default IP for the AP was 192.168.1.254
Netmask : 255.255.255.0

DHCP is turned on.

The only firewalls that are currently utilised are software based types ( Symantec - Internet Security 2004 ).

The subnet range is from 192.168.1.1 ---> 192.168.1.20

The AP is now set to 192.168.1.1 ---- Both my PC and laptop connect to the access point via the SSID "WirelessNetwork". One problem that may have caused an issue was having a space in the SSID this has now been resolved. 128 bit static WEP keys are utilised to key the network (semi-secure)... Growl.... Why can't we have WPA????? Would be great to have!

So the laptop and the PC respectively are assigned 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2

After the first two failed attempts of me entering in 'totally' wrong addresses into the IP/DNS and gateway settings Daniel and I attempted to set it up the third time.

I disconnected everything and plugged the AP directly into the back of my PC and then plugged the netgear into the AP as well.

The netgear was assigned an ip of 192.168.1.3 and the gateway/dns were pointed to 192.168.1.1

I couldn't get back in. I've tried every combination of trying to get back into the thing. Directly plugged into the AP, into the laptop, I've turned even tried turned off DHCP and assigned manual IP's to the other devices, to no avail. And to think that I'm a java programmer... Aarrrgghhh!

So when i get home tonight. I'll try the information from your second message about doing a full-reset on the netgear and see if i can get it back. If so need be I'll send it back to Sydney to get reflashed and then try the DHCP option.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: peteru on October 11, 2005, 01:52:49 PM
There is at least one issue I can see already, both your laptop and access point are using 192.168.1.1 as their IP. That means the entire network is unstable.

Here's my recommendation for a reasonable network layout that should work rather well:

Making use of DHCP is fairly important, it tends to work much better than manual configuration and the entire network ends up with consistent configuration. What's perhaps even more important, is that if you need to change things, it can be done from one place and with little scope for typos.

I still think that allowing non-DHCP configuration is more trouble than it's worth. Just about any decent access point or router out there has a DHCP server. Giving manual IP configuration access is like handing a saw over to someone sitting on a branch. You'll always find someone who will cut the wrong side.  ;)

I'm pretty confident that your configuration can be sorted out without having to send the device away.

You should ensure that your firewall is not interfering with your web browser. Software firewalls tend to be a common cause of troubles for many people. It may not be a bad idea to temporarily disable your firewall until things work.

BTW: If you think you are having trouble with this, you should see how things break when you try to get WPA working between equipment from various vendors. Trust me, you are better off with WEP for now, until WPA2 is more common.
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: eclipse on October 11, 2005, 06:30:42 PM
Hi Peter,

Again thanks for the quick reply. We'll I tried the full reset and I still receive a timeout when trying to hit 192.168.1.17 address.. I followed your instructions to the letter with no joy... IE basically times out.. As said, I'll send the unit back to Syndey tomorrow and will hopefully get it back before the wkend!!????

There is at least one issue I can see already, both your laptop and access point are using 192.168.1.1 as their IP. That means the entire network is unstable.


Opps, that was a typo on my behalf... The current laptop IP is getting assigned a valid IP via DHCP. No conflicts are currently present on the network.

When I get the unit back, i'll carefully follow the instructions as specified and I'll set the network up now to work serve DHCP in the range 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.200.

I'll leave the static ip/dns/gateway settings alone!  :-[

Again thanks for the help!

Cheers,
Bennie.



Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: pvogel on October 11, 2005, 07:07:40 PM
I configured my router for a statis address mainly so I could find it on my network, as my router does not show the names of the devices connected.  It worked fine for me!

Peter
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: srto2 on October 11, 2005, 08:50:04 PM
I use static addresses too.  I live in the boondocks  :) and get a fair share of power interruptions.  Because you don't know which device is going to reboot, then get on line first, fixed IPs give me the best chance, though not infallible, of everything working, (+no complaints from SWMBO) after a power bump.

Cheers,
Rob
Title: Re: Netgear WGT634U
Post by: bigfoot on October 26, 2005, 11:10:59 AM
I've had a toppy for over a year now and the lack of an EPG has been an ongoing source of frustration.

So last weekend I bit the bullet and took out a three month subscription to the IceTV EPG. I'm pretty happy with the way it works.

Dumping up the Guide....

I already had a USB cable in place as I'd previously used it for copying off files, so plugging in the laptop and  fetching the daily update was the easy choice. Actually doing that for the first time took longer than I expected because of the needlessly complicated instructions on the IceTV website.  Once I had the utility in place and configured it was rediculously easy to plug in the laptop once a day and do the update.

EPG Automation....

So only two days later I'm actively considering ways to automate the process. I just wanted it to work with no user intervention.

Options I considered were:
1. USB connection with an extender arrangement.
2. Connect the Toppy to the network using my Cisco NSLU2 (Slug - now overclocked and running unslung)
3. Netgear WGT634U

** I discarded option 1 mainly because my wife would have killed me if I'd added another cable to the room. The USB solution also seemed a little boring.
** I already had a SLUG onhand and I seriously considered using it. I upgraded the firmware to unslung and started playing aroung with puppy, however, the more I looked into it, the more the range of other options for this device became apparent and I started to think it would be a waste to use it on the toppy. Plus to be honest I was feeling a little lazy.
** So off to get a WGT634U.

Netgear Router....

Having read the forum I downgraded my wifi security from WPA in advance.
I downloaded the IceTV firmware, plugged in the router and using a standard cat5 cable plugged in my laptop.
No joy. I couldn't see the router admin page.
Read a little bit of the online doco and saw that I'd assumed the router would default to 192.168.0.1 as all other Netgear devices do. I needed to use 192.168.1.1
Fixed that and bingo!
I flashed the firmware and it rebooted.
Tried to get back to the admin page and crap!!!! - no response.
Read a little bit of the online doco and realised I had used the wrong network port on the router. Only the port closest to the USB port was active with the new firmware.
Fixed that but still no joy.
Read a little bit more of the online doco and saw that the router was now defaulting to 192.168.1.17
Tried that and the IceGuide Page came up. So cool!

OK - After all that, configuring the router was a doddle. I guess I mucked about for 15 minutes to get it all working to my satisfaction.
Went to network settings and plugged in my SSID and WEP encryption and activated it.
Went to fetch settings and plugged in my EPG userid and password.
Did a fetch - worked fine.
Played around a bit more and updated the firmware a further two times as there were updates available.
Fetched the guide a few more times just because I could. ;)

Next Day....

Everything seems to be working fine.
As I'm typing this message everything looks sweet.
I guess it took about 45 minutes all up from unpacking the router through flashing, configuring and finally placing it in it's spot in the home theatre cabinet. I had a few minor heart palpitations after the firmware flash but really it was just me not reading all the doco.

Highly recommended.