First World Problem (or: expanding wifi with two routers)

Raggaholic

Ok, so the issue is, due to the layout of my house, I can't get a good wifi signal throughout my house with one wireless router. I need to expand coverage to the first floor bedrooms and the upstairs bedrooms. I know that you can't just plug and play two routers on one network and have everything go fine. I've read instructions on countless websites on how to do it, but for some reason, I still can't get it to work.

MAIN ROUTER
Linksys E4500
IP Address 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server On
Address Ranges 192.168.1.10-100
Wifi 2.4 Channel 1
SSID WIFI X
Passcode ACDEB (WPA2 Per)

SECONDARY ROUTER
Linksys WRT54GS2 V1 (connected via LAN port via cat5e cable run through house)
IP Address 192.168.1.2
DHCP Server Off
Wifi 2.4 Channel 6
SSID WIFI X
Passcode ACDEB (WPA2 Per)

According to every webpage I've seen, this should work. Whenever something tries to log on the strong secondary signal, it ends up connected to the first weak signal. Help?

Thanatos

Offhand, I'd change your SSID on the secondary router to something different from the SSID on the primary router.

Raggaholic

I was told that the ssid and encryption had to be the same on both to allow free roaming. Or did you just mean to troubleshoot the connection?

Thanatos

I meant for purposes of troubleshooting. I've never set up a router in Free-Roaming mode before, though.

Some Googling seems to indicate that you can install DD-WRT Micro on your WRT54GS2. DD-WRT Micro has a "repeater" mode, designed for doing shit like this rather than trying to jury-rig it on the default firmware; it's probably what I would do in your situation.

Warning: I cannot tell you for sure that your router can run this firmware, and it is possible you could brick it if you do it improperly, or try to install it and it can't actually run it.

Daenris

I had a similar setup with a WRT54G and a Linksys E3000. I was never able to get it to work with the default firmwares, so I installed DD-WRT on the 54G and set it up in repeater mode just as Thanatos suggests.

Great Scott

Solution 1: set up the second router as a Access Point of the first, either manually (making sure both networks are the same IP range, turning off DHCP, turning off the Firewall function), or automatically from some setting (I don't know that particular router myself).

Keep in mind that getting wireless going (passwords, SSID) and using the network (IP addresses, routing) are different things. You'd still need to make the second/slave router visible as a wireless device even if the networks are joined.

Solution 2: Set it up as a normal wifi router plugged into the other one. So you'd have TWO networks (meaning both wireless and IP range) one for one side of your house and one for the other. This is what I do because it's just easier.

Once you know which way you want to go, let us know and I can give a lot more detail.

EDIT: NOTE: your channel setup isn't exactly correct. For 2.4Ghz "G", channels 1,5,9, and 13 are non-overlapping, and for 2.4Ghz "N" it's 3/11. You'll want to change the second router to a different channel than 6; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels for more details.