How to setup a home network properly?

Sunstrand

I seem to be having issues with my home network and was wondering if it was setup right. It seems to lose connection to both the wired and wireless devices connection to the router. I have a hunch that the devices are trying to use the same IP address, thus causing problems for everyone. How do I make the computers, game consoles and ipods have their own constant IP address? I know it should do this automatic but I get the error sometimes about the IP address currently being used. This doesn't happen every time the connection craps it's self but I figured it wouldn't hurt to start there. Also the network is protected by WPA2, the encryption mode is AES or TKIP.

I know it's a piece of crap but I'm using a Linksys WRT160n v.2 router. What I need to have connected are, 2 vista pc's a macbook pro, an xbox 360, ps3, Wii, and a couple of ipod touches. I guess another question is am I overwhelming the router, only one console is active at a time.

So yeah, there is my problem, thanks to anyone who reads this and tries to help. Also I wasn't sure about this going here or the H/A forum but I figured here would be better.

exoplasm

First of all make sure the router has enough DHCP slots. I think Linksys defaults to 50 or 100 so that shouldn't be a problem, but check anyway.

You can also set static IPs on each devices. This will ensure they're not trying to use the same address as eachother. Also check out DD-WRT. I have it on my WRT160N (or WRT150N I forget) and it has helped a lot in general.

Dark Shroud

Are you using the latest Firmware? The golden rule of Linksys routers is to update the firmware immediately after unwrapping it. Then you should check every few months.

Otherwise yeah it sound like not enough DHCP slots.

Shadowrunner

Flash it with DD-WRT or Tomato - the stock Linksys firmware is crap. If you have the router set to DHCP, it shouldn't be giving out duplicate IPs. I'd check the devices and see if any are configured with static IPs. If everything is set to DHCP, reboot the router *and* all the devices to see if it clears up.

Sunstrand

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Unfortunately I seem to have one of the few routers in the world that DD-WRT doesn't work on, yet at least. I do have the latest firmware though, I also have enough DHCP slots, it was at 50 but then I changed it to the max of 200, I think it's the max.

I'm not sure if the problem is the redundant IP addresses, I have gotten that error before but all it takes is reboot and everything is fine. The problem now usually requires me to turn off the power to the router and modem and restart them. Then let everything connect again.

Once again thanks for the suggestions. If the problems persist I may just bite the bullet and get a new router, I will however research the shit out of it unlike what I did when I purchased this pile of crap.

mrbernz

DHCP should work, but to test if the router is having addressing issues you could give all your devices a unique static address, something like 192.168.1.XXX where the XXX's is a different number for each device. The DNS and gateway would be your router's address. If you set this up and are still getting issues, its problem time for a new router or try to see if you can isolate which device is having the addressing issue.

Krikee

Sounds like the router is dying under a high load. Consumer grade routers are notorious for not handling a high load properly; although, I've heard good things about the $150+ USD consumer grade routers... If it was a duplicate IP address issue (thereby causing an ARP issue) only the hosts with the IP address conflict would experience issues using the network. Additionally, the only way I see an assignment conflict happening is if you reboot the router and don't force a refresh of all DHCP leases (ie manually refresh each device).

Ps. Use AES encryption.