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Setting up a Dlink DI-524 router

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by bane

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Hey everyone, I have a question about my router.
My brother donated a router to the family and it had no problems where he was in college.

Our current network setup is as follows:

3 computers (hardwired)
1 laptop (wireless)
AT&T DSL service with modem

Once connected, the setup works for about an hour. After 1 hour, the router loses connection with all of the computers and the activity light on the DSL modem goes blank. I've tried many things to troubleshoot the problem.

1) Power-cycled the router and modem
2) Reset the router and modem several times
3) Used another D-link router at hand (same problem)

But the problem persists. The router works for a short period of time then craps out.
All computers are running Windows XP Professional.
Anyone have any insight to help fix this problem?

I know that both the DSL modem and the router have the same IP address, the default that most networking hardware have, but when I changed the router's IP to 192.168.0.X (any number besides 1) the computers couldn't access the internet. Changed it back to 1, and access was restored and the problem came back.

Any help is appreciated!

3 replies

by miamisoftware

Hi Bane,
You didn't state what type of modem you're using for DSL but assuming it too is a router, here are some areas to check. This is just an overview but hopefully gives you some troubleshooting direction.

1. You may have two routers on your network - one is the DLink and the other the AT&T modem(router?). In that case, what seems to be happening is your DLink router may log in to the AT&T service.

2. You need to setup your modem from AT&T to give out IP addresses so make sure it's DHCP server is on. Make sure also your DLink is powered off and not connected. Computers should be off as well except the one connected to your AT&T modem.

3. Now, connect to your DLink (without connecting the DLink to the AT&T modem or anything else besides the 'fixing' computer). Set the DLink as a DHCP client and disable the DLink's DHCP server.

4. Set your PCs to 'Obtain IP address automatically' (forgot the exact term) in your LAN Network properties for TCP/IP.

Essentially, what needs to happen is the DLink needs to use the AT&T modem(router?) as a gateway. I'm not sure if you can use the DLink as the modem/router itself but if you can, you can possibly remove the AT&T if AT&T doesn't check the MAC address.

There are other steps but hope that this points you in the right direction.

SA

by christophe0241

If you are able to get the connection up for a while and then it cuts out, it sounds like the Dial On Demand option is active. When setting up the modem, you will most likely be setting up a PPPoE connection, if this is the case, you should notice (normally right underneath your account information) an additional Connection Type option. It will generally have the two options of "Dial On Demand" or "Always On." With 4 computers, you will definitely want to be set to Always On. This option keeps the connection alive at all times. Dial On Demand being somewhat of a power-save option. Basically, it disconnects the DSL line after X amount of "null time" and these options typically are very buggy in that they do not reconnect properly when the demand is made for the connection.

Aside from choosing Always On, you might also want to try setting the Router to recieve a Dynamic IP address and hand out DHCP. Basically, what would be happening is, your modem will be translating the phone line into an internet connection (because that's what modems are good at) and then will hand out an IP address to the router. The router will take this IP address and will create a bunch of other IP addresses to hand to all the other computers (because that's what routers do best). Not only would this be the easiest way of implementing both pieces of hardware (because typically, the factory default options of the router are exactly what you need for the connection to work), but it would also give you two levels of NAT (Network Address Translation) and at least one hardware firewall. So the only thing that would be left is to set up a WEP key for your wireless network and you would be about as safe as possible.

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