This is more so I don’t forget what I did but what the hell; someone might find it useful.

Since I picked up a wireless [tag]router[/tag], my original router has been sitting in a box wasting space. The first time I tried to incorporate it into my network, I buggered everything up. This is how the old router ended up in said box.

However, I really needed a switch (a hub would have worked too) but I’m getting tired of all these gadgets littering my tiny apartment. All these wonderful $400 toys that you’d be hard pressed to give away a year on.

So, here are the steps to reproduce what I did and make use of that old router. FYI, the routers are a pair from [tag]Linksys[/tag]: a [tag]WRT54G[/tag] running [tag]DD-WRT[/tag] and an old school [tag]BEFSR41[/tag] with the original firmware.

The WRT54G is 192.168.1 and connects directly to the modem while the BEFSR41 is 192.168.2 and sits downstream providing additional ports.

Setup

  • Login to the BEFSR41 and set the IP to 192.168.1.2/
  • disable DHCP
  • set as a router, not a gateway

Cables

  • Modem feeds into the WAN port on the WRT54G as normal
  • Port 1 out from the WRT54G and into Port 1 on the BEFSR41 not the WAN. This was one of the mistakes I made in my previous attempt
  • Connect xBox and MythTv to the BEFSR41 as normal

I cobbled this together from a number of sources until my tests showed that everything was working the way I expected it to. Your mileage my vary…