WAN/Internet Connectivity Issues with OpenWRT / WRT54GS

Hi all,

I recently purchased a Linksys WRT54GS V1.0 router and have flashed it with OpenWRT using X-WRT (Whire Russian 0.9). The firmware and Web-interface are updated to the latest version. (WebIF r3978, Linux Kernel 2.4.30 #1)

I'm in UK, on Virgin Media Cable internet connection and use a cable modem supplied by them. No username or password are needed to connect - it's just plug and play. My current router, a Netgear FR114P, works fine when hooked up to the cable modem and picks up it's IP/Subnet Mask/DG automatically.

The new router works fine on the LAN, but it cannot seem to see my cable modem nor my Internet connection - It can't ping the modem when directly connected to either the LAN or WAN ports, whether pinging from a connected PC or directly from the router's diagnostic page. I'm wondering if I've configured something poorly?

I have a couple of questions that I'd like to check over with you guys - Knowledge of OpenWRT or the FR114P would be useful ^^.

1. Regarding dynamically getting an IP address from the ISP - The FR114P simple has the option Get Dynamically from ISP or the option to set it statically. Reagarding the options, it says this:

Basic Settings Help
Note: If you are setting up the router for the first time, the default settings may work for you with no changes.

Does your Internet connection require a login?
Select this option based on the type of account you have with your ISP. If you need to enter login information every time you connect to the Internet or you have a PPPoE account with your ISP, select Yes. Otherwise, select No.

Note: If you have installed login software such as WinPoET (from Earthlink) or Enternet (from SBC or others), then you have PPPoE. Select Yes.

Note: If your ISP is Telstra Bigpond Cable, select it under Internet Service Provider Name. If your ISP is Austria Telecom (or another ISP that uses PPTP for login) select it. Otherwise select Other(PPPoE).

Click to expand...

The options that OpenWRT give, however, are:
* None
* DHCP
* Static IP
* PPPoE
* PPTP

Given that "None" seems to disable any input regarding the WAN port, I know I don't have a static IP, and PPPoE requires a password, am I correct to assume that my ISP is assigning IP addresses via DHCP? Does anyone know the specifics on this regarding Virgin Media in the UK?


2. Just below these connection type options on the OpenWRT, are a couple of text boxes with the options to set manual WAN IP Address and the Subnet mask, "in case the DHCP server is unavailable". Is it worth setting these values to the values shown in my FR114P as being assigned by my ISP? Bear in mind that the IP is not static and will likely change in time. Also I assume trying to force a static IP when my ISP is set up with DHCP is probably a bad idea.


3. There is also the function on the OpenWRT to make the router use OpenDNS servers rather than the ISP's DNS servers. I appreciate that this shouldn't be affecting my ability to connect, much less ping my cable modem, but I'm guessing it would be best to leave this disabled?


4. Under "LAN configuration" in the same page on the OpenWRT, I have the option to set a default gateway. Should I set this to my cable modem's internal IP (192.168.100.1), my external gateway IP as assigned by my ISP (an 82.19.x.x address), or just leave it blank altogether? Or set it to itself? (The OpenWRT router's IP).


5. VLAN configuration in the OpenWRT. There are two default VLANS: 0 and 1. I've read in different places that 0 might be the WAN more, or 1 might be. The available ports are:
eNet 0
eNet 1
eNet 2
eNet 3
WAN
Internal

The default setting (AFAIK) is for all of the above to be a member of VLAN 0, and for eNet 0, WAN, and Internal to be a member of VLAN 1. That's how I currently have it set up.

*Is this incorrect? Will the VLAN affect LAN > WAN connectivity? (I'm assuming "yes" from what I know about VLANS).

*Does anyone know for sure which of those options is actually the WAN port on this router, V1.0 (Apparently it changes with the version of the router).

*Does anyone know why there is a WAN option as well as all of the individual ports, and what it affects?



I can get log file or information from either router for anyone who needs them. If someone here thinks they can help and are fairly "established", I'd be happy to give you remote access to my FR114P router for you to collect information (Sadly, I can't get my WRT router online to do the same. Obviously!

Any other information you can provide is extremely helpful - any insight into the working of Virgin Media and things I might need to configure to connect to their cable modems, or knowledge on configuring the OpenWRT (The docs are a bit sparse: Linky) - all these things would be very helpful.

Sorry for the long post, and thank you for taking the time to read it! I appreciate any advice with this that isn't "Just flash the proper firmware back over the top and use that" .

Thanks!


P.S. Just a couple of things I forgot to mention - I've also tested restarting both the cable modem and WRT router to make sure it wasn't just getting "tied" to the FR114P. The computer I'm using to configure the WRT, my laptop, is plugged straight into one of the WRT's LAN ports, and the WAN port then connects straight to the modem using the same cable that was being used to connect my modem to my FR114P - so I know the issue isn't to do with the FR114P, my switch, or a cable issue.

Also, I can ping my cable modem's internal IP (192.168.100.1) through my main PC (via the switch and then FR114P) when it's all connected up, and can connect directly from my laptop to the cable modem when it's plugged in directly. But plugging the laptop into the WRT, I cannot ping nor access the cable modem even when the modem is connected straight into either the WAN or LAN port.

Also the section in my WRT that picks up the WAN address via DHCP (Status > Interfaces), picks up an IP fine from my FR114P if I plug it (the WRT) into the FR114P, so I know that both the WAN port and dynamic DHCP allocation are working fine on the WRT - but upon connecting the cable modem to the WRT, it never picks up the external IP, even after restarting the modem and/or router. The FR114P picks it up every time.

Also, I have installed most of the "optional packages" suggested on various pages. I have only used 42% of the /jffs memory, which I'm guessing is the main memory as it increases when I install a package.
Anything else you need to know, just ask.
Thanks again!

dynamically getting an IP address from the ISP = DHCP. just set it to dhcp

Thanks for the confirmation . I figured as much - However, I have had set it to DHCP all along so far. So now I know at least that one setting is correct, I just have to get it working - any more advice / takers on this issue?

so..

1. DHCP
2. leave it on dhcp, it will save u some issues
3. i seem alot of people that use OpenDNS getting alot of popups, So i would keep ur ISP DNS, or use 4.2.2.4/4.2.2.6 is an university DSN (very good)
4. Your reouter default gateway is the modem ip, but if u set open 1 to dhcp this would be assigned automatically
5. if u only have one comp, u dont need vlans anyways: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_LAN

Ahh ok, thanks, so:

1) Yep, DHCP is enabled
2) Will do! The only other options anyway are static IP which I don't have and PPPoE which requires login info. I just wanted to make sure that DHCP is actually what my ISP is using.
3) No worries, I'll stick with my ISP's DNS server
4) Ahh, thanks! I'll leave it blank as it should be assigned by DHCP (I figured it should).
5) Yeah, I figured as much, it's just that it came with 2 VLANs by default and I figured that I shouldn't f*** with it. Still I've removed the other VLAN so I'll give it a test quickly now and report back. Thanks again!

Right, I've found out the following:

1. You cannot remove the second VLAN from the VLAN section in OpenWRT. If you try, using "Remove Last VLAN", and restart, both VLANS will still appear, although the "WAN" section of Status > Interfaces will dissapear until you have re-added it using the "Add new VLAN" button.

2. Attempting to remove the VLAN does, however, reset VLAN settings to default. The default is actually

Where ports = (eNet0, eNet1, eNet2, eNet3, WAN, Internal)
VLAN0 - All ports
VLAN1 - eNet0, Internal

(I originally thought it was eNet0, WAN and Internal for VLAN1).

3. Having the WAN option in VLAN 1 or not doesn't make a difference - the router still does not pick up an IP address.

4. It doesn't matter if I set the Default Gateway to the IP of the cable modem or not, it still doesn't work.

D'oh!
Any other ideas?

Does you ISP use mac addresses? Try inputting the mac address of your old router on the new one.

things to try
Try reseting router

Change router's local ip

Ensure that wires are connected

Under status check "wan" tab there might be connect option on.

try reseting the modem... since most of the modems have mac filtering on them, resetting them will reset that mac db and allow new router to register

Ugh, right.

First of all, I tried re-flashing the router with the original Linksys (V4, from the website) firmware just to check that it isn't a hardware issue and is def. down to Open WRT. I downloaded the image and used OpenWRT's interface to try and upgrade it. The connection dropped half-way through, and the router appeared to be bricked. Luckily, using some neat TFTP tools from here I managed to get it back up and working with OpenWRT. Tried again with the web-interface flash, on a different computer with a newly downloaded copy of the image (just in case the old one was corrupted). Still no dice, it cut out and refused to boot to the router, the router wouldn't assign an address via DHCP, etc etc. So I used the TFTP flasher to try and flash the Linksys image - no dice. It refuses to boot the Linksys image. So I've flashed OpenWRT back on and it booted up.

Long story short - it looks like I'm stuck with OpenWRT regardless now, as any attempt to flash it back over with the Linksys firmware just causes the app/webpage to cut out and the router refuses to work until re-flashed with OpenWRT .

Ok, now to the comments

Trap05 - What do you mean by putting the MAC of the old router onto this one? As in, MAC masking of some kind so that the modem/ISP thinks it's dealing with my old router? Well, the FR114P is one that I bought myself, and I've also successfully used a Belkin device as the main router hooked up to the modem, so I know that it works with any other device, plus I don't see any kind of MAC masking option in OpenWRT. Sometimes if you change routers you have to power-cycle the modem so that it "learns" that it's connected to a new device / MAC, but I've already tried that with no success.

Meionm - I've tried resetting it, several times - unless you mean like, restore factory defaults on OpenWRT? I might try that next. Even though I had to re-flash the device several times, my setting have been saved - I'm guessing that the NVRAM was just not deleted. So that's something to try.

Changing the local IP - How would that affect it? Do you mean changing it to be in the same subnet at the modem (192.168.100.x /24 - I'm currently running a different subnetting scheme on the inside local part of the network.. But I figure it's supposed to be able to handle a different subnet on the LAN ports and the WAN port - hence the term "router" . But I can give it a shot - is that what you were implying, to set the IP of the router to, say, 192.168.100.2 or something, so it's in the same subnet?)

I've checked the wires, also checked that they're not crossovers, etc. The exact same cable configuration is used on my FR114P, which is what I'm using now to talk to you all - all I do is switch the router out, so I know that all the cables are good. Also since the WRT seems to pick up DHCP setting on the WAN port from my FR114P (which itself is a DHCP server) when I connect it to the FR114P, I'm assuming that the WAN port is functional and DHCP services are working.

There isn't a WAN tab on the Status page - but there is an Interfaces tab, which lists "WAN", "LAN", and "Wireless" - Wan shows the MAC address, an IP field label (which is empty, as no IP has been received), a "Received Packets" (0), and a Transmitted packets (48, currently). LAN is the same but give the IP address too, and more packets obviously.

SuperMiguel - I've already tried this a couple of times, but I'll do it again the next time I test just to make sure.


Ok, ready for the next test:
1. Reset default settings on OpenWRT
2. Reset Router, Modem, and Switch
3. Test defaults on WRT for Internet access. Configure settings, checking Internet periodically
4. Test setting the WRT's IP to 192.168.100.2 / ping modem

I'll post back with results. Please let me know if there's anything else you can think of! Thanks

EDIT - EDIT - EDIT
By a miracle, it's working! See bottom paragraph.
**********************************

Okie, results:

Reset Modem, router, switch
* No effect - still no IP address in WRT interface.

Did software reboot on Router
* No affect here either.

Restoring factory defaults
* Router refuses to boot to failsafe mode after pressing reset. Information Here states that doing a reset (NVRAM Erase) is not save on this unit anyway. Unable to proceed with this option...

Re-configured all setting. Installed packages. Changed IP address to 192.168.100.2
* Configured settings and downloaded packages (Note that this means the WAN port is working, as it will successfully accept a DHCP address from my FR114P router. For some reason it won't do the same when directly connected to the cable modem...) Note that the default VLAN settings are in place (eNet 1, 2, 3, WAN, and Internal on VLAN0, and eNet 0 and Internal on VLAN1. Hence, VLAN1 appears to be just the WAN port (eNet0, although "WAN" is not ticked) and Internal, whereas VLAN0 is everything BUT eNet 0).

* Even set to the same subnet as the modem, connection could not be found

* No change to Internet connectivity after restoring all settings / re-installing all packages

EDIT! UPDATE!
I restarted the router yet again.. Plugged in the cable modem and it just started working. Score one for completely arbitary acts of router kindness! It's working and I have no idea why . Thank you to all those who have helped me thus far!
(Just leaving the above typed text in case it helps anyone else in the future googling this problem)