Connecting cable modem to Netgear WGT624?

Discussion in 'Wireless' started by Lord Deckard, Jun 29, 2006.

  1. Lord Deckard

    Lord Deckard Byte Poster

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    Wasn't sure if I should put this in wireless or networking!
    Having been firmly ensconced in the ADSL camp, a friend of mine has asked me to look at their cable setup. Initial problem was that a wireless laptop connection wasn't working which I fixed by re-running the config program and all was good.

    For 2 days.

    Went back to have another look and although the laptop was seeing the Netgear router, there was no connectivity. After tearing my hair out for a bit, I went and had a look at the router and was a bit stunned. It looks like the cable modem was connected to the desktop PC by ethernet, ICS appears to be running and theres another ethernet cable running to the WGT624. Didn't have time to start putting everything in order but I'm probably going to have a play at some point.

    My question is; would I be right in assuming I would run the cable modem into the the WAN port and then run all the computers from the router? In that case, would I have to configure the router connection to see the cable modem? Reading the documentation, it would seem that the router should autosense the connection but the Blueyonder site is a bit arse and implies otherwise.
    Anyone give me any advice or should I just turn up and start ripping cables out and see what happens LOL!!
     
    Certifications: A+, MCDST
    WIP: N+ and CCNA
  2. Baba O'Riley

    Baba O'Riley Gigabyte Poster

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    Either is a good option! Seriously, your assumption is right. The router should pick up the modem automatically. Given the way it was set up before, it's worth making sure the router is not set to solely function as a WAP.
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+
    WIP: 70-270
  3. Baba O'Riley

    Baba O'Riley Gigabyte Poster

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    Just had a thought. It may have been set up like that because in the old days (not sure about now) you had to register the MAC address of your PC with the cable company and you could only plug that registered PC into the modem. If this seems to be the case, the router may have an option to spoof the PC's MAC address so you can plug that into the modem.
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+
    WIP: 70-270
  4. Gaz 45

    Gaz 45 Kilobyte Poster

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    Agreed Baba. Back at uni when we had cable we used this setup, except using a switch rather than a router.
    Went something like this (host PC had to be fitted with two ethernet cards)

    Cable Modem -> PC ethernet card 1 -> PC ethernet card 2 -> Switch -> All other Pc's.

    Only problems we ever had was no internet access when the host PC was switched off.
    (Really irritating because he always switched it off around 11pm :) )

    Anyway, the point to this heartwarming anecdote is:
    Is the PC switched on?
    When you say no connectivity is that to the network, internet or both?

    And sorry if these are ridiculously obvious questions (or if I've got the wrong end of the stick) :biggrin
     
    Certifications: MCP (70-229, 70-228), MBioch
    WIP: MCDBA (70-290)
  5. Lord Deckard

    Lord Deckard Byte Poster

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    No worries Gaz, I didn't make it clear! Laptop is connecting to the Netgear fine but no internet and doesn't see the other PC connectivity. I'm pretty sure it's rigged this way as Baba says due to that old MAC issue, or it was rigged up to test me Grrrrr! Had a sniff through the router setup pages and the manual and it does look like theres some settings relating to the router MAC address but I'd have thought it shouldn't be a problem.
    I'll let you know how I get on, just got to arrange some point to go over and try it.

    Just to clariy, way it's setup now;

    Cable modem > PC NIC 1 >PC NIC 2 > WGT624 router

    Way I'm going to get it working;

    Cable modem > WGT624 > all the PC's, wired or otherwise LOL!!

    Been a long day and I'm just moving from Stella to vodka :biggrin
     
    Certifications: A+, MCDST
    WIP: N+ and CCNA
  6. Lord Deckard

    Lord Deckard Byte Poster

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    Well, went round had a look and put everything in the order I assumed would work. It didn't. Only took me 20 minutes to realise I had to reset the cable modem so that it would refresh and pick up the routers MAC. D'oh!!
    Well, after that everythings hunky dory and I learned something in the process so it wasn't too bad!!
     
    Certifications: A+, MCDST
    WIP: N+ and CCNA
  7. Boycie
    Honorary Member

    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    I didn't realise that the cable providers still bothered with the MAC issue. Anyhow, cable modem > Netgear router> desktop nic/wireless clients should work perfectly.
     
    Certifications: MCSA 2003, MCDST, A+, N+, CTT+, MCT
  8. AJ

    AJ 01000001 01100100 01101101 01101001 01101110 Administrator

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    I remember when I had my cable fitted and could not use it until the MAC address of the cable modem had been registered. Never had the PC MAC addy recorded, good job really as it must have changed 4 times since.
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCSA (messaging), ITIL Foundation v3
    WIP: Breathing in and out, but not out and in, that's just wrong
  9. Boycie
    Honorary Member

    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Seems a pretty inferior way of the cable providers to just need a MAC to register. Was it purely to try and charge people who didn't know any better for more than one connection?
     
    Certifications: MCSA 2003, MCDST, A+, N+, CTT+, MCT
  10. Lord Deckard

    Lord Deckard Byte Poster

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    Just to clarify my ****-up, the cable modem had already assigned the WAN IP to the PC that was initially plugged in and taken the MAC from that NIC. Reboot the modem and it gave the IP to the router and got the correct MAC. Pretty basic error and no idea why I didn't think of it sooner.
     
    Certifications: A+, MCDST
    WIP: N+ and CCNA

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