Sitecom wireless range extender

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My mac mini never has a strong airport range so I use a Sitecom wireless range extender. This worked fine until I moved into a different house. The software tells me that it is connected and airport says it's connected however no pages load in the browser.

Also, if I can't fix this problem is it possible to use my ibook airport which is fine, through the mac mini?

Any ideas on the problem would be much appreciated.

Thanks:(
 
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My mac mini never has a strong airport range so I use a Sitecom wireless range extender. This worked fine until I moved into a different house. The software tells me that it is connected and airport says it's connected however no pages load in the browser.

Also, if I can't fix this problem is it possible to use my ibook airport which is fine, through the mac mini?

Any ideas on the problem would be much appreciated.

Thanks:(

Different house - different ISP? and what is the extender connected to? is it hardware or software? and what is giving the wireless network?
 
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Yes a different ISP. My iBook has no problem with the wireless.

It's 2 pieces of hardware plus the software. The extender plugs into the mains and then a USB stick plugs into the mac mini picking up the signal.
 
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Well this is the help text below if I was using a PC. I am a Mac boy and have no idea where to start! I've reset the hardware anyway. Any help would be great, if someone could translate the PC talk into Mac talk!!

As you have changed house it is possible that the settings on your router have changed, you can best reconfigure the WL-130, please do this by following the steps below.

Because you already have used the WL-130 before it is best to reset the WL-130 back to factory defaults before starting the configuration, you can do this by pressing and holding the reset button for at least 15 seconds. After you have done this follow the steps below.

Using the WL-130 as a Range Extender.

Before configuring the WL-130 you need to know a couple of things:

Gateway: IP address of your wireless router
SSID: Network name of your wireless router
Security: The encryption set up on your router. Which type and what key.

The default IP address of the WL-130 is 192.168.0.254
If your router IP address is 192.168.0.1 then it will be easy to set up the WL-130. (As they then are in the same range.)

If not, then the IP address of the WL-130 must be changed.
Example:
If your router IP is 192.168.1.1 then change WL-130 to 192.168.1.254
If your router IP is 10.0.0.1 then change WL-130 to 10.0.0.254
If your router IP is 192.168.123.254 then change WL-130 to 192.168.123.253

Changing the IP address of the WL-130 is described in step [C].

[How to find your gateway?]

Windows XP:
1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Enter in the open field: ?command? , and click OK
4. At the command prompt type ?ipconfig? and press Enter
5. Your gateway (router?s IP) is shown at the Default Gateway line
6. Type ?exit? and press Enter to close the command prompt window

Windows Vista:
1. Click Start (The Vista logo)
2. In the Start Search bar, type ?command? and press Enter
3. At the command prompt type ?ipconfig? and press Enter
4. Your gateway (router?s IP) is shown at the Default Gateway line
5. Type ?exit? and press Enter to close the command prompt window


The best way to configure the WL-130 is to connect it with a network cable to the LAN port of your pc or laptop. (When using a laptop, make sure to temporary disable the build-in wireless adapter, if present. When finished, remember to enable the wireless adapter again.)

Next, you need to assign a static IP address to the computer.

Remember to change this back to obtaining IP address automatically after you are done with the configuration. (Once you are certain the WL-130 has connection with your router.)

Windows XP:
1. Click Start
2. Click Control Panel
3. Double-click Network Connections (Or in Category View: Click Network and Internet Connections and then click Network Connections)
4. Right-click on the Local Area Connection icon and left-click on Properties
5. Double-click the line Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) (You may need to scroll down to see this)
6. Tick ?Use the following IP address:?
7. At IP Address enter 192.168.0.10
8. When clicking in the Subnet Mask field, this will automatically become 255.255.255.0
9. Click OK
10. Click OK again

Windows Vista:
1. Click Start (The Vista logo)
2. Click Control Panel
3. Double-click Network and Sharing Center (Or in Category View: Click Network and Internet and then click Network and Sharing Center)
4. In the left menu, click Manage network connections
5. Right-click on the Local Area Connection icon and left-click on Properties (You may need to give Vista permission to continue)
6. Double-click the line Internet Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4) (You may need to scroll down to see this)
7. Tick ?Use the following IP address:?
8. At IP Address enter 192.168.0.10
9. When clicking in the Subnet Mask field, this will automatically become 255.255.255.0
10. Click OK
11. Click OK again


Now open your web browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox) and instead of a web address enter 192.168.0.254 and press Enter.
Enter with username: admin and password: admin.


In top menu click on Basic Settings

[Explanation of the settings]
Mode: Accesspoint, AP Bridge-WDS, Universal Repeater. These are the modes that can be selected. For range extender function use Universal Repeater.
Band: 2.4GHz (B), (G) or (B+G) For compatibility choose (B+G)
ESSID: SitecomAP (This is the default setting but may be changed. It should not be the same as the Router?s SSID.)
Channel Number: 1 to 13 (This must be the same as the Router?s WLAN Channel. This is automatically set when a Site Survey is done.)
Associated Clients: When this button is pressed, it will show the clients which are connected with the WL-130.
WLAN MAC: When the Clone MAC button is pressed it will copy the MAC address of the pc/laptop that is connected to the WL-130. This is not required.
Root AP SSID: This will show the Router?s SSID. This is automatically set when a Site Survey is done.
Site Survey: Click the button to scan for the Router the WL-130 needs to connect to.


Step [A]
In top menu click on Basic Settings

-1- Check Mode, Band and ESSID if these are ok (Mode Universal Repeater)
-2- Click Site Survey button
-3- Tick the Select button of the Router you want to connect to. (The table will also show Channel, Band, Encryption type and Signal Strength. The Signal Strength should ideally be as close to 100 as possible. In practice this will vary. The lower the signal strength, the less success of a proper working connection you will have. You may need to put the WL-130 closer to your router.)
-4- Click ?Done?
-5- When the message ?Change Root AP Successfully!? appears, click on the OK button to get back to the previous screen
-6- Click ?Close? to close the Wireless Site Survey screen
-7- Click ?Apply? and then click ?Continue?


Step
In top menu click on Advanced Settings (This part is only needed if Encryption is enabled on the router. You then need to put the same settings on the WL-130. If no encryption is set then this step can be skipped, please continue at [C].)

-8- At ?Encryption? the type of wireless security can be selected.
(Options are: Disabled/WEP/WPA-PSK/WPA RADIUS)
For most users WEP or WPA Pre-Shared Key is possible.
When using WEP encryption, adjust Key Length and Key Format accordingly.
Leave Default Tx Key to Key 1 and set your WEP key in the Encryption Key 1 field.
You can ignore the other fields.
Do not enable the tickbox for 802.1x Authentication.

When using WPA-PSK encryption, select the WPA Unicast Cipher Suite. (For most users this is WPA(TKIP) or WPA2(AES). Also for most users the Pre-Shared Key Format will be Passphrase.
The encryption key can be entered in the Pre-Shared Key field.

-9- Click ?Apply? and then click ?Continue?


Step [C]
In top menu click on Toolbox

At ?IP management? the IP address of the WL-130 can be set. By default this is 192.168.0.254
So if your router has IP 192.168.0.1 then you do not need to change this.

Example:
If your router IP is 192.168.1.1 then change WL-130 to 192.168.1.254
If your router IP is 10.0.0.1 then change WL-130 to 10.0.0.254
If your router IP is 192.168.123.254 then change WL-130 to 192.168.123.253

Also adjust the Subnet Mask accordingly. For most users this can stay at 255.255.255.0

Leave the Default Gateway at 0.0.0.0 (This does not need to be changed.)

Finally, click ?Apply? AND AGAIN click ?Apply? ! (This is very important as this will save the settings into the WL-130!)

Please wait about 2 minutes.



Step [D]
The last step is to check if the WL-130 has connected with your router.
In top menu click on Home. This will show the ?System Status? page again.
Look at the ?Wireless Repeater Interface Configuration?. The ?State? line should read ?Connected? (Please allow the WL-130 several minutes to show an actual status.)

If the status reads:

Connected, then the WL-130 is connected with your router.
Waiting for keys, then an error has been made with the security settings. Please verify at step .
Scanning, then the wireless signal is not strong enough. Try placing the WL-130 closer to your router and check again at step [A].

Finally, disconnect the network cable from the WL-130 and now establish a wireless connection to the WL-130 (ESSID Sitecom AP or what name you have given earlier at step [A].)

Your pc or laptop should now obtain automatically an IP address from your router but via a wireless connection with the WL-130.
 
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Someone else will have to deal with this. Seems to me that using the extender is only adding to problems not fixing things. My very limited understanding is that with IP address ranges are handed out for the next highest number so why set it to 254 at the end of range is beyond me. viz 10.0.0.1 changed to 10.0.0.254?
 
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without the extender how will I find a signal? or should I buy a new airport card or something?

I have been told that I should change the extender IP address to .253 at the end as my Hub is using .254. How can I do this through the mac?
 

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