Wireless Access Point + Router + Cable Modem = Mess!

[NicZak]

Okay, so I have an existing lan which is setup like this: PC -> Router -> Cable Modem (Plugged into wan port). Now I want to add a wireless access point to the equation, and I tried CABLE MODEM plugged into ROUTER (WAN PORT), ACCESS POINT plugged into one of the switched ports on the router (This I have tried in both the LAN/WAN ports of the ACCESS POINT) and WIRED pc into router, and my wireless pc (w/ wireless pccard). Now I cant even communicate with the access point via web (192.0.2.1) but I can still use the web (with my wired pc) and access my routers web interface. Anyone have thoughts?

[AnimalMachine]

I have something similar setup:

192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0
Cable -> router -> firewall

192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0
firewall -> switch -> 3 wired clients & wireless access point

192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0
wireless ap <- laptop w/ prism2 card.

With this setup, only my firewall touches the network containing the cable modem (192.168.1.0/24), so it bridges the two networks via ipchains rules.

My wired machines are 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2, 192.168.0.4 (192.168.0.3 is loaned to my GF at the moment ). My laptop has an IP of 192.168.0.5, and my access point is 192.168.0.254. I don't have encryption on (couldn't get it configured because I'm stupid), but I do have the access point filtering on MAC addy. Also, I use all static IP's and not DHCP for either the router or access point.

Now ... more toward your problem ... the machine you're using to try and access the web interface for the access point MUST be on the same network block as the access point. So if you're access point is setup to use the 192.0.2.0 network with, say, a netmask of 255.255.255.0, then you should have a machine with something like 192.0.2.2/255.255.255.0 check it.

For reliability, try checking the AP via a wired machine to rule out the possibility of the wireless nic being misconfigured - and to also avoid any configuration conflictions that cause the AP to ignore the wireless NIC. Make sure this wired client is using the same network and netmask as the web interface. If the wired client still can't access the AP, try cold booting the AP (cut the power for a minute, then turn back on).

When setting up my AP, I ran into both of the above problems ... hope this helps some.