Beth,
Now for the really bizarre way to handle this - I have the exact same
set up you do: 2 Macs, 1 PC, a printer and Bellsouth DSL with a Westel
modem. The only difference is that I have an Apple Airport Extreme base
Station.
I've tried many, many ways to get the system to work and the only one
I've gotten to work 100% of the time is to plug the DSL modem directly into
the back of a computer (I use the PC) and log onto Bellsouth. Once I am
logged onto the internet, I remove the Ethernet cable from the back of the
PC and plug it into the Airport Extreme Base Station. My wireless network
then works. It works every, every time.
On occasion the DSL modem needs to be rebooted but that is handled
while it is connected to the computer (my PC), not the router.
the computer geeks probably cringe when they read this but it works....
Greg
On 8/31/06 9:21 AM, "Lee Larson" <llarson at louisville.edu> wrote:
> On Aug 31, 2006, at 8:41 AM, Beth Phillips wrote:
>
>> I'm trying to set up a home network between my husband's PC, my Mac
>> and
>> eventually a printer. We are using BellSouth DSL to connect to the
>> internet
>> and it has been working fine. I bought a Linksys BEFSR41 router but
>> can't
>> get it to talk to the Bell South modem. I knew that the default IP
>> address
>> of the router was the same as the Westel modem from Bell South, so
>> when I
>> connected the router I tried to go into the web configuration page
>> to change
>> the IP address. I couldn't access the page so I called Linksys tech
>> support.
>> After 45 minutes of resetting the router and switching cables, etc.
>> they
>> determined I had a bad router.
>
> I don't know how your BellSouth connection is assigned the network
> address, but most DSL/cable connections get the network information
> via DHCP discovery. This means they seek out a DHCP server to get the
> configuration information from the ISP and the server assigns the
> external IP address to the device.
>
> The problem may be the DHCP server from BellSouth. It is probably set
> to recognize the MAC (Ethernet hardware) identifier of the device you
> previously had plugged into the modem. When you change devices, the
> DHCP server has to be informed of the new MAC, or you have to set the
> router to impersonate the older device.
>
> I'd check the BellSouth help pages for information about this. Most
> systems now have an easy way to register a new MAC online. You can
> usually find the MAC of a router written somewhere on the back or
> bottom of the device.
>
> ---
> Lee Larson, Mathematics Department, University of Louisville
> Phone: 502.852.6826 FAX: 502.852.7132
>
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