Unable to connect to wireless network or access router GUI

[ochomicki]

Just to set the stage, we used to have a network which ran in the following order:

For wired workstations: bridged DSL modem->wireless Linksys E900 router->Dell PowerConnect 2824 switch->2 modular 4-port jacks->individual workstations

For wireless: bridged DSL modem->wireless Linksys E900 router->workstations

The workstations were set up to pick up IP addresses automatically.

After an infrastructure upgrade where we added some Cat6 cables and swapped the modular jacks for a patch panel, we lost all connectivity. I restored the connectivity to the wired workstations by assigning IP addresses. But we have no wireless and I cannot access the router GUI at its IP address (even when plugged directly into the router). All the workstations show the default gateway as 192.168.10.1, so I don't know what's going on.

So my question is: are we dealing with a router configuration issue (DHCP?) and what do I do to solve it? I would prefer not to reset the router because it was specifically configured to handle our Exchange traffic and we can't lose our connectivity during the workday.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

Just to be clear, do you have two DSL modems and routers?

 

[ochomicki]

Just 1 DSL modem and 1 router. Sorry about the confusion.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

I assume you already powered the router off then back on?
And you triple-checked all the connections between the modem and router and switch to insure they are still wired properly?

 

[buttassnekkid]

Ok, I am just gonna throw this out there, in case you have not thought about it. A lot of routers have 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 or something similar for its local or config address. With that said, if it is changed or setup to give out ip address' that are in a different subnet or range like 192.168.10.1-254, you may need to give your computer an address in the same range as the routers config address in order to access the control panel of the router. This would be the case especially if your pc has a static address setup.

Do the ipconfig command on your computer to find out what address it has recieved from the router(of course your computer would have to be in auto config mode/ not static mode for this command to give you the desired info you need) so if the computer is set to get an ip automatically from the router and you get a 192.168.10.? address when you do the ipconfig command and a gateway of 192.168.10.1
you should be able to access the router at 192.168.10.1, cause the Gateway is usually the routers address.

however, some routers that have been changed from default setup may give out a 172.16.31.? address to your computer but have an local address or config address of 192.168.1.1.................therefore, you may have to make change your computer to a static address of 192.168.1.2 to access the router. If your computer is not on the same subnet as your routers local access address, you will have a hard time accessing it!!!

If you know what the routers address is, you can change your computers static address to an ip in the same subnet as the routers ip address and access it 99.9 % of the time.

Sometimes, after messing around with a computer and router for a while, it may also be helpful to disable the Lan connection and re-enable it to get automatic or dhcp address' to sync with the router or allow access to the router again after changes.