You can connect a router to another router, right?

[KidTDragon]

Here's the deal: I've got my cable connection going to a Microsoft Wired Base Station, with one cable going to my PC, and a second cable going across the room to my TV/game console area. When I just had an Xbox, the cable went right from the router to it. Then I got a Wii, and bought a hub so that can hook both consoles up to the net at the same time without having to thread another cable across the walls. As it turns out, the Xbox doesn't like hubs. So I was wondering if I could connect a second Wired Base Station where the hub is currently connected without any problems. My setup would end up looking something like this:

cable

|

|

router#1-----PC

|

|

router#2----Xbox

|

|------------Wii

Any reason why this wouldn't work?

[cozofdeath]

I'm not to familiar with gaming consoles and all that but usually routers can be strung together via an uplink port. Sometimes there is a switch or button to tell the router that the uplink port is being used as a usual port or uplink. Sometimes the router will say which port it is but most of the time its an end port offset to one of the sides.

[mcb2001]

i would do it another way...

Unless you already bought the router, just buy a switch instead.

Its cheaper, and does the trick, just put it in as router#2 in the diagram.

The problem with taking two routers and putting them in serial is the setup.

you gotta make sure that router1 is connected to router2 via the wan port on the router2, and that the xbox, wii and like are connected trough the lan ports (on router2 ofc)

You also gotta make sure that BOTH routers are set as gateways and that they work as DHCP.

But with that said, just get a switch instead of a hub (Hubs are old-school, and not in anyway as liable and usable as a switch).

[KidTDragon]

i would do it another way...

Unless you already bought the router, just buy a switch instead.

Its cheaper, and does the trick, just put it in as router#2 in the diagram.

The problem with taking two routers and putting them in serial is the setup.

you gotta make sure that router1 is connected to router2 via the wan port on the router2, and that the xbox, wii and like are connected trough the lan ports (on router2 ofc)

You also gotta make sure that BOTH routers are set as gateways and that they work as DHCP.

But with that said, just get a switch instead of a hub (Hubs are old-school, and not in anyway as liable and usable as a switch).

I haven't bought a router yet; I wanted to make sure it would work before I did. Right now I have a LinkSys 10/100 5-port Workgroup Switch where router#2 is in my diagram. The Wii likes it just fine, but the Xbox hasn't been able to go online since I connected it to the switch instead of directly to the router.

[mcb2001]

well, in that case, the new router ain't nescessary, cause its the x-box or the router#1 that makes the failure...

The concept of a switch (in short) is that it provides "extra" ports on your router, and lets the router handle the distribute the local network ip's.

So either you are given an ip-address to the x-box, that the x-box doesn't like OR your router doesn't supply an ip-address at all.

If the x-box has a feature, where you can set a static ip, do that, and select one called something like 192.168.1.110 (i guess that your router is a linksys aswell, and i know linksys uses the standard mask of 255.255.255.0 and ip range 192.168.1.100 through 192.168.1.150)

(it could also be the range of 10.0.0.2 through 10.0.0.51, and in that case, just use 10.0.0.10)

If that ain't posible, try and unplug everything, turn the router off, then connect the x-box (and nothing else), then turn the router on, forcing the router to supply the first ip address to the x-box, which you told worked (when its the only one attached directly to the router it works).

In case that doesn't help either, i would suggest that you open a browser and go to the web-settings interface of your router.

This is usually done by typing in 192.168.1.1 or 10.0.0.1:2033 depending on which router you got.

In there you need to check the DHCP settings, and see if:

1. the router is set to supply on a very limited amount of ip-addresses,

2. has another submask then 255.255.255.0 (which is common standard in home networks) or

3. if DHCP is turned off (which i doubt since the wii works fine).

By the way, need i suggest that you try another port in the switch, for the x-box cable?

[KidTDragon]

By the way, need i suggest that you try another port in the switch, for the x-box cable?

Yes, you do need to suggest it. And I'm glad you did, because doing that fixed the problem. Thanks!

If anyone needs me, I'll be over in the corner feeling like a dummy.

[mcb2001]

well, being a good person, is when you admit your faults, and everyone makes dumb things... i tried turning on a computer this morning, check the cables, and everything... ended up by turning on the screen......

[fjpod]

If the two routers default to the same IP, you'll have a problem and you will have to set them manually.