cannot access router logon screen

This involves a home wireless G network that includes 3 PCs, 2 running XP and one running Windows 7. There are 2 routers connected to each other by cable to extend the range. The problem router is a SMCWBR14-G. The wlan was set up years ago and runs fine and connects all PCs fine to the internet via Cox cable.

My problem is that I cannot access the SMC router's logon screen. When I try to reach 192.168.2.1 with either IE8 or Firefox 3.1.2 on any of my PCs, I get "waiting for response" until finally the connection resets. This happens whether I use a direct cable connection or try wireless and both with the PCs using XP or Windows 7. Ping also times out.

Yet the router works and connects to the internet just fine on all these PCs!

I finally found an old laptop I had not used for years, a Dell Inspiron 8100 running Windows XP and it connects and opens the logon screen even wirelessly just fine. But I need to be able to access the logon screen from another more recent PC.

I've played around with various settings, disabled my firewalls, A/v, etc., all to no effect. I suspect the problem may be that my current PCs use ips of 192.168.1.xx (because of my main router) while the Dell is a 192.168.2.xx and the router is 192.168.2.1

I really do not want to mess around and change with the ips on my current PCs and possibly mess up my current wlan and internet access. Is there a way around this access problem? Can a PC have 2 different ip numbers?

Maybe I am on the wrong track.

Thank you.

Ztruker said:

Can you ping 192.168.2.1 (SMC router) from a Command Prompt?

Some good info here: Router setup - Two Routers on same network

Basically you assign a fixed IP address to the 2nd router different from but in the range of the first router. Then disable DHCP. Now you should be able to connect to the router using the assigned IP address.

I cannot ping 192.168.2.1 (SMC router). It times out.

Maybe the problem is that the first router (and my modern PCs) are all in the 192.168.1.xx range while the SMC router is 192.168.2.1.

The docs that came with the SMC router said its base is 192.168.2.1 which is why I left it that way. Can one assign a router a different ip than what it comes with (or has built into it?)? Thus making the SMC ip a .1.xx ip?

Thank you for replying.

Thank you.

Yes the problem seems to be that I must accidentally have 2 networks set up. That is the way I set it up years ago when I did not know any better. (I still get confused with wlan set ups)

My original purpose was to extend the range of the wireless home network which runs on the router using 192.168.1.1. Special router extension antennas did not help much in extending the range and tho I was aware that you could purchase an access point device for that purpose, I had an old unused SMC router laying around and therefore decided to use it instead. That was long ago and I am working from memory.

Like I said it works fine extending my home wireless network. It is only when I decided to add another PC to the system that i noticed that I could not access the SMC's router's login screen except with that old Dell Inspiron which may have been what I originally used to set it up. I guess I could leave things that way until the Dell dies on me.

FWIW, The basic router that is connected to the Cox cable modem is 192.168.1.1. The "extension" SMC router is connected to that main router by cable and placed in the other end of the house. I can connect to either the network set up by the main router or that of the SMC router and you are correct, they each have a different name and I now realize they are therefore 2 different networks. What is peculiar and what confused me is that even when I am wirelessly connected to the SMC router's network I still cannot connect to then SMC router's logon screen - both wirelessly or by cable, except with the old Dell laptop.

Anyway, because wlan setups always give me grief and do not work for me as their docs say they should, it might be wisest to just leave things as they are until something breaks. If I try to fix things I may no longer have what is now working!

Thank you all for helping clarify things.