Two router "Hell" for Homegroup

Hi guys...I'm new here so please be patient

Due to the growing number of network devices in my home these days, I felt that it was time to expand my network to the upper part of the house. I now have an ADSL connection to downstairs, plugged into a 4 port WiFi modem router from my ISP. This router connects a HTPC, Tivo and PS3 via ethernet. The fourth ethernet connections runs upstairs to a remote part of the house where it plugs into the "internet" port of a Cisco wrt610N wifi router. This router hosts connections to another PC and PS3. Downstairs router handles DHCP to its devices (range 10.0.0.1-10.0.0.254) and the upstairs router manages its own IP range (192.168.0.0 - 192.168.0.154 - i think??).

After much stuffing around, all devices connected to both routers now have full access to the interweb and all systems are AOK.

My only remaining issue is that the downstairs HTPC running win7 Home Premium can not see the upstairs PC also running Win7 Home Premium. Both are set to home network but neither can see the other.

If however, I run "network and sharing centre" one of the options allows me to shows devices on "all networks" and the other PC is seen there - But I see no way of connecting the two via homegroup.

Both PCs are running McAfee firewall.

ps Both PCs connected fine before I introduced the second router.

Any suggesions to help me resolve my homegroup issue ???

butscut said:

Hi guys...I'm new here so please be patient

Due to the growing number of network devices in my home these days, I felt that it was time to expand my network to the upper part of the house. I now have an ADSL connection to downstairs, plugged into a 4 port WiFi modem router from my ISP. This router connects a HTPC, Tivo and PS3 via ethernet. The fourth ethernet connections runs upstairs to a remote part of the house where it plugs into the "internet" port of a Cisco wrt610N wifi router. This router hosts connections to another PC and PS3. Downstairs router handles DHCP to its devices (range 10.0.0.1-10.0.0.254) and the upstairs router manages its own IP range (192.168.0.0 - 192.168.0.154 - i think??).

After much stuffing around, all devices connected to both routers now have full access to the interweb and all systems are AOK.

My only remaining issue is that the downstairs HTPC running win7 Home Premium can not see the upstairs PC also running Win7 Home Premium. Both are set to home network but neither can see the other.

If however, I run "network and sharing centre" one of the options allows me to shows devices on "all networks" and the other PC is seen there - But I see no way of connecting the two via homegroup.

Both PCs are running McAfee firewall.

ps Both PCs connected fine before I introduced the second router.

Any suggesions to help me resolve my homegroup issue ???

Upstairs router sees the other as being on the internet because your Ethernet is plugged into the WLAN port on upstairs router. You can either open that IP in the router, or move it inside the NAT matrix.

Ken

zigzag3143 said:

Upstairs router sees the other as being on the internet because your Ethernet is plugged into the WLAN port on upstairs router. You can either open that IP in the router, or move it inside the NAT matrix.

Ken

Whilst I consider myself to be relatively tech savvy, when it comes to networking and routers I consider myself to be as dumb as dog$h!t !!!

Qn1 - How do I open that IP in the router?
Qn2 - is this the upstairs router or downstairs?
Qn3 - What is a NAT matrix ? and how do I move an IP inside it ?

Clearly my ignorance is the biggest problem here !

Kari said:

Hi butscut, welcome to the Seven Forums.

The problem is you are using two different IP address blocks. For your networked computers to see each other, they have to be in the same subnet.

This tutorial tells you how to set up a two router home network: Multi Router Network - Configure

Kari

Kari,

Looks great....will try this tonight. Could you clarify however step 11.

11) Connect the Gateway to the Switch via Ethernet. Depending on the router's you may have to use Crossover Cable for this. In my experience though, most modern routers come with what is known as "Auto Uplink Sensing" which means it will not need Crossover Cable. Otherwise you will I'm afraid. You can test whether you need Crossover Cable in the next step.

When I connect the gateway to the switch do I plug the ethernet cable into one of the switches LAN ports or the "internet" port (Cisco wrt610n router) ?

butscut said:

Hi guys...I'm new here so please be patient

Due to the growing number of network devices in my home these days, I felt that it was time to expand my network to the upper part of the house. I now have an ADSL connection to downstairs, plugged into a 4 port WiFi modem router from my ISP. This router connects a HTPC, Tivo and PS3 via ethernet. The fourth ethernet connections runs upstairs to a remote part of the house where it plugs into the "internet" port of a Cisco wrt610N wifi router. This router hosts connections to another PC and PS3. Downstairs router handles DHCP to its devices (range 10.0.0.1-10.0.0.254) and the upstairs router manages its own IP range (192.168.0.0 - 192.168.0.154 - i think??).

After much stuffing around, all devices connected to both routers now have full access to the interweb and all systems are AOK.

My only remaining issue is that the downstairs HTPC running win7 Home Premium can not see the upstairs PC also running Win7 Home Premium. Both are set to home network but neither can see the other.

If however, I run "network and sharing centre" one of the options allows me to shows devices on "all networks" and the other PC is seen there - But I see no way of connecting the two via homegroup.

Both PCs are running McAfee firewall.

ps Both PCs connected fine before I introduced the second router.

Any suggesions to help me resolve my homegroup issue ???

Easy way, use a switch instead of another router. Hard way= the way you are doing it now. It's cheaper and much easier to set up that way.

I'm surprized you can get Homegroups to work though the McAfee firewall also.

I had to do the same thing. I bought the 610 for the N connection but finding out later that some devices don't use the N, like the WII and gameboys they use G only. So I kept my old router (wtr54) and turned it to a switch. How to do this

1. Connect the second router first (in my case the WRT54) and log into it and change the IP to 192.168.1.2 (don't forget to save it)this way you can connect to it later. After this unplug this router and connect the first router you want to use.

2.After you have setup the first router (plug all the cable in), take one of the four ports in the back. plug in your cable in one and the other end plug it into one of the four ports of the second router (not the EtherNet Port). By doing this you turn the second router it to a switch. This will let you be able to plug in more PC's on the same network.

3. Now I have two routers that produce two wireless access points one N and one G. And as before you can log into each router to make necessary changes as needed. One (first if set at default) 192.168.1.1 and the other (the one you changed, second one) 192.168.1.2.

The whole point was being able to get the N for my newer laptop while still being able to use the G for the old decives.

Note: you will need to set the 610 to N only, not hard to do just login and make the changes.
Note: I also know that the 610 has two wireless points but none of my devices support the 5hz.

Don't know if this helps any but good luck