Belkin Wireless Router bug

[DaveR]

This has caught out a few people lately...

There's some weird bug in popular Belkin Wireless Routers. Even if you have MAC Filtering DISABLED on the belkin it still seems to block the beyonwiz. Strangely, wireless laptops connect ok.

So the solution, if you can not connect your S1 to a Belkin wireless router, is to add the MAC address of the S1 to the MAC Filtering table with ALLOW checked. You can leave MAC Address Filtering disabled, but now that the beyonwiz's MAC address is added to the table and set to Allow the beyonwiz will now be able connect.

[tonymy01]

Well done in working *that* one out!

[prl]

Agreed, congratulations. It's totally bizarre.

I'll give it a go on my Belkin.

[purns]

my situation fits under this banner but is a little different, by the way i have tried the solution listed above but unfortunately it didn't work.

i have a beyonwiz dp-p1 networked via LAN into a belkin wireless router (that i got through iinet if that helps, before BoB). i also have a 1TB external hard drive plugged into the belkin's usb. the problem is that my DP-P1 won't recognise any of the files on the 1TB, but only if it is plugged into the belkin. if the 1TB is plugged into a PC or direct into DP-P1 there is no problem, but when the 1TB is plugged into the belkin the DP-P1 it tells me that the file is an "Unsupported Format". The DP-P1 isn't having any problems reading any other networked files, only those that are accessed direct via the usb on the belkin.

the belkin and the beyonwiz have the latest firmware. a strange hardware incompatibility to say the least.

[tonymy01]

It can give that unsupported format if it doesn't have read permission to a file. Can you fiddle with the sharing permissions on that router? (You can on the NSLU2 as it runs Samba in the backend).

[ciscus]

Hi Dave,

In your reply back in 2007 you said

"This has caught out a few people lately...

There's some weird bug in popular Belkin Wireless Routers. Even if you have MAC Filtering DISABLED on the belkin it still seems to block the beyonwiz. Strangely, wireless laptops connect ok.

So the solution, if you can not connect your S1 to a Belkin wireless router, is to add the MAC address of the S1 to the MAC Filtering table with ALLOW checked. You can leave MAC Address Filtering disabled, but now that the beyonwiz's MAC address is added to the table and set to Allow the beyonwiz will now be able connect."

Do you do this in both the WIRELESS and FIREWALL section of the advanced set up?
In Wireless I have ENABLED MAC FILTERING AND ALLOW ACCESS RULE
In FIREWALL I have DISABLED all settings.

Is this correct?

Thanks

[prl]

...
Do you do this in both the WIRELESS and FIREWALL section of the advanced set up?
In Wireless I have ENABLED MAC FILTERING AND ALLOW ACCESS RULE
In FIREWALL I have DISABLED all settings.

Is this correct?

Thanks

Hi, ciscus. That sounds right. But there are some Belkin routers where this doesn't help. I've never been able to get my iiNet-supplied F1PI241EGau to work with my DP-S1.

[ciscus]

Thanks Peter.

Yes, you've hit it. Same router.

Interestingly, I loaded all parameters onto the DP-S1 and the STATUS says everything is OK. BUT it won't allow me to access the Network or WizFX.

Are there any users that have got the BELKIN F1PI241EGau to work with their DP-S1?

Thanks

[prl]

Thanks Peter.

Yes, you've hit it. Same router.

Interestingly, I loaded all parameters onto the DP-S1 and the STATUS says everything is OK. BUT it won't allow me to access the Network or WizFX.

Are there any users that have got the BELKIN F1PI241EGau to work with their DP-S1?

Thanks

I was being a bit imprecise. I can get my S1 and Belkin to talk to each other on WLAN if I turn off security. However, as far as I know, no-one has been able to get the F1PI241EGau working using WPA security. I don't know about WEP, I've never worked out what incantations for the keys are even supposed to work.

[ciscus]

Thanks again Peter.

Looks like it's more related to the DP-S1 than to the Belkin.

Another question - does ICE work if you can't establish a wireless connection?

Regards

[prl]

Thanks again Peter.

Looks like it's more related to the DP-S1 than to the Belkin.

Another question - does ICE work if you can't establish a wireless connection?

Regards

Are you getting the Wireless LAN Setup Failure message as discussed in this topic?

If so, no, IceTV won't work. It's a complete failure to connect to the WLAN, not just problems with Windows Shares and WizFX.

[peteru]

prl,

Have you tried with the latest beta firmware?

[ciscus]

Thanks for your reply.

Where can I download this? Is it for the DP-S1 and what version am I looking for. I have XX320.

Thanks for your help.

[Gully]

Where can I download this? Is it for the DP-S1 and what version am I looking for. I have XX320.

Peteru's post was addressed to Prl. specifically. Beta firmware is not generally made available.

[ciscus]

Thanks Gully and Peter.

In his message Peter said:-

"I was being a bit imprecise. I can get my S1 and Belkin to talk to each other on WLAN if I turn off security".

Getting back to my problem, my Belkin Router works on all devices except the BW DP-S1, even with all security and Mac addresses on in my Router settings.

Therefore it appears that there is something affecting security on the Beyonwiz.

On the BW I go to

Settings -> SetUp -> Network -> W-LAN
I enter the relevant data and hit APPLY. I then hit the button to determine STATUS
BW message box comes up

SSID AFS
Bit Rate 24 Mb/s
DHCP Disabled
IP 010.001.001.005
Netmask 255.255.255.000
Gateway 010.001.001.001
DNS 203.000.178.191

So looks like everything is OK.

Go to LIST -> Network -> Scan - NOTHING HAPPENS
Same with Wiz TV

So it looks to me like it is a BW problem. My router is talking to my BW but BW is not responding correctly.

Finally if I ENABLE DHCP I get the same result.

I purchased a Beyonwiz DP-S1 for the wiresless capability, Wiz TV and of course ICE.

Now it does not work.

I would be grateful for any help that sets me straight.

[prl]

prl,

Have you tried with the latest beta firmware?

Yes, now I have. Same "Wireless LAN setup failure" as before.

[prl]

...

I would be grateful for any help that sets me straight.

It doesn't sound like the problem I have with the Belkin router, but I have DHCP Enabled. Sounds like I should experiment some more.

Have you enabled Windows Sharing on the Mac? Have you looked at the Mac networking tips?

With so little information about what you've done on the Mac, it's hard to know what the problem might be.

[ciscus]

Hi Peter,

Thanks. Actually I don't have a Mac. I use WindowsXP.

Like yourself, I am tied to iinet, BOB (fantastic) and Belkin.

I will experiment with the settings. I could contact iinet who are always very helpful, but this does not appear to be an iinet problem.

Cheers

[prl]

Hi Peter,

Thanks. Actually I don't have a Mac. I use WindowsXP.

Like yourself, I am tied to iinet, BOB (fantastic) and Belkin.

I will experiment with the settings. I could contact iinet who are always very helpful, but this does not appear to be an iinet problem.

Cheers

Sorry, I don't know where I got the idea you were trying to connect to a Mac. I've probably got my threads crossed somewhere.

I agree that it's not likely to be an iinet problem. The Beyonwiz WLAN seems to have been set up just fine. If you're not using a Mac, have you looked at the Windows XP networking tips?

[tonymy01]

But the fact that Wiztv is also not working for him suggests something else is amiss.
Ciscus, have you ensured when you changed your Wiz to DHCP you hit apply twice? Did you confirm your Wiz IP address was set once you did that (in both the wiz and the router perhaps)?
Regards

[ciscus]

Thanks for the reply Tony (and others).

Tony, not sure why I should hit the red button twice, but anyway, when I enter it I get:

Network Status
SSID AFS
Bit Rate 24 Mb/s
DHCP Disabled
IP 010.001.001.005
Netmask 255.255.255.000
Gateway 010.001.001.001
DNS 203.000.178.191

But it does not work. If this does not work WizFX cannot work and the Network won't operate.

Also I downloaded a fantastic Network Scanning Program from Softperfect
http://www.softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/

When I run it it shows my Desktop, Notebook and Router but no Beyonwiz!

Spoke to Joseph at iinet. He was very helpful. Advised I turn off all MAC Address capabilities in my router.

I did this, and it makes no difference.

BUT I did get it to work. Steps were:
a) in iinet router screen 10.1.1.1 ->Log In ->Advanced Settings -> Wireles -> Security -> DISABLE (Highly Undesirable and cannot keep this setting !!!
b) BW Network changed AUTHENTICATION from WPAPSK to OPEN
changed ENCRYPTION from TKIP to NONE
c) on BW hit the red button
and everything worked fine. The new Network Scan program on my Desktop found the BW DP-S1, WizFX worked fine and asked me to register and finally in File the NETWORK SCAN found my Desktop.

Beautiful, except that I cannot run an Unsecured Network.

I re-enabled the Security and again the BW DP-S1 wireless settings were defunct.

There is something awry with the security, or authentication or encryption on the Beyonwiz! Even Joseph (who is now very interested in buying a Beyonwiz) said I should get back to them with my (and presumable others) problem.

Again, many thanks for all the help. I am probably stupid but if anyone can get me a solution I'll buy them a beer.

Finally, suggest you download Softperfect Network Scan - a beaut little program.

[tonymy01]

He won't get the problem with any other current model Beyonwiz, as the S1 was the only model that came out with wireless and it has been discontinued. I think you should persevere with having encryption enabled, there is about a dozen options/combinations where a good few of them should work for you.
I also wonder why you have a public DNS in the Wiz, rather than relaying the DNS from your router (normal config is typically DNS is the router IP for DHCP clients on your network). That way, if your ISP changes or the DNS goes away that you are using, then the router will likely use a bunch of DNS servers to look at rather than just the one you are using (bunch=2 or 3).

[prl]

...
I also wonder why you have a public DNS in the Wiz, rather than relaying the DNS from your router (normal config is typically DNS is the router IP for DHCP clients on your network). ...

That's what happens if the iiNet Belkin router does the DHCP. But ciscus isn't using DHCP.

[tonymy01]

Woops, misread his config.
I guess the issue is one of case sensitivity of the pass key, or size (128/256/whatever) ascii vs hex etc etc. Well, at least with WEP this is an issue, not sure about WPA.

[IanSav]

Hi Ciscus,

While my network is normally wired I have repeatedly tested my DP-S1 with an encrypted wireless connection to my Billion 7404VNOX router. I have not had any issues. I wouldn't say that your experiences are representative of all DP-S1 units.

Regards,
Ian.

[awoods]

After lots of experimentation I managed to get my Beyonwiz S1 talking to the iinet Belkin Bob.

In my experiments, all combinations of WPA and WPA2 would not work.

I wanted to use WPA2 for my main laptop access to the router, but heard that some people had got WEP to work. Then I noticed the 'bob' is capable of running a "secondary Wireless SSID".

So I enabled the secondary Wireless SSID, set it up for WEP, gave it a unique 26 character hex string for each of key1, key2, key3 and key4.
Then I setup the Beyonwiz for the same SSID as the 'secondary Wireless SSID' on the 'bob', network type=Infrastructure, Authentication Type=Auto, Encryption type=WEP, Default WEP Key ID=1, and set Key1-4 to the same unique set of 26 character strings as set on the 'bob'.
And it worked. Phew!!!

I did try hiding the "secondary Wireless SSID" but that made the connection stop working.

So, my laptop can still use WPA2, and the Wiz can use WEP - to access the same 'bob' router.

Thanks for everyone's useful posts as always - you're the stars!!!
Is anyone else able to reproduce this example?

[tonymy01]

You don't need to fill all 4 keys, one is enough. 4 keys mean 4 times the chance someone manages to work out your key combo (unless they are all the same)

[awoods]

You don't need to fill all 4 keys, one is enough. 4 keys mean 4 times the chance someone manages to work out your key combo (unless they are all the same)

Thanks - I'd wondered about that.

[aaludo]

Hey, thanks so much for the BoB instructions, I have been suffering for the past nine months and now it works.

Please Beyonwiz, setup a BoB forum so this info is easier to find.

Thanks

[prl]

I don't think we need a forum specific to one router. Shall we have one for every router anyone's posted a question about? A how-to FAQ for wireless routers that people have had problems setting up probably wouldn't be a bad idea, though.

[awoods]

I think aaludo meant a new forum topic.
@aaludo - Good idea - and I'm glad that you were able to confirm my experiments on your machine.
How about you summarise the information for the BoB<->WizS1 combination and post it as a new forum topic - this will make it more visible. An administrator doesn't need to get involved to do this. Perhaps someone higher up will then tag it as a sticky.
I must say I was very relieved when I got it working and it's been working flawlessly since.

[dbowie]

Hi there.

I am still having problems with trying to get mine to communicate with the BoB.

A quick question for advice.

Should I still keep trying to connect up using WPA or buying a bridge and connect up to a WPA2 network that is more secure. Also if I buy a bridge can you suggest which one would be best.

I await your answers.

Many thanks.

[dan678]

I am still having problems with trying to get mine to communicate with the BoB.

Hi,

Are you able to make a network connection or is your problem intermittent? I've found that enabling WPA / WPA2 (i.e. "mixed mode") in the security settings of your router can help with adapter / router connections.

Regards,
Daniel