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Linksys IP Issue and TiVo Series 2
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Posted by: Bubbamill

I have set up a wireless network with the Linksys WUSB11 for the TiVo and the Linksys BEFW11S4 router/hub for the PC. It was all very easy and plug and play. But, I have a sporadic problem.

Here is the setup:

WUSB11 ver 2.6 connected to TiVo which has ver 4.x software.
TiVo is set to obtain an IP address from router.

The PC is wired to the router/hub and is also set to obtain an IP address automatically.

I have broadcast turned on and have set the network name to a value other than the default. I am not using any wep security at this time.

Typically, the PC and TiVo obtain IP address starting with 192.x.x.100. So the Tivo might get ...101 and the PC gets ...100. When they have these addresses, all is well.

But, once or twice a week, I find that neither the TiVo nor the PC can access the Internet. When I check, I find that both devices now have an IP address starting with 162.x.x.x. This is totally invalid. If I power cycle the Linksys router, both the PC and TiVo now obtain a correct 192.x.x.1xx IP address.

This has happened 3 times in the last 10 days. I could almost believe that the wireless link could pick up a bogus IP, but the wired PC? How could this happen? Could it just be a defective router? Is this a Linksys issue? Has anyone heard of this?

Help!

Posted by: weaknees

Might you be having some 2.4 Ghz interference, like another network, or a home cordless phone?

Michael

Posted by: Bubbamill

Michael,

Yes, I do have a 2.4GHz cordless phone, but no other networks. I'm not sure how signal interference could cause a bogus IP to be picked up by TiVo, but I guess anything is possible.

But, this should have no effect on my PC's IP address which is hardwired to the same router. The PC's IP address also gets set to a bogus 162.x.x.x value.

Other than both devices getting the IP from the router, they are quite different as one is wireless and one is wired.

It's a weird problem!

Posted by: Rschultz1457

Try doing a firmware upgrade to the router. I have had lots of experience with wireless networks and 9 times out of 10 it is a linksys issue, which of course they would never admit. But I would definitely start with the firmware.

Posted by: cable man

I've had problems with my Linksys in the past. The dhcp sometimes doesn't give up the lease on the ip. I would notice most of time my tivo would be 192.168.1.100 and xxx.xxx.x.101 but sometimes if it ran over the 1 day lease time before connecting one of the tivos would get a ip of xxx.xxx.x.103 (I also had the linksys set to only give out 4 ips if yours isn't set like this your problem is probably something else) . Thus failing to realese the previous ip to be reassigned whcich wouldn't allow another device to connect because all the ip's had been handed out. I have since switched to manually assinging the ip's (turning off the dhcp server) and have no problems since.

If your not familiar with setting this up here is a tutorial http://dslr.org/faq/2725 just use the settings from the linksys status page will give you the numbers you need to enter into to set up the tivo's configuration manually instead of autmatically.

If you need the dhcp server still on you can leave it on for your other devices or disable it all together in the linksy config.

For example:
home pc ip: 192.168.1.2
tivo 1: 192.168.1.3
tive 2: 192.168.1.4

Posted by: Bubbamill

Cableman, thank you.

Being a network novice, I do have a few questions.

I read the link you provided and am confused by the reference to needing two DNS server addresses. What are these for?

I haven't restricted the number of IP addresses that can be assigned. Any other ideas where the bogus 162.x.x.x addresses are coming from? Both the hard wired PC and wireless TiVo get these 162 values.

Thanks again!

Posted by: cable man

Just use one of the dns servers for the tivo you don't need both. I usually use the top one and you shouldn't have a problem.

If you assign ip's to your pc windows can use them both the configuration box in windows will take two.

I am not an expert on this so I can't tell you where the 162 ip is coming from usually when I cant connect mine usually show an ip of 169.xxx.xxx.x unless maybe you are getting interference from another wireless network.

If you haven't tried you might want to try changing the channel on the linksys setup for your wireless connection. I use channel 1. Alot of the channels overlap but channels 1,6,11 don't overlap try one of them. I believe 6 is the default. Also if you have a cordless 2.4ghz phone may cause interference too. I have 2.4ghz phone but don't suffer interference but some people do.

Posted by: Draven X. Byrne

Cable Man-

the 169.254.x.x IP addressing scheme is called AIPA (Automatic IP Addressing) and is when the DHCP server can't be reached it will default to that IP address class (Class B) so that it can try to communicate.

Are you sure it was 162.x.x.x? That would only be valid given the info only if there is another WiFi transciever without a SSID or security at all. WiFi interferance would make it so you wouldn't get an address at all - not a invalid IP address. The next time you get these IP's go to your workstation (if running Win 2000 or XP) and go to Run then type cmd.exe and then after clicking on OK type ipconfig and this will give you more information - also you'd be able to ping the gateway that is giving you these IP's to see where it's at or atleast it's existence and being able to do something about it.

Hope this helps-

DXB

Posted by: Bubbamill

Draven,

You are correct, I was mistaken. The bogus IP being picked up by the wireless TiVo and the wired PC is indeed 169.254.x.x.

So are you saying that this IP means that both the wired and wireless devices could not reach the DHCP server?

Since the wired is being effected, then it sounds like the Linksys router is not responding sometimes. Maybe it has something to do with the IP address expiring and then the devices can't get another one.

Not sure if I should exchange the router for another one or dump the Linksys entirely and try a different brand.

Posted by: Draven X. Byrne

Bubba-

Any DHCP client that can't communicate with the server will get these AIPA address's. The router is the DHCP server so if this happens frequently the network could be getting alot of crosstalk or the router could be going bad. Make sure to set any DHCP timeouts to more then 2 or 3 seconds (30 is good).

Hope this helps-

DXB