How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Report problems and success stories with Gargoyle on various hardware platforms.

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ProggerPete
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:25 pm

How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by ProggerPete »

Hi, I've got a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH that I'm trying to set up so that it bridges to my main wireless network for a tv and an xbox I have in the lounge room.

I've installed Gargoyle via tftp and got to the admin screen. I then selected client bridge (routed) and changed the ip to 192.168.1.2 (main router is 192.168.1.1).

I didn't enable repeater mode.

I gave it the ssid and password for my main wifi network and hit apply. I can see on the main router that it has connected successfully and with the network cable unplugged I can get to and modify settings on the router so this feels like a really good start.

Unfortunately though, when I plug a device into the router it is not getting assigned an IP address and has no connectivity.

I've had a wander through the config screens and can't find anything that looks a good candidate to fix this.

Any suggestions?

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Urgje
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Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:32 am
Location: The Netherlands

Re: How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by Urgje »

A question:
Under Connection / DHCP do you have the setting 'LAN DHCP Server Enabled' on or off? Switching this, does that change anything? Your main router and bridged one may be fighting over handing down an IP.
Just a thought.
Urgje (Netgear WNDR3700v2 / Gargoyle 1.4.7)
[my ego shrank while growing up]

ProggerPete
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:25 pm

Re: How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by ProggerPete »

I'm using Gargoyle 1.5.0.

There is no DHCP item under the connection menu. (EDIT: on testing this menu item is removed when you choose wireless bridge from the basic options.)

I have four items under connection

Basic
Dynamic DNS
Routing
Wake on LAN

The word 'DHCP' only appears on the basic setting, and even then, only when router is in gateway mode (I want bridge mode.) for setting how the router accesses the internet.

Cheers,
Peter

ProggerPete
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:25 pm

Re: How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by ProggerPete »

Does this config look right?

/etc/config/wireless

config 'wifi-device' 'radio0'
option 'type' 'mac80211'
option 'macaddr' '00:24:a5:b0:02:63'
option 'hwmode' '11ng'
option 'htmode' 'HT20'
list 'ht_capab' 'SHORT-GI-40'
list 'ht_capab' 'DSSS_CCK-40'
option 'channel' '2'

config 'wifi-iface' 'cfg2'
option 'device' 'radio0'
option 'network' 'lan'
option 'mode' 'sta'
option 'client_bridge' '1'
option 'ssid' 'Fritz'
option 'encryption' 'psk2'
option 'key' 'keykey'

config 'wifi-iface' 'cfg3'
option 'device' 'radio0'
option 'network' 'lan'
option 'mode' 'ap'
option 'ssid' 'Gargoyle'
option 'encryption' 'psk2'
option 'key' '5822984721951323'

/etc/config/network

config 'interface' 'loopback'
option 'ifname' 'lo'
option 'proto' 'static'
option 'ipaddr' '127.0.0.1'
option 'netmask' '255.0.0.0'

config 'interface' 'lan'
option 'ifname' 'eth0'
option 'type' 'bridge'
option 'proto' 'static'
option 'ipaddr' '192.168.1.1'
option 'netmask' '255.255.255.0'
option 'gateway' '192.168.1.5'
option 'dns' '192.168.1.5'

config 'switch'
option 'name' 'switch0'
option 'reset' '1'
option 'enable_vlan' '1'

config 'switch_vlan'
option 'device' 'switch0'
option 'vlan' '1'
option 'ports' '0 1 2 3 5'

The main router reports a successful connection. But the Buffalo cannot ping google.

Cheers,
Peter
Last edited by ProggerPete on Mon Nov 14, 2011 7:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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DoesItMatter
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Joined: Thu May 21, 2009 3:56 pm

Re: How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by DoesItMatter »

Check your Gateway and DNS settings.

Gateway and DNS should be the Main AP router = 192.168.1.1

You want all routing & DNS done by your main AP.
:twisted: Soylent Green Is People! :twisted:
2x Asus RT-N16 = Asus 3.0.0.4.374.43 Merlin
2x Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH V1 A0D0 = Gargoyle 1.9.x / LEDE 17.01.x
2x Engenius - ESR900 Stock 1.4.0 / OpenWRT Trunk 49400

ProggerPete
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:25 pm

Re: How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by ProggerPete »

Hi, thanks for the advice.

However my main AP IP is 192.168.1.5. I changed it from 192.168.1.1 because I'm spending so much time flashing the second router and it got annoying having to change it's IP all the time.

So to be clear - Main router (Fritz 7390) - 192.168.1.5
Second router (Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH) - 192.168.1.1

Cheers,
Peter

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DoesItMatter
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Re: How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by DoesItMatter »

http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/vi ... t=50#p8714

See that post.

I'm going to try to upgrade my DIR-601 to 1.5.0 this evening and see
If I can get Client Bridge mode to work.

It does not seem to work correctly on 1.4.3
:twisted: Soylent Green Is People! :twisted:
2x Asus RT-N16 = Asus 3.0.0.4.374.43 Merlin
2x Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH V1 A0D0 = Gargoyle 1.9.x / LEDE 17.01.x
2x Engenius - ESR900 Stock 1.4.0 / OpenWRT Trunk 49400

ProggerPete
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:25 pm

Re: How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by ProggerPete »

Interesting that you lose internet after a couple of minutes. That's exactly how my buffalo behaves with DD-WRT on it.

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DoesItMatter
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Re: How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by DoesItMatter »

ProggerPete wrote:Interesting that you lose internet after a couple of minutes. That's exactly how my buffalo behaves with DD-WRT on it.
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/vi ... t=50#p8722

See my reply with more testing.

Try what I did, but DO NOT access the Gargoyle GUI after you
reboot with the config, and see if your internet stays up.

Mine seems to stay up and working unless I try to login
to the Gargoyle GUI and then internet/routing dies.
:twisted: Soylent Green Is People! :twisted:
2x Asus RT-N16 = Asus 3.0.0.4.374.43 Merlin
2x Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH V1 A0D0 = Gargoyle 1.9.x / LEDE 17.01.x
2x Engenius - ESR900 Stock 1.4.0 / OpenWRT Trunk 49400

eramseth
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 1:28 pm

Re: How do I turn a WZR-HP-G300NH into a client bridge?

Post by eramseth »

I don't know if you ever got this working, but you might want to try 1.4.4 or 1.5.1. They had fixes to wireless drivers that increased stability on my WZR-HP-G300NH.

Also, you should check to see if both routers are Atheros radios. I think in that case what you want is the WDS option.

My setup is

coputers---Router~~~Bridge---devices

Where computers are a desktop and a server, router is Buffalo wzr-hp-g300nh, bridge is TP-Link TL-WR841ND (was a D Link DIR-615 before), and devices are a mix of gaming consoles, TV, and an HTPC. There are also various wireless clients that come and go (laptops, tablets, phones, ipods, etc).

The bridge in my setup is definitely an Atheros chipset, as is the router. The router is set to AP+WDS and the bridge is set to WDS Station (or something similar... I forget the exact terminology).

If you cannot change your router to AP+WDS (or it isn't an available option) I think you should set it as an AP and set the buffalo as the option called client bridged (again, this might not be the exact wording) and tell it not to re-broadcast the SSID.

Also, make sure you set the main router's IP as the gateway. Also double check that they are both in the same subnet (in the case you stated, router is 192.168.1.5 and bridge is 192.168.1.1 here, the first 3 parts of the IP are important to be the same).

Only other thing I can mention is that if you are moving between 1.5.x and 1.4.x you might better off clearing the settings on the bridge and also clearing your browser's cache. I know that I had problems using the web interface between versions on google chrome if I didnt clear the cache first. I know that sounds weird, but... yeah.

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