Connecting with a mac (bridge)
 

Hi, got my netgear access point today. Need a bit of help just finishing off the set up.

So fat i've done all the setting up on my PC as expected, i can connect to my router and modem and to the internet wirelessly via the access point now. (i have a wireless adapter)
I just want to connect the mac to the access point via ethernet cable now, but i am new to mac and am not sure how. I've plugged it in and put in the IP adress that my wireless assistant says is right.

Is there anything specifically i should be doing to connect?

Thanks a lot

Normally you wouldn't "put in an IP address" - you would set the Ethernet preferences (in Network Preferences on your Mac) to use DHCP and the wireless router's DHCP server would supply an IP address for your Mac.

It isn't clear why you mentioned "bridge" in your subject line.
That term applies to connection of one router to another (putting one of the routers into "bridge" mode).

I am setting up the access point with my router, but had trouble connecting the mac to the access point.

it would be helpful to at least give the models of all the devices you are trying to get to work together, because your description on it's own isn't very clear...

Okay sorry that i wasnt clear, i'm basically trying to get my netgear wg602v3 access point to connect in bridge with my mode/router, the router is a Belkin F5D8230-4 (connected to a D-link DSL-300T modem).
I'm just not sure which mode to set it in...
Point to point?
Multi Point?
Client?
Repeater?

I think the best way would be to put the Netgear in bridge mode. That way all your computers will be on the same sub-net whether connected wirelessly or wired.
But I'm not familiar with the terminology you listed - you'll need to read the Netgear manual.

Well there are various bridge modes thats the only thing. I think i need to set up the netgear as 'point to point'... however i need to do the same with the belkin, but it doesnt say anything about bridge mode on the belkin interface, do you think maybe the belkin router isnt compatible?

If the Belkin will be acting as the main router while the Netgear will be in bridge mode, you don't need to set anything on the Belkin router, just on the Netgear router.

Trevor

Oh right... well i have linked the netgear with the belkin router, that seems fine.
I can connect wirelessly to the netgear ap, however it goes no further, cant identify the connection so i cant get online.

Which of these modes are you currently using?

Trevor

Point to point at the moment.

Like hayne, I'm not familiar with that terminology. However, "Repeater" would be my first guess as to the correct mode, with "Client" as my second guess.

Trevor

Okay cheers

These are all modes that are only used when you are integrating the Access Point into an existing wireless infrastructure. If you don't already have a wireless network set up, these modes are useless.

If the netgear AP is going to be creating a wireless network for you to join, then, in the Wireless Bridging section of the Advanced setup, make sure the Access Point Mode is set to "Access Point".

Surely the set up i have now is a wireless infastructure, a modem with a router, and multiple PC's wirelessly connecting? I just need to connect 1 PC (mac) via ethernet to the ap (netgear) which will connect to the belkin router. Tell me if this is not possible, but it seems to make sense in my head :p

I hadn't realized that your Belkin "router" is also a wireless access point.
I had thought that your NetGear was the only wireless access point in your network.

Again, it would have been better if you described what you are trying to do at the beginning.
It now seems that you are (for some reason) are trying to add a second wireless access point to your network. To do that, you need to explore more thoroughly the wireless options.

most likely you will want the Netgear in repeater mode...

In this case, you want to set the Netgear Access Point to Client Mode (the access point will become a client of the existing wireless network). Make the setting, reboot the Access Point. Configure the Netgear to join the wireless network that is being created by the Belkin router.

The Point-to-Point, Point-to-Multipoint, and Repeater modes are for Wireless Distribution setups. In my experience, WDS only really works if all of the wireless devices are of the same brand, especially if Wireless Encryption is involved.

I tried in clitent mode, i can connect to the belkin router as normal. But i still dont get online. I'm unsure about the details to put in however, ie. the IP adress and gateway.

The details to put in where?

Perhaps if you tell us where, and ask what specific details you are talking about (a screenshot would be nice), we can give you more information so that you can enter those properly.

Trevor

can you be more specific about the setup you are trying to achieve? i am assuming that the Netgear is in a different room connected to the Belkin with an ethernet cable, is this what you have going on?

the simplest method is to have the Belkin setup to be a DHCP server... then to make the Netgear work in client mode you should enable it as a DHCP client... the Netgear should then automatically receive its IP address and gateway over the ethernet connection from the Belkin...

Okay, here's a diagram of what i wish to do. The Mac and netgear are in a seperate room that is far too far away to run an ethernet cable to, and i need to connect the mac wirelessly by using the access point.

The other computers (windows) will either connect to the belkin router or the netgear (whichever gives best results)

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...tor/bridge.jpg

Here's a screen shot from the Netgear set up page, im not sure which IP address and gateway to put in here...

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...or/bridge2.jpg

Ah - does your Mac not have an Airport card?
Is that why you aren't just connecting it (directly) to the wireless network provided by the Belkin?

Nope no card, and it being an Imac means no PCI slots or anything... thought this would be the cheapest way.
So should i put the IP and gateway of the belkin in the spaces? Although finding that out might be tricky because i cant seem to get into setup on for the belkin anymore :mad:

Your Cable Modem plugged into a Wireless Router provide your wireless network. Additionally If you have something that can not be connected to the router directly and does not directly support wireless... Say a usb or ethernet printer, scanner, or game console, or a computer that has no wifi you can use something like an Apple Express that has an Ethernet bridge capability that allows a single device to be bridged from its wired connection to a wireless network. This requires no configuration of the router generally nor does it generally require and configuration of the printer, game console etc.

I have an Ethernet printer I use that way, a Dell 3100CN that is mated to my Airport Express.

The other type of bridging is to extend an existing network. The issue with this is that frequently only the same brand of equipment can be extended aka WDS mode etc.

I think what you are confusing is Access Point mode of routers with WDS or bridging. Access point only lets you take an existing wired network and make it wireless. It does not take a wireless network and join it to another wireless network.

Your best solution is to buy an airport express n $99 new or $69 refurb and be done with it. There are other bridges but most are still G, and there all pretty close to the same price point. If the netgear is to work it would live next to your computer plugged in via ethernet and be set to the point to point bridging mode you should need to set the ip only name of the wireless network to join to.

actually from a quick look at the manuals for the equipment, what the OP is trying to achieve may well be possible with his/her setup... in fact there is a diagram in the manual for the Netgear which shows more or less exactly the desired configuration, with the Netgear in client/infrastructure mode...

does this mean you have been already able to access the internet with a computer connected wirelessly to the Netgear wg602v3?

Actually no, for a brief moment i thought i did , but i was actually connecting to my nextdoor neighbours Netgear router :p (the SSID's are the same)

Although something happend that has made my router useless, cant get into setup or get internet access from it. Dont know why, im using someone elses router for the time being.
Does it sound like something is wrong with my belkin if i cant get into set up, or even perform a 'hard reset' ?

If you set it in Client mode, and now you can't log into the router, try to remember what numbers you put in for the "IP Address" and "IP Subnet Mask" field. You will need to set your Mac's ethernet interface to Manual Configuration and put in similar numbers.

Well i think i tried that, ill try again though (i made a note of all addresses i used)
I'm going to try and get it to work with my PC before i attempt to do the same with the Mac though