Has anyone heard of this? A router requires a PC connected for wireless operation? My brother-in-law just got a new router, and he cannot connect to it via WiFi unless there is connected a PC hard-wired and running?

Personally, I think this is strange. So I am asking if anyone else has experience with such a setup.

 

Has the Router been Configured? The PC will be required for the Initial Configuration of the Router.

Ramesh

 

Has the Router been Configured? The PC will be required for the Initial Configuration of the Router.

Yes. But wireless access only works when the PC is running. Then, it works fine. But if the PC is shut down, the router no longer acts as a WAP.

 

That doesn't sound right. I initially set mine up using a PC connected via USB, but have not needed to connect it since that first time.

 

Make?
Model?
Instruction manual?

 

@Brownout. Didn't sound right to me either. And I professionally set these things up. Why I asked you guys if you'd ever heard of it.

He's in another state, so I don't have the details right now.

 

@Brownout. Didn't sound right to me either. And I professionally set these things up. Why I asked you guys if you'd ever heard of it.

He's in another state, so I don't have the details right now.

The weird thing, and I am going off on a tangent here, is that, for example, DSL routers have two WAN ports, the RJ-11 (phone jack) and RJ-45 (ethernet jack). If DSL router gets WAN info/setup from RJ-11, the RJ-45 is used for LAN and we don't pay any special attention to it. But. If RJ-45 used for WAN, then we might have an interesting situation where DSL router stops serving LAN functions while it is trying to acquire WAN information/setup from ISP.

I have no idea what setup your relative has or just how it came about, but consider this scenario. Their device (with WAP) gets its setup from computer (for whatever reason). So, while the computer is ON and plugged into the device, the device is getting its setup and works normally. But if the computer is OFF or disconnected, then the device goes into search and acquire network information mode and turns all the LAN functions off.

 

My best guess is that he's got his router set up as a wireless repeater, instead of a router. In either mode, router or repeater, it works as a network switch, so the physically connected PC always gets network access. But only when the physically connected PC is powered up with wireless turned on, does the repeater get any whiff of wireless network traffic (the only type of network traffic it's set up to look for), and make that wireless network available to other PCs.

 

My best guess is that he's got his router set up as a wireless repeater, instead of a router. In either mode, router or repeater, it works as a network switch, so the physically connected PC always gets network access. But only when the physically connected PC is powered up with wireless turned on, does the repeater get any whiff of wireless network traffic (the only type of network traffic it's set up to look for), and make that wireless network available to other PCs.

Also called Bridge. Good call strantor.

 

Yes, strantor. That explanation makes sense and gives me something to look for.

 

The incoming Cable or Telephone pair of the DSL will NOT be connected to the PC. There must be another piece of equipment that acts as the End Termination.
It should be possible to connect the "router" to the Termination Equipment. I still see no reason for the PC to be active.

Ramesh

 

The incoming Cable or Telephone pair of the DSL will NOT be connected to the PC. There must be another piece of equipment that acts as the End Termination.
It should be possible to connect the "router" to the Termination Equipment. I still see no reason for the PC to be active.

The router is connected to the cable modem with an Ethernet cable.

 

So far it sounds like router is set in Bridge mode. In Bridge mode you connect one or more computers by cable to the router, then router uses wifi to connect to device that is connected to the internet/ISP.

The basic layout is like this:
Internet <--wire--> DSL Modem/Cable Modem (Routed Bridge, wifi ap, provides LAN DHCP service) <----wireless----> Router (Bridge mode) <--wire--> PC

The main thing is that router in Bridge mode links computers connected to it by wire to the rest of home LAN. So lets say you have DSL/Cable modem on first floor. You want some computers on second floor to have access to internet, but wifi signal is weak and you don't want to run 25+ meters of ethernet cable from first floor to second floor. You setup the router in Bridge mode on the second floor (because it is generally has better/more powerful wifi hardware) and use ethernet cables to connect the computers to the router. Notice that if the computers on second floor are not used, then the router is just sitting there and does not do anything at all.

 

The router is connected to the cable modem with an Ethernet cable.

Can we have a routing schematic ?

Ramesh