I recently upgraded my router to a WRT45GS and have been having a bear of a time trying to figure out why, when I boot Linux, I can't get an IP address from the router but with Windows I can. It worked with the old router. It works with Windows. There are no DHCP tweaks in the router. What the hell is wrong? Turns out that there a bug in the router. It doesn't like Linux-based DHCP requests. This is a known issue and apparently Linksys has no intention of fixing it. But they did release a Linux-compatible version of the router instead. So my options are to either by the Linux-compatible version or find another brand that supports Linux (or better, doesn't exclude Linux) and is as good wireless performance-wise as the Linksys routers. Any recommendations? I know there is an open source firmware product that can be applied, but I'm not ready to try that yet as I work from home a lot and I'm in the middle of an important project so I need a stable VPN connection right now. -- Gary
==> Regarding [Wlug] Linksys Router; Gary Hanley <gary@hanley.net> adds: gary> I recently upgraded my router to a WRT45GS and have been having a gary> bear of a time trying to figure out why, when I boot Linux, I can't gary> get an IP address from the router but with Windows I can. gary> It worked with the old router. It works with Windows. There are no gary> DHCP tweaks in the router. What the hell is wrong? gary> Turns out that there a bug in the router. It doesn't like Linux-based gary> DHCP requests. This is a known issue and apparently Linksys has no gary> intention of fixing it. But they did release a Linux-compatible gary> version of the router instead. Do you know the details of this? You could just patch the dhcp client to generate the broken requests. -Jeff
Hello Gary, I assume you mean WRT54GS ;). According to <http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_DD-WRT%3F#Supported_Devices>, the dd-wrt open firmware supports some versions of your router. If you cannot make your Linux dhcp client work, you might try changing the firmware on your router to support Linux. If you want to change routers and you are interested in the Linux open firmware, then <http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_DD-WRT%3F#Recommended_Devices> has some good suggestions. -Adam On 12/16/06, jmoyer@redhat.com <jmoyer@redhat.com> wrote:
==> Regarding [Wlug] Linksys Router; Gary Hanley <gary@hanley.net> adds:
gary> I recently upgraded my router to a WRT45GS and have been having a gary> bear of a time trying to figure out why, when I boot Linux, I can't gary> get an IP address from the router but with Windows I can.
gary> It worked with the old router. It works with Windows. There are no gary> DHCP tweaks in the router. What the hell is wrong?
gary> Turns out that there a bug in the router. It doesn't like Linux-based gary> DHCP requests. This is a known issue and apparently Linksys has no gary> intention of fixing it. But they did release a Linux-compatible gary> version of the router instead.
Do you know the details of this? You could just patch the dhcp client to generate the broken requests.
-Jeff _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
-- -Adam
On Sat, 16 Dec 2006, Adam Keck wrote:
Hello Gary, I assume you mean WRT54GS ;).
Yes, of course!
the dd-wrt open firmware supports some versions of your router. If you cannot make your Linux dhcp client work, you might try changing the firmware on your router to support Linux.
I may go there someday, but I don't have the capacity for an extended downtime if I have problems. Thanks for the link. -- Gary
On Sat, 16 Dec 2006, jmoyer@redhat.com wrote:
Do you know the details of this? You could just patch the dhcp client to generate the broken requests.
I know as much as I posted this morning, as I just found out. Patching the client seems like a good idea, but I'll bet that the problem is due to Linksys being out of spec to accommodate a Windows "enhancement" and the Linux folks are not going to patch that on principal. -- Gary
On Sat, 16 Dec 2006, Gary Hanley wrote:
I recently upgraded my router to a WRT45GS and have been having a bear of a time trying to figure out why, when I boot Linux, I can't get an IP address from the router but with Windows I can.
It worked with the old router. It works with Windows. There are no DHCP tweaks in the router. What the hell is wrong?
Turns out that there a bug in the router. It doesn't like Linux-based DHCP requests. This is a known issue and apparently Linksys has no intention of fixing it. But they did release a Linux-compatible version of the router instead.
So my options are to either by the Linux-compatible version or find another brand that supports Linux (or better, doesn't exclude Linux) and is as good wireless performance-wise as the Linksys routers.
Any recommendations?
If the router always uses the same subnet on the client side, and its not a laptop that you use in different envirionments, maybe you could just pick a static address. -Jamie
On Sat, 16 Dec 2006, Jamie Guinan wrote:
If the router always uses the same subnet on the client side, and its not a laptop that you use in different envirionments, maybe you could just pick a static address.
I thought of that, although I haven't set up a static IP in a long time. What is the problem for the laptop? I have a year-old wireless-G HP Turion if that matters. -- Gary
Gary> I recently upgraded my router to a WRT45GS and have been having Gary> a bear of a time trying to figure out why, when I boot Linux, I Gary> can't get an IP address from the router but with Windows I can. I've always thought it was a good ideal to seperate the Wireless Access Point (AP) hardware from that of the Router which gives me my firewall and other services. I can place both where they do the most good, and keep the complexity level down, since I just have two devices which each do a well defined job. Gary> It worked with the old router. It works with Windows. There are Gary> no DHCP tweaks in the router. What the hell is wrong? Linksys sucks? Gary> Turns out that there a bug in the router. It doesn't like Gary> Linux-based DHCP requests. This is a known issue and apparently Gary> Linksys has no intention of fixing it. But they did release a Gary> Linux-compatible version of the router instead. Gary> So my options are to either by the Linux-compatible version or Gary> find another brand that supports Linux (or better, doesn't Gary> exclude Linux) and is as good wireless performance-wise as the Gary> Linksys routers. Gary> Any recommendations? Gary> I know there is an open source firmware product that can be Gary> applied, but I'm not ready to try that yet as I work from home a Gary> lot and I'm in the middle of an important project so I need a Gary> stable VPN connection right now. Is your VPN endpoint on the home computer, or is it on the Linksys box? That would be the deciding factor. If it's on the computer, then I'd doubt that going to the Linux compatible router hardware (or just updating the firmware) would have any impact at all on the VPN. Good luck! John
participants (5)
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Adam Keck -
Gary Hanley -
Jamie Guinan -
jmoyer＠redhat.com -
John Stoffel