Member Avatar for emiola

Initially I was using a switch to connect all my 5 desktop systems using one of them as my internet server/gateway. On that particular internet server-desktop pc, I use the Sierra wireless Aircard 580 modem which I adapted with a pcmcia-pci card. I used the ICS to share out internet to the other systems using dhcp configuration. Each desktop carries the (192.168.0.last dhcp assigned digit) while the internet server desktop carries as the gateway. Everything was working perfectly until I introduced the D-link router into the LAN.
Initially I connected the Ethernet cable of the internet server desktop to the INTERNET port of the router but the indicator remained a solid red color. Also, I couldn’t get the on my browser. So I connected the internet server desktop directly to one of the LAN ports of the router (using one of the 4 LAN ports) and then connected my switch to another LAN port of the same router. Then I was able to get the ip to enable me configure the router through the browser.
At this stage, the router still could not get internet connection from the desktop internet server. (Please note that all this while, I was reading up everything the manual says as well as visited many forums for a way out).
I finally thought the router’s internet connection port was faulty so I returned it in exchange for another one. Alas! The issue remains the same.
I decided to try out another method which I picked up from one of the forums I visited, by changing the ip of the router to while my internet server desktop retails the for sharing internet. I then reconfigured the router accordingly to use the ip address.
The situation now is that all the other 4 desktops upon reconfiguring them for dhcp internet access keep using the router’s ip () as gateway instead of but without internet connection while all the systems can ‘see’ one another and share resources (including the internet server desktop) without problem.
Kindly inform me what I have done wrong or yet to do right.
Thank you.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by freshfitz

Dani AI

Generated

Brief diagnosis and a safe fix.

This is most likely a gateway/DHCP mismatch: the PC is acting as the Internet gateway (Windows ICS) while the D-Link is still running as a router/DHCP server. The LAN-only connectivity and lack of Internet means clients are being given a gateway that does not actually route to the Internet (or there are two DHCP servers handing out conflicting settings).

As suggested, the cleanest setup is to make the D-Link the Internet gateway — but that only works if the broadband device can be connected to the router WAN port (not possible if the AirCard is bound to the PC). If the AirCard must stay in the PC, use the D-Link as a simple switch/access point.

If you keep the PC as the gateway, do the following:

  • In the D-Link admin disable the router DHCP server.

  • Assign the D-Link a static LAN address inside the same subnet as the PC/gateway but outside the gateway’s DHCP pool so there’s no address conflict.

  • Connect the PC, switch and other clients to the router LAN ports (do not use the WAN/Internet port).

  • Reboot the router, then on a client run:

    ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /all
ping <gateway-ip>

    Confirm the client’s Default Gateway is the PC (the ICS host) and that ping to the gateway succeeds.

If you want the router to be the gateway instead:

  • Move the Internet connection to the router WAN port (if possible), disable ICS on the PC, enable DHCP/NAT on the router, and factory-reset the router first if settings are confused.

Cautions: never run two DHCP servers on the same subnet, avoid connecting the PC to the router WAN when the PC is acting as the gateway, and pick a router IP that does not collide with another device. These steps will restore Internet routing without disrupting LAN file sharing.

Member Avatar for freshfitz

Why not use the router as the gateway instead of the pc unplug the modem from the pc and plug it into the wan or internet port of the router power cycle the modem and router and all machines should be on the internet.

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