help making an access point

[jambo87]

Ok.. ill try to keep this as short as possible.

I have a shaw advanced wifi modem, unfortunately it is in the basement as I cannot move it. Yes, bad choice but when we built the house all the main connections were put under the stairs and the reception on the top floor is not the best and cuts out quite often.

I have an older DIR 625 which i used to use as my router but upgraded to shaw one as it should a little.. and it did. I have Cat 5 plug in for internet on the main floor which i can use. I tried making the router my access point but I cannot seem to get it to work, keep saying no internet connection. I followed a youtube video but it got confusing. So this is what I did.

plugged the router into my computer with ethernet port, of course no internet connection. Changed the ip address so it doesnt conflict with my shaw. changed the correct setting and turned off firewall, mac etc.
Went to the main floor plugged in my router to the cat 5 and turned it on. located the router but did not connect. I know i am missing something and I think i am suppose to connect it to the main shaw modem first but not sure what i do then?

any help would be great or if you know someone who can come and help me!
thanks

[Reeyal]

Ok, there are a combination of items you need to do to get a router to act like an access point.

1. For cabling, you need to connect an Ethernet cable from your Shaw router to the DIR625's LAN port (not Internet/WAN port).
2. Turn off DHCP on the Dlink.
3. For easy management, change the IP of the Dlink to the same subnet of your Shaw router, but outside the Shaw's DHCP range. For example, if the Shaw router is leasing .50 to .150, change the Dlink to something like .2. Try not to have an IP conflict.
4. Turn off the Firewall on the Dlink. Put the Shaw's router on the Dlink's DMZ. If there is a bridge mode feature, turn that on for the port your Ethernet is connected in.
5. For easy wireless "roaming", change the SSID on your Dlink to have to same name as your Shaw's router.

Step 4 is not required, but I'm old school; I like to keep my setups clean.