There was a lot of information out there about this product but I decided for $25 (Refurbished) I'd try it. Plugged it in, hit the "auto" button and away it went. It boosted the signal in an outbuilding from "Low" to "Excellent" and seems to be working just fine. I ignored the directions and the CD that came with it and didn't do any of the techno stuff like configuring the Host name, etc, etc. It just worked! Cisco-Linksys WRE54G Wireless-G Range Expander - REFURBISHED
There is a ton of advice on this forum, but I wanted to write up what finally worked for me (after 5 hours of trying practically everything I read, plus using the worthless CD from Linksys). I have no idea what will work for you, but found these reviews absolutely invaluable and what I did was a little different from all the other advice on here so I feel it necessary to share. By some technological mystery, these are the steps that finally worked for me. My disclaimer is that I'm sorry, but this just may not work for you. Best of luck to anyone who buys this expander. [Additional apologies on the length of this, but I wanted to be detailed enough to help out.]
In hindsight, I SHOULD NOT have assumed 2 things - 1) that I needed to disable security on our wireless network to set it up and 2) that an IP Conflict meant starting over or messing with the IPs. If I'd ignored these two things, I think the process would have been much smoother. I think that's what I get for following directions from 30 other people all with unique circumstances or possibly written several years ago presumably before the most recent firmware updates to either my router, the expander or both. Anyway, the expander works now with security and that's all that matters to me.
Equipment I used:
1) Linksys wireless router - Model WRT310N, updated firmware ver 1.0.07-LS-HND
2) Linksys wireless G range expander - Model WRE54G v3, updated firmware 3.04.01
3) two Cat5 ethernet cords
4) 1 desktop computer and 1 laptop computer. Yes, I had to use 2 computers. I setup our laptop across the house far away from the office where the router is but where it could still contact the router although only with one bar of signal. The laptop allowed me to tell if the extender was actually working. I didn't assume that two blue lights were an indication the unit was working since only more bars on a connected laptop could tell me that.
5) Time on my hands to mess with it and run all over my house (5 hours of messing & failure, 30 minutes for successful setup and testing)
6) Patience. Seriously. You're not alone; almost everyone appears to have difficulty with this expander.
My process that was eventually successful:
1) Left the cable modem connected to the wireless router via Cat5 (normal setup).
2) Connected my desktop computer in the office to the wireless router in the office using an ethernet cord (also normal setup for us).
3) Logged into the wireless router using a browser window and 192.168.1.1 and reviewed ALL the main settings to make sure they were set up to the default with the exception of security. No mac filtering, we use Automatic DHCP, the router address is the default of 192.168.1.1, the DHCP server was enabled, the start IP address is the default 192.168.1.100, the max users is default 50.
4) Under the Wireless configuration tab we have Manual wireless configuration, Network mode is Mixed, the SSID has been changed, everything else is auto and the SSID broadcast is enabled.
5) For Wirless Security we use WPA Personal, a predefined passphrase, and the key renewal is set to the default.
6) Using the 2nd Cat5 cord, plugged the wireless router directly into the expander, then plugged the expander into power.
7) Pushed the "Autoconfigure" button on the expander a couple times until I was able to get one of the lights blinking red and blue.
8) Opened a new browser window on the desktop. Logged into the expander's website 192.168.1.240 and made sure all the settings were correct. For me this meant IP Address 192.168.1.240, Subnet mask 255.255.255.0, Gateway 192.168.1.1, mode Mixed, SSID was the same as the wireless router, the SSID broadcast was enabled. Then I selected Wireless Security Enable and edit security settings.
9) This opened a popup window. I entered this info into that tab: WPA Personal with TKIP and the predefined passphrase as our WPA Shared Key and I left the Group renewal at the default 300. Then I hit Save Settings. That saved and closed the popup.
10) I selected Save Settings on the expander's main screen and the expander showed Rebooting then went back to the original screen with all my changes. I closed the browser window.
11) At this point I had a little popup on my computer saying that I had an IP Conflict. I IGNORED IT.
12) Unplugged the expander from power and ethernet, took it across the house & downstairs and plugged it in another outlet. After a few seconds I got two blue lights.
13) I went to the 2nd laptop set up at the far point and reconnected to our wireless network. This took a little while, but it eventually connected and it went from 1 bar to all bars.
14) Went back upstairs to the office and noticed that the IP Conflict had gone away. Not sure why or how, but whatever...I'll take it.
15) I then went around the house with a wireless enabled iPod Touch and checked to see if the range had improved. Indeed it had.
16) Then I set up all the rest of our networked items in the house (we have a few Tivos) and made sure they could access the network which they could. I never got the IP Conflict again.
After all my issues, I think buying this item is definitely a major personal decision. I almost cashed it in and sent it back, but we really needed something to work and wiring the house just isn't an option. A major waste of time, but that's technology sometimes coupled with my absolute refusal to call and pay for tech support. - Linksys - Range Extender - Wre54g - Range Expander'
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