Tuesday, June 15, 2010

How to configure Linksys WRT 120N wireless router

Recently a friend asked me to help him create a home WiFi network to
connect his laptop with Win XP SP2 to the Internet. He was not sure if his laptop could support WPA2 PSK. Since his laptop was an Acer Travelmate 4152 NLCi, I went to the Acer website & had to search if it did. I finally found out that his laptop had a Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network.My friend had bought a Linksys WRT120N WiFi router for his home use, after setting up his network I was shocked to find that his laptop which connected so easily to the internet, at my place thru a Linksys WRT54G router was unable to do so thru this new router. And the strange thing was that another (office) laptop was able to do so !!!! After trawling the Internet for info on this problem I found the solution, that the firmware on the router could be the culprit. I noticed that the firmware ver on the WiFi router was ver 1.0 & that there had been FOUR ver updates till the time of purchase of the router (shows what old junk Croma is selling). The firmware on the router would have to be updated to the current ver which is 1.0.04 dated 15th Oct, 2009 & is 1.19MB in size the release notes state that it has a compatibility issue with the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network card which has been resolved.
‘Product: WRT120N v1Classification: Firmware Release HistoryRelease Date: Oct 15, 2009
Last Firmware Version: 1.0.04_____________________________________________________________________
General Notes: - Disconnect all wireless clients from the router during the upgrade process. Make sure no wireless clients attempt to associate with the router until the upgrade process is complete.
Firmware 1.0.04 (Build 02)- Resolve connectivity issue with Intel Centrino 2200BG - Resolve issue with Home Network Defender trial period gets activated as soon as the router is connected to the Internet’

Setting up the Linksys WRT 120N is the same as Linksys WRT54G http://socrates0.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-to-configure-linksys-wrt54g.html,
except that in the tab ‘Wireless’ -> ‘Wireless Network Mode’. From this drop-down menu, you can select the wireless standards running on your network. If you have Wireless-N, Wireless-G, and Wireless-B devices in your network, keep the default, Mixed. If you have only
Wireless-G and Wireless-B devices in your network, select BG-Mixed. If you have only Wireless-N devices, select Wireless-N Only. If you have only Wireless-G devices,
select Wireless-G Only. If you have only Wireless-B devices, select Wireless-B Only. If you do not have any wireless devices in your network, select Disabled.


Channel Width For best performance in a Wireless-N
network, select 40MHz only. For Wireless-G and Wireless-B
networking only, keep the default, 20MHz only. If you
are not sure which option to use, select Auto (20MHz or
40MHz).

Else everything remains the same.

Recently I came across two sites which generate random passwords

https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

https://secure.pctools.com/guides/password/

The first is an online generator whereas the second is a s/w to be installed on your machine to do the needful. When you use a password 63 or 64 characters long copy paste it in your WiFi router then save the password in ‘Notepad’, then transfer this password to a pendrive & paste it in your laptops.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm Thanks reading this in conjunction with your article of configuring the WRT 54G enabled me to setup my wifi router WRT 120N easily. I could never believe that I could set it up on my own. :) Also thanks for the article on how to get WPA2 on my old XP lappy

Linksys Router Support said...

Hi, your article was helpful in configuring my new linksys router.
Thanks for for sharing this really nice article.

socrates said...

Thank You :)

Anonymous said...

I had bought this model last year but could not get it working inspite of getting the unit exchanged, I even sent my lappy to the h/w guy who could not find anything wring but at the same time could not answer why it was not working with this particular unit of Linksys. I then had only two options both were very expensive. And it stayed that till saw this blog & hey presto I got it up and running. Thanks for taking time to write this blog. I could have got fleeced if I had decided to go for one of my options without even knowing what the problem was. After I upgraded the firmware as you mentioned it worked like a breeze.

Thanks once again from the bottom of my heart :D

Anonymous said...

Help! I cant connect to my router for the laptops. I called linskys and they want me to pay to upgrade model number WRT120N. THE LIGTHS ALL COME ON AND WIRES ARE WORKING PROPERLY ALOS THE INTERENET WIRE WHEN I PLUG IT INTO THWE LAPTOP. the interent works fine with the main computer. My interent provider said its my router. Linskys says I need to download upgrades but want e to pay thats BS! can someone tell me how and where to do these upgrades for free. Thanks Tammy

socrates said...

You have not mentioned which part of the world you are based in. go to http://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/support/linksys?referrer= then change the location to your area then go to the ‘Support’ link situated on the top of the web page (in the blue area), select the relevant model & proceed to download the upgrade. In my blog above I had downloaded the update my self & installed it at home. How its done is mentioned on the website itself. If the model is not mentioned on that page then you will have no option but go to the service center. Check my blog above I have mentioned some compatibility issues with certain network cards. Hope this helps

Unknown said...

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