Cisco RV180W help

[bobwhite8]

So I've read and read about setting up the WAN static IP connection, and can't get it to work. I purchased this router to replace an older Linksys Router (WRT150N) so that I could better implement VPN. All I need is 2 remote connections. The Linksys Router has been working great with a static IP setting, so I figured all I need to do to is enter the same IP, subnet, gateway, and DNS settings in the RV180W and it should work fine. Well it doesn't provide any connection to the internet. As far as I can see, it has all the same settings set that the linksys has.

Is there something additional I must do for a WAN static IP setting setup.  I even contacted the ISP but they say their modem is fine and of-course they won't assist with the router. As soon as I connect the linksys back to the modem, I get access to the internet.

I'm no engineer, but something isn't allowing any Internet services.  LAN is fine. I attached a W7 laptop to the router, and it says it can't reach the internet due to something about proxy services. There is no proxy server so not sure what it is referring to.

Can anyone shed some light on this?  By the way I tried another manufacturer router just to ensure that it wasn't a defective RV180W, but that router didn't connect either - same issue. If I set it up on my home service, both work albeit only with DHCP WAN settings.

[Tom Watts]

Hi Bob, it may be possible the modem is retaining a MAC address from the other router. I'd recommend to configure your computer with the static information, connect it directly to the modem, verify the internet works. Next, reconnect the modem to the WAN port of the router, connect a computer to the LAN port and log in to the router user interface.

From here, I want you to clone the MAC address of your computer.

Networking -> Wan -> IPV4 Wan -> Use this computer's Address then save it.

Test the internet.

-Tom
Please mark answered for helpful posts

[bobwhite8]

Tom, thanks for the help. I tried exactly what you outlined and it computer couldn't see the internet. I tried re-cycling the modem to no avail.  Any other suggestions?

[Tom Watts]

Hi Bob, if you connect the computer directly to the modem and have the computer configured to receive DHCP, can you tell me if the computer receives an IP address?

-Tom
Please mark answered for helpful posts

[bobwhite8]

Hi Tom

I tried your last instructions re: connecting directly to modem but no connection to the internet was made nor was any ip address received. I click the diagnose button and receive the attached.

[bobwhite8]

I forgot to mention. As before, as soon as I reconnect the modem to the Linksys router, internet access is instantaneous. I'm pulling my hair out here as it makes no sense!

The modem is a SMC8014 Broadband Gateway if that helps.

- Bob

[Tom Watts · Accepted solution]

Hi Bob, what is the LAN IP address of the old Linksys router? The error received when you connected your computer to your modem is a DNS problem. That can be easily fixed if DNS is really the issue.

When you connect your computer directly to the modem, open a command prompt or terminal and ping 8.8.8.8. When you ping any valid IP address that is supposed to respond to ping, it should work without problems. But if you ping something like www.google.com it should fail if the DNS is broken.

You can assign yourself static DNS of a known working server. On a Windows computer, when you change your network adapter to use DHCP or static, on the bottom there is the same option to specify DNS servers. Go ahead and use 8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.2 for your DNS servers on the computer while testing and see if that works.

-Tom
Please mark answered for helpful posts

[bobwhite8]

LAN IP address of Linksys router is 192.168.1.1

I'll try the DNS settings you indicated. Never heard of that before but I'm a novice at this stuff.

Thanks and stay tuned.

[bobwhite8]

Hi Tom

Still no luck. Connecting computer directly to modem produced nothing even with automatic dhcp. Autoconfig assigned an arbitrary IP to the adapter and performed an ipconfig /release didn't help. Pinging 8.8.8.8 produced no replies. I don't understand why the modem isn't responding even after rebooting it.  Again, once I reconnected the linksys router, internet traffic began.

I've never heard of a modem only working with a unique router only !

[bobwhite8]

Tom

Issue is resolved. Finally got the ISP to admit to providing an incorrect DNS. Thanks again for your help.