Linksys powerline 10/100 bridge

[pansophy]

I'm using the linksys powerline 10/100 bridge to network my house. If it makes a difference, one of the bridges is connected to the uplink port of a linksys router.

My problem is that my laptop frequently adopts the default IP address and doesn't allow me to access the network.

I know it has something to do with Windows since I can get it to adopt the correct IP occasionally, and when it does things work just as it is supposed to.

Basically, I have to get the plug-n-play to recognize that the powerline adaptor isn't available, restart, and then restart again with the adapter available. Then it will autodetect the correct settings.

Simply restarting doesn't seem to do anything and neither do any of the ipconfig commands or the network "repair" button.

Any thoughts on what I can do would be greatly appreciated.

[ragtop]

First off - welcome to TechIMO

As to your problem - it would be helpful to know what OS you are running.

Also, I'm assuming this is the one that plugs into your ethernet card - I'm confused over the part about plug-n-play recognizing the powerline adapter. I think the only thing that the OS would recognize is the ethernet card - it doesn't know what's plugged into the ethernet port.

FYI - I have a similar setup using the Netgear version of the powerline adapters & haven't had any problems (they work much better for me that the wireless stuff I tried). In my case, I'm running WIN 98SE.

You do have to make sure everything is powered up in the right order. Router first, then the powerline adapters, then boot the PC. It does sometimes take several minutes after booting for the network to be accessible. And if you lose power to the powerline adapter, you usually need to reboot again to get back onto the network.

[pansophy]

Thanks ragtop

I'm running Windows XP. The router is always on. I plug the powerline in next and then into the back of the laptop before booting that up.

I don't know what to tell you about the plug-n-play thing except that if I take the laptop and bring it into the room with the router and plug it in directly, the XP on the laptop recognizes that the connection doesn't have the powerline bridge and says I should reboot for those changes to take effect (which I don't do and it still works).

then when I go back to the other room, the laptop again recognizes the powerline bridge and asks for a restart, when it then works as it should. Now if I turn off the laptop and then turn it back on, in general, I lose the connection and I have a default IP.

I don't get what I need to do.

[ragtop]

In WIN98, you can usually straighten those types of problems out by releasing/renewing the IP address using WINIPCG. Unfortunately, I'm just now starting to use XP, so I don't know what the equivalent XP procedure is. Hopefully someone else can help.

[[A3D]Hatswitch]

I'm just now starting to use XP, so I don't know what the equivalent XP procedure is.

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

You could easily make a batch file to do that for you.

[pansophy]

the ipconfig /release or /renew didn't work.

My solution was to simply manually enter the IP address and DNS entries. It worked after I did that...I don't know why it wasn't seeing them automatically since occasionally it did so.

I've only gone through that once, so I hope those settings don't have to be done each time I log on...

[ragtop]

Good luck with that pansophy - sorry I couldn't be of more help.