linksys befsr41

[XmujiX]

hi,
I have a Linksys befsr41 that I was useing for when I had Cable internet service. Now I'm in a dorm room with only one ethernet port available to me. The university provides DHCP connections. I want to share files on two computers (available to everyone on the university network).
I was wondering if it's possible to use the befsr41 as only a hub or a switch and disable the DHCP and firewall features. any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
muji

[rpertusio]

Hrm.. I don't have the router, but I found some info that might help.

Please see the Linksys Knowledge Base article: KB10934163 (Routers and DHCP servers)

That page should help you to disable the DHCP server within the router.

- rp

[John Prophet]

Well if nothing is plugged into the "wan" port then isnt it just acting as a 4 port switch??

Wouldnt it be no different than if your cable internet went down for some reason...in which case your 4 port lan keeps chugging away.

JP

[John Prophet]

But you have a dhcp coming from the college network. hmm.

Cuz I doubt if you could just plug that into the LAN side of the router.

Im not sure what would happen if you hooked the WAN side to your college network, but it may work the same as if it were a cable modem you were hooking to.

JP

[M_Six]

You should be able to plug your router into the network and draw a DHCP address for it from your university, just as you would from an ISP. But there's no way for the PCs plugged into the router to draw university DHCP addresses. They'll only get the Linksys DHCP addresses. As far as the university is concerned, you'll have only one PC on the network, unless they're tracking traffic by MAC address or have banned routers on their network. If you want multiple PCs to all have university DHCP addresses, you'll need a hub or a switch.

[John Prophet]

So in this case it would be better to just plug the "wan" connection from the dorm wall into one of the 4 ports of the LAN side of the router, correct?

I was wondering about that but I suppose it would depend on if the college allows it or not.

JP

[XmujiX]

i want: to share files from 2 computers onto the network without hinderence from router/firewall. so basically i want the router to act only as a hub or switch

current set up:
univ network port => WAN port on router
2 computers => 2 LAN ports on router

if DHCP on router is enabled then the 2 comps receive local ip's but are behind firewall.
if DHCP on router is disabled then the i have to manually assign local ip's to the 2 comps in order to access internet and am still behind firewall.
if DHCP on router is disabled and 2 comps set to obtain ip automatically, then the 2 comps don't receive ip's.

Also, I didn't think about connecting the univ network port to a LAN port (insted of WAN) on router. And when I did try this, nothing seemed to happen....the 2 comps were not able to connect to the univ network.

soo...can anyone help me....perhaps i'm connecting something wrong.

thanks

[Rico Mania]

just a guess but have you considered this? Use a crossover cable from the university's network to a lan port on the linksys router. disable dhcp and manually assign ipaddresses. Use somekind of software firewall to limit in/out traffic to the two computers.