Okay... I've read the instructions 3 times, and it's not sinking in.

What i have: 2 Netgear ME102 WIreless access points

What i want to do: Connect stuff in my living room (Audrey, empeg, ps2) to the switch in my office via wireless as well as have a laptop with a wireless PCMCIA card that can access the switch (which goes through a router to the DSL connection).

Here's my options for "operational mode" of the AP's:

Access Point: This mode provides access for wireless stations to wired LANs and from wired LANs to wireless stations. Furthermore, wireless stations within the range of the Access Point device may communicate with each other via the Access Point.

Access Point Client: This mode allows the connection of one or more remote LANs with a central LAN, create thus an extended VLAN. In this way, any station of the remote LAN can communicate with any station of the central LAN, as if all of them belonged to the same physical LAN. Wireless Station cannot associate with Access Point clients. The Access Point conducts the designed traffic to the appropriate wired or wireless station. You need to enter the MAC address of the desired AP (BSS) if you select the Access Point Client option.

Wireless Bridge: The wireless bridge allows connections between two or more wired networks. By setting the HE102 as a Wireless, other wireless stations will not be able to access the HE102 unless rest it to default Access Point mode. There are two types of connection:

Point to Point: The Wireless Bridge can communicate with a specific Remote MAC Address of the remote Access Point. The remote Access Point also needs to be set up as a Wireless Bridge.

Point to MultiPoint: This Wireless Bridge can communicate with any Wireless Bridge available in the same channel. Note: Only one HE102 Wireless Access Point can be configured as point-to-Multipoint bridge. You must enter the Remote AP MAC Address of the HE102 set to point-to-Multipoint for all other bridged HE102 Wireless Access Points.

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I don't get it for some reason. Which AP do i want to be set as what?!?! HELP!

Having not done this, my suggestion would be to set them both up as PtP Bridges. That would most closely emulate an ethernet cable strung through the hallway.

The other options are likely to take a significant amount of configuration time to set up (Edit: on both the APs and your existing computers, etc.), but might be more efficient, depending on how smartly the bridging is performed. But PtP Brige should be easy to set up and get working tonight.

Again, though, I haven't done any of this with the products you're using.

Thanks Bitt!
I'll try that real quick and post results....

Where is the laptop going to be mostly? Set the Access point closest to it to Access Point. Set the other one to Access Point Client with the other AP BSS.

If that doesn't work, buy another access point, and set the two access points bridging the networks to Wireless Bridge mode, and the third as a normal access point.

Oops. Missed the point about the wireless laptop.

Loren, how is that laptop connected now? Is there an existing wireless network or its wireless connectivity new as well?

Because having the APs in bridge mode is not going to allow the laptop to connect to that network (unless the APs are very forgiving), as BAKup implies.

Hmmm, assuming the AP Client mode works as described, you're going to want to set up the AP connected to your internet connection side as an access point, and the AP in the living room as a client. You're on thin ice with all this, as the whole access point client mode is pretty new-fangled thing to actualy get working.

Matthew

another dumb question... they both want IP's... do i give them the same IP? or different IPs?

the whole wireless is new. The laptop was connected via cable to the switch before.

Nuts. You'll have to set up one as an Access Point, then, and the other as an Access Point Client. Sorry to lead you in the wrong direction.

As far as IP addresses go, you never want to assign the same IP address to more than one device, so two different ones.

Edit: Oh, and I just downloaded the manual to see if I could help out more. That may be the most worthless manual I've ever seen. Where did you get the information you posted at the top?

from the docs on the CD. There was another quickstart thing that came with it... but they're all worthless. INcredibly poorly written. Trying all this stuff now... =]

OKAY... good news is i can ping both AP's... bad news... i can't get the laptop (which i'm just wiring to a hub via cable for now in the living room) to ping anything. Just to make sure... the AP should be hooked up to the uplink port on the hub, and the laptop any other port... correct?

hrmm... maybe something with the laptop... one sec....

Which OS? DHCP or fixed address? If DHCP, is it being assigned an address?

WOOOOOOT! Matthew and Bitt and Ben win the prize. You should have seen the dance i just did when I got the first ping through!!!!

YES!

The answers to life are on this BBS. Thanks you ALL... You rock!

(now when the wireless LAN card for the laptop gets here Monday... i'm sure i'll be back... but for now... WOOOT!)

fixed IP's... everyone's happy!

So what was wrong with the laptop?

When you boot it up, it doesn't register the network card for some reason, you have to pop it out then back in so it'll see it. I brought it in here and hooked it up to the switch to test it... and sure enough, no ping... so that was the problem as far as that went. Thanks!