I wanted to extend the Wi-Fi range by using my D-Link DIR-600 Rev. B. DD-WRT allows configuring a repeater bridge. This seamlessly links up two routers wirelessly. The repeater bridge is especially useful because the second router allows both wired and wireless connections.
Thankfully, repeater bridge is supported on DD-WRT on the DIR-600. I followed the instructions on the DD-WRT wiki, but kept encountering problems. After following through the instructions and applying the settings, I would see two SSIDs broadcasting from the router, and any device connected to the second router could not reach the first router. In addition, the network connections would drop intermittently. After much trial and error, flashing different versions, and searching the Internet, I realised what the problem was! It was from adding the virtual interface!
I re-setup the router, this time omitting the step to add the virtual interface, and everything worked perfectly! My DIR-600 works like a proper repeater, and wireless devices would seamlessly roam across the routers depending on the signal strength. Job well done!
Here are the steps I did (adapted from the DD-WRT Wiki). My primary router is configured with WPA2 AES. The secondary router is running DD-WRT build 14311. The latest build in the DD-WRT router database, build 14896, is buggy.
- Restore Factory Defaults on Secondary (DD-WRT) Router
- Connect your computer to the secondary router via wired LAN port.
- Open the address http://192.168.1.1 in your web browser. Newer versions of DD-WRT will require you to set a password before you can continue.
- Open the Wireless -> Basic Settings tab
- Physical Interface Section
- Wireless Mode : Repeater Bridge
- Wireless Network Mode : Must Match Primary Router
- Wireless Network Name(SSID) : Must Match Primary Router exactly including exact case- Make sure you spell this correctly
- Wireless Channel : Must Match Primary Router (This will disappear once you put it in RB mode, and isn’t needed)
- Wireless SSID Broadcast : Enable
- Network Configuration : Bridged
- Save
- Physical Interface Section
- Open the Wireless -> Wireless Security tab
- Physical Interface Section
- Security Mode : Must Match Primary Router and DD-wrt only works reliably with WEP or WPA2-AES
- WPA Algorithms : Must Match Primary Router
- WPA Shared Key : Must Match Primary Router
- Key Renewal Interval (in seconds) : Leave default
- Save
- Physical Interface Section
- Open the Setup -> Basic Setup tab
- Connection Type will be: Disabled
- Set STP for Disabled (Enabled sometimes can cause connection problems) redhawk
- IP Address : 192.168.1.2 (Assuming Primary Router IP is 192.168.1.1)
- Mask : 255.255.255.0
- Gateway: 192.168.1.1 (again assuming Primary Router IP is 192.168.1.1)
- DHCP Server: Disable
- Local DNS: 192.168.1.1 (if IP of Primary Router is 192.168.1.1)
- Assign WAN Port to Switch : Optionally enable this to use the WAN port as another LAN port.
- Save
- Open Setup -> Advanced Routing tab
- Set Operating mode to “Router”
- Save
- Open Services
- Disable Dnsmasq
- Save
- Open the Security -> Firewall tab
- Uncheck all boxes…except Filter Multicast
- Disable SPI firewall
- APPLY Settings
- Reboot the router.
Many thanks for this, after hours of trying different methods this is the only one that worked!!!
Hello, thank you very much for your expertise. Helped me a lot to me. Greetings from Argentina.
Hola, muchas gracias por tu experiencia. Me sirvio mucho a mi. Saludos desde Argentina.
Thank you so much Jon! I spent MONTHS (not hours) trying to get the damn DDWRT working with this type of router. Best regards and Happy new year from Colombia
I have following the step, but with WEP, the DIR-600B1 can not connect to the main AP.
The forum of dd-wrt says that there is problem with WEP in repeater mode.
Do u have any idea?
Really nicely Done..
Keep it up and good luck
Sip,, become more fluent this
Thank you so much!! It worked 😀
hi, I have followed all of the above, but the problem I have is after re-booting the router, I can not seem to access it, I have tried all manor of connections and IP address including the one I set the router up as! what am I doing wrong?
Maybe there is a workaround for this issue. I have two DIR-600 routers to play with at the moment. One worked flawlessly “out-of-box” with a physical interface and a virtual interface. The other did his job only without the virtual one (same configuration on both). I managed to get the second one to work with an additional virtual interface by using the MAC clone feature (basic settings tab).
What you need to do is, just set a cloned MAC address for the wireless interface which “leaves room” for an increase by “1” (hex). Example:
On the first router (A), the virtual interface has xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:91. However, the main AP tells me that A connects from MAC …:92. To be honest, I actually haven’t figured out why “1” is added, but that’s just what happens. Also keep this in mind if you are using a white-list MAC filter on your main AP.
On the second router (B), the virtual interface has xx:xx:xx:xx:EF. It did not connect, and I assumed that this is because adding “1” would result in …:F0 (sort of a bit-overflow) which is probably not supported in DD WRT or by the hardware. Then, after setting up a MAC clone for the wireless interface, like …:E0 (just leave room for the additional “1”), the connection worked. The main AP told me that B connects from MAC …:E1.
Bottom line is, you can probably still use a virtual interface by using a cloned MAC for the wireless interface. At least it worked with my setup 🙂
Thank you very much! worked perfectly, greetings from Argentina 🙂
But, why does the DD-WRT site say DIR-600 isn’t supported?
Versions B1/B2 are support, B5 is not. Recommended version is v24_preSP2_14896, but I’m using build 20675 w/o any issues so far.
Thanks Techie Corner… i spent the whole day and later found out that i was using buggy firmware.. i.e. 14896 Guys first get right firmware that is 14311 and dont add vpn you will sure get it…
Thanks alot Corner
Thanks! Followed your steps and got my DIR-600 connected to my other router within 30 minutes. You’re awesome!
Hi, where can I download firmware v. 14311?
Thx a lot Jon G! Your tut helped me! Everything works perfectly!
Thank you very much!!!!!! So easy configure with your orientations. Well done!
thanks!!! this is exactly what i needed!!!!
It doesn´t work. Exactly same steps. Using inSSIDer it detects 2 Wlans, same channel, same name, but 2nd router doesn´t connect to the 1st. Losing my hair.
After lots of trial/error, I finally managed to setup my DIR-600, as follows:
Administration > Factory Defaults
.Restore > Apply Settings
Setup > Basic Setup
.Connection Type: Disabled
.Local IP Address: 192.168.1.2
.Gateway: 192.168.1.1
.Assign WAN Port to Switch: Enabled
.DHCP Server: Disable
SAVE
Wireless > Basic Settings
.Wireless Mode: Repeater Bridge
.Wireless Network Mode: Same
.Wireless Network Name (SSID): Same
.Wireless Channel: Same
.Channel Width: Keep 20 MHz (doesn´t work 40)
SAVE
Wireless > Wireless Security
.Security Mode: Same
.WPA Algorithms: Same
.WPA Shared Key: Same
SAVE
APPLY SETTINGS
REBOOT
That´s it. DIR-600 running DD-WRT build 14896 or 14311 works.
woohoo! i tried multiple methods and then finally this worked on my cisco/linksys e1200 repeater bridge, with a linksys wrt54g as the primary router.
correction (in case anyone is trying to get these two devices working together). my primary router is a WRT350N, with an e1200 as the repeating bridge.
Too easy! Thanks!
I had to downgrade to build 14311 as you used. Also saved a backup config for the inevitable case that the DIR-600 needs a factory reset.
Thank you so much. After spending 3 days trying this was the only procedure that really works. great job.
Thanks Boyscout!
This actually solved the connection’s issue:
“Maybe there is a workaround for this issue. I have two DIR-600 routers to play with at the moment. One worked flawlessly “out-of-box” with a physical interface and a virtual interface. The other did his job only without the virtual one (same configuration on both). I managed to get the second one to work with an additional virtual interface by using the MAC clone feature (basic settings tab).
What you need to do is, just set a cloned MAC address for the wireless interface which “leaves room” for an increase by “1″ (hex). Example:
On the first router (A), the virtual interface has xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:91. However, the main AP tells me that A connects from MAC …:92. To be honest, I actually haven’t figured out why “1″ is added, but that’s just what happens. Also keep this in mind if you are using a white-list MAC filter on your main AP.
On the second router (B), the virtual interface has xx:xx:xx:xx:EF. It did not connect, and I assumed that this is because adding “1″ would result in …:F0 (sort of a bit-overflow) which is probably not supported in DD WRT or by the hardware. Then, after setting up a MAC clone for the wireless interface, like …:E0 (just leave room for the additional “1″), the connection worked. The main AP told me that B connects from MAC …:E1.
Bottom line is, you can probably still use a virtual interface by using a cloned MAC for the wireless interface. At least it worked with my setup :-)”
I don’t know if it actually worked or not, could some one please show me how to check that the bridge mode is working. Thanks again for your help
Hady El Khodary: You should be able to turn on the DIR-600 router and it should automatically connect to your other wireless router. Then the best way to test is to turn off your wireless on your computer (if your computer has wireless), then plug in the computer by an Ethernet cable to the DIR-600, then see if you can access Google or something. I can access the internet within 5 mins of the DIR-600 being on.
You can test via using wireless but you need to ensure your wireless device is not connecting to the router you are repeating.
Another way is to see if you can access both router setting pages from an device on your network.
I have a stange thing happen when I follow these instructions. I have a D-Link DIR-820L as my Internet gateway. I put dd-wrt on my D-Link DIR-825/B1 to use as an access point/repeater. It works fine when the repeater is not connected by Ethernet to the main gateway. If I connect it to the main gateway by wire, then my Mac starts complaining about another device on the network with the same address as the DHCP assigned address it’s using and it shuts off the network port. So for now I have the Mac plugged into my Ethernet hub and my repeater is only connecting by WiFi. I confirmed that it is connected because I can login to the admin interface of both routers from the Mac. I went over the original instructions and this page — I’m not seeing anything that would explain what I’m seeing. The repeater has DHCP turned off completely.
Thank you,
After 3 hours following de ddwrt’s instruccion I aborted and searched in Internet. I got this page and in 10 minutes it’s all ok.
The key are in not setup the virtual interface and use WPA2
Help! I followed all the steps religiously but I can’t access my router any more! I can connect to the network – (no internet) but I can’t even ping the router anymore. The gateway is showing up as ‘192.168.1.2’ and whenever I ping it or try to telnet it, it doesn’t work.
Have been trying for hours but not working yet. On reboot the modem becomes inaccessible. Ip 192.168.1.2 or 192.168.1.1 or any other Ip doesnt connect me to the modem.
I am using version 21061 of dd-wrt and not able to downgrade to 14311. Anybody else facing the same issue and any workarounds.
Hi guys,
everything worked 1st time without problems with the wireless bridge configuration except 🙁 that the router ports are not giving DHCP to the connected devices.
Do you know if that is expected in this config or is it something that should be working ? Any additional config has to be done ?
Thanks, works perfectly!!!
I have the same problem as Varun. When I connect to the repeater router I see Autoconfiguration IPv4 with the external static IP address of the original router (good start!), but the Gateway/DNS etc are all empty (despite being set), and there’s no Internet access. Help!
Even the latest 2013 build doesn’t work. Only the build suggested in your tutorial work seamlessly.
Thank You !! You saved me 50$ and a use for my dusty hardware lying uselessly 😀
I follow your step to setup my E1200 as a repeater. I can connect to the repeater but do not have internet. Do I miss something ?
Thanks,
i am connected but no internet -_-
could you make a video tutorial?
pleasssssseeee
thanks in advance ;D
Thank you so much! Works perfectly.
Thanks to Jon. I made it to work following almost all of your above steps, the only thing I made different was in the Advanced Routing tab, I left it in Gateway instead Router mode, this was the only way it worked for me. Saludos desde Mexico!
Wireless Channel : Must Match Primary Router (This will disappear once you put it in RB mode, and isn’t needed)
–> This is very important line and it’s really need, though it may disappert when put in RB mode.
Where I can get the Build 14311 for my DIR-600 I was searching around but I cant find.
many thanks in advance!
Daniel
Thank you anhhh11! After setting the primary router channel to 11 (from auto) it finally works!
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Hi Techie Corner, you saved my day.
Anyway I think that your configuration (without virtual interface) does work only for bridge wifi-cable mode. In order to have a wifi-repeater (meant as repeater of wifi signal and not just a bridge that catch the wifi signal and replicate to lan ports) you need the virtual interface.
To be honest, after your guide I followed the instructions on the DD-WRT wiki (thanks also for that link) and it worked as expected.
Just my two cents..
I followed this instructions, with no luck. It seems that part of the problem is that the primary router seems to avoid the secondary router by switching the channel to a least crowded frequency.
Bonjour quelqu’un peux m’aider a configurer mon routeur DIR 825 DD WRT JE VEUX LE CONNECTER A MON ROUTEUR SANS FIL POUR ÉTENDRE LA CONNEXION A MA DEUXIÈME ETAGE JE CONFIG ET IL ARRIVE PAS A CE CONNECTER A MON INTERNET PRIMAIRE.
I can’t find build DD-WRT 14311 , any one can help ? Thanks
Thank you very much!!!! This tread goes to favs. Its the only set up really work for me… Thank YOU!!!!!!!
Hi
I have a dir 600 Harsware Bx Firmware 2.15
I have tried all the different methods that i have seen on dd-wrt to flash my one so that I may use it as a repeater.
Everything i have done so far all i get is firmware failure.
Any help in installing dd-wrt on my router will be much appreciated.
Thanking all in advance
Ernest
I was having some problems but after matching the channel number to 6 on both routers it worked well. Thanks buddy!