Netgear N150 Manual

							Configuring Your Wireless Network 27
Your wireless router is now configured to provide Internet access for your network. Your wireless 
router automatically connects to the Internet when one of your computers requires access. It is not 
necessary to run a dialer or login application such as Dial-Up Networking or Enternet to connect, 
log in, or disconnect. These functions are performed automatically by the wireless router as 
needed.
To access the Internet from any computer connected to your wireless router, launch a browser such 
as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. You should see the wireless router’s Internet 
LED blink, indicating communication to the ISP. The browser should begin to display a Web page. 
						

							Troubleshooting28
Troubleshooting
If you have difficulties accessing the Internet, use the Basic Setup Checklist to make sure that you 
have connected and set up your router correctly. You can find help with the following problems:
•“Basic Setup Checklist” on page 28
•“Checking Basic Router Functions” on page 29
•“Troubleshooting Login Problems” on page 31
•“Checking the Internet Service Connection” on page 32
•“Obtaining an Internet IP Address” on page 32
•“Using the Ping Utility to Troubleshoot” on page 34
Basic Setup Checklist
The following items are the most common errors made when initially setting up a router. Carefully 
review the checklist to make sure that you have followed the recommended procedures.
•Be sure you always start your network in this sequence: 
1. Turn off and unplug the modem from the power outlet. Next, turn off the wireless router 
and computer.
2. Turn on the modem and wait 2 minutes.
3. Turn on the wireless router and wait 1 minute.
4. Turn on the computer. 
•Make sure the Ethernet cables are securely plugged in. 
– The Internet status light on the wireless router will be lit if the Ethernet cable to the 
wireless router from the modem is plugged in securely and the modem and wireless router 
are both turned on (see “Connecting Your Wireless Router” on page 12).
– For each powered-on computer connected to the wireless router with a securely plugged-
in Ethernet cable, the corresponding wireless router LAN port status light will be lit. The 
label on the back of the wireless router identifies the number of each LAN port (see “LAN 
(Ports 1–4)” on page 3).  
						

							Troubleshooting29
•Make sure the network settings of the computer are correct. 
– LAN connected computers must be configured to obtain an IP address automatically using 
DHCP. For more information, see the links in  “Related Documents” on page 40.
– Some cable modem services require you to use the MAC address of the computer 
registered on the account. If so, in the Router MAC Address section of the Basic Settings 
menu, select “Use this Computer’s MAC Address.” Click Apply to save your settings. 
Restart the network in the correct sequence.
•Check the router status lights to verify correct router operation. If the Power light does 
not turn solid green within 2 minutes after turning the router on, reset the router according to 
the instructions in “Restoring the Default Password and Configuration Settings” on page 39.
Checking Basic Router Functions 
After you turn on power to the router, check that the following sequence of events has occurred:
1. When power is first applied, verify that the power light is on (see “Front Panel” on page 2 for 
an illustration).
2. Verify that the power light turns amber within a few seconds, indicating that the self-test 
procedure is running.
3. After approximately 20 seconds, verify that:
a. The color of the power light changes to green.
b. The LAN port lights are lit for any local ports that are connected.
If a port’s light is lit, a link has been established to the connected device. If a LAN port is 
connected to a 100 Mbps device, verify that the port’s light is green. If the port is 10 
Mbps, the light will be amber.
c. The Internet port is connected and its light is lit.
4. If you have enabled WPS security, verify that the Push N Connect status light stops blinking 
and changes to green (otherwise the Push N Connect status light should be off).
If the correct behavior does not occur, check for a remedy from the following list:
•Power Light Not On. If the Power and other lights are off (see “Connecting Your Wireless 
Router” on page 12), check the following:
– Make sure that the power cord is properly connected to your router and that the power 
adapter is properly connected to a functioning power outlet. 
						

							Troubleshooting30
– Check that you are using the power adapter supplied by NETGEAR for this product.
If the error persists, you have a hardware problem and should contact technical support.
•Power Light Blinks Green Slowly and Continuously. The router firmware is corrupted.
To restore your firmware:
a. Make sure your PC is connected to your router and the router is powered on.
b. Insert the Resource CD that came with your router into your PC. 
– The CD will automatically start and detect the language you are using on your PC. 
Select a different language option, if you prefer.
– If the CD does not automatically start, browse the CD and double-click on .
c. In the CD’s menu, click Supporting Software, then click Netgear Firmware Recovery 
Utility, and follow the prompts for the recovery process.
Installation of the utility places a NETGEAR Router Recovery   shortcut on the 
desktop.
d. After firmware recovery is complete, follow the prompts to restore your configuration 
settings.
•Power Light Stays Amber. When the router is turned on, the Power light turns amber for 
about 20 seconds and then turns green. If the light does not turn green, the router has a 
problem.
If the Power light is still amber 1 minute after turning on power to the router:
a. Turn the power off and back on to see if the router recovers.
b. Clear the router’s configuration to factory defaults. This will set the router’s IP address to 
192.168.1.1. This procedure is explained in “Restoring the Default Password and 
Configuration Settings” on page 39.
If the error persists, you might have a hardware problem and should contact technical support.
•Internet Light Stays Amber. When the router is turned on, the Internet light turns amber for 
about 20 seconds and then turns green. If the light does not turn green, the router has a 
problem.
If the Internet light is still amber 1 minute after turning on power to the router:
a. The Internet is not accessible. Confirm that you have the correct internet setting.  
						

							Troubleshooting31
b. Clear the router’s configuration to factory defaults. This will set the router’s IP address to 
192.168.1.1. This procedure is explained in “Restoring the Default Password and 
Configuration Settings” on page 39.
c. Turn the power off and back on to see if the router recovers.
•Internet or LAN Port Lights Not On. If either the LAN or Internet lights do not light when 
the Ethernet connection is made, check the following:
a. Make sure that the Ethernet cable connections are secure at the router and at the computer.
b. Make sure that power is turned on to the connected computer.
c. Be sure you are using Ethernet cables like the cable that was supplied with the wireless 
router.
See “Connecting Your Wireless Router” on page 12 for instructions.
For more information on WPS functionality and advanced features, see the online User Manual.
Troubleshooting Login Problems
If you are unable to log in to the wireless router, check the following:
• If you are using an Ethernet-connected computer, check the Ethernet connection between the 
computer and the router as described in “Checking Basic Router Functions” on page 29.
• Make sure you are using the correct login information. The factory default login name is 
admin and the password is password. Make sure that the Caps Lock is off when entering this 
information.
• Make sure your computer’s IP address is on the same subnet as the router. If your are using the 
recommended addressing scheme, your computer’s address should be in the range of 
192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254. Refer to your computer’s documentation or see “Preparing a 
Computer for Network Access” in “Related Documents” on page 40 for help with configuring 
your computer. 
If your computer cannot reach a DHCP server, some operating systems will 
assign an IP address in the range 169.254.x.x. If your IP address is in this range, 
verify that you have a good connection from the computer to the router, then 
restart (reboot) your computer. 
						

							Troubleshooting32
• If your router’s IP address has been changed and you don’t know the current IP address, reset 
the router’s configuration to the factory defaults. This procedure will reset the router’s IP 
address to 192.168.1.1 (see “Restoring the Default Password and Configuration Settings” on 
page 39).
• Make sure your browser has Java, JavaScript, or ActiveX enabled. If you are using Internet 
Explorer, click Refresh to be sure the Java applet is loaded. Try closing the browser and 
reopening it again.
• If you are attempting to set up your NETGEAR router as an additional router behind an 
existing router in your network, consider replacing the existing router instead. NETGEAR 
does not support such a configuration.
• If you are attempting to set up your NETGEAR router as a replacement for an ADSL gateway 
in your network, the router cannot perform many gateway services, for example, converting 
ADSL or Cable data into Ethernet networking information. NETGEAR does not support such 
a configuration. 
Checking the Internet Service Connection
If your router is unable to access the Internet, check the Internet connection, and then check the 
wireless router. 
•Internet Connection. The cable or DSL modem status lights indicate if the modem 
connection is successful or not. Check your modem documentation or call your Internet 
service provider for help with verifying that the modem has a successful connection. 
•Wireless Router Internet Light is Green or Blinking Green. If your Internet light is green 
or blinking green, then you have a good Internet connection and your wiring is correct.
•Wireless Router Internet Light Off. If the Internet light is off, verify that the Ethernet cable 
is securely connected between the cable or DSL modem, and that both the modem and 
wireless router are turned on. 
Obtaining an Internet IP Address
If your wireless router is unable to access the Internet, and your Internet light is amber, check the 
wireless router to see if it is able to get an Internet IP address from your service provider. Unless 
you have a static IP address, your wireless router automatically requests an IP address from your 
service provider.  
						

							Troubleshooting33
To check the Internet IP address from the browser interface: 
1.
Log in to the wireless router.
2.Select the Router Status link under the Maintenance heading to check that an IP address is 
shown for the Internet Port. If 0.0.0.0 is shown, your wireless router has not obtained an IP 
address from your service provider.
If your router is unable to obtain an IP address from the your service provider, the problem might 
be one of the following:
• Your service provider might require a login. Ask your service provider whether they require a 
PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) login.
• You might have incorrectly set the service name, user name or password. See 
“Troubleshooting PPPoE” on page 33.
• Your service provider might check for your computers host name. Assign the computer Host 
Name of your ISP account to the wireless router on the Basic Settings screen.
• Your service provider might only allow one Ethernet MAC address to connect to the Internet, 
and check for your computer’s MAC address. If this is the case:
– Inform your service provider that you have bought a new network device, and ask them to 
use the wireless router’s MAC address, or 
– Configure your router to spoof your computer’s MAC address. On the Basic Settings 
screen in the Router MAC Address section, select “Use this Computer’s MAC Address” 
and click Apply. Then restart your network in the correct sequence (see “Basic Setup 
Checklist” on page 28).
Troubleshooting PPPoE 
If you are using PPPoE, try troubleshooting your Internet connection.
To troubleshoot a PPPoE connection:
1.
Log in to the wireless router.
2.Select Router Status under Maintenance on the main menu.
3.Click Connection Status. If all of the steps indicate “OK,” then your PPPoE connection is up 
and working.
If any of the steps indicate “Failed,” you can attempt to reconnect by clicking Connect. The 
wireless router will continue to attempt to connect indefinitely. 
						

							Troubleshooting34
If you cannot connect after several minutes, you might be using an incorrect service name, 
user name, or password. There also might be a provisioning problem with your ISP.
Troubleshooting Internet Browsing
If your wireless router can obtain an IP address but your computer is unable to load any web pages 
from the Internet, check the following:
•Your computer might not recognize any DNS server addresses. A DNS server is a host on 
the Internet that translates Internet names (such as www addresses) to numeric IP addresses. 
Typically, your ISP will provide the addresses of one or two DNS servers for your use. If you 
entered a DNS address during the wireless router’s configuration, restart your computer. 
Alternatively, you can configure your computer manually with a DNS address, as explained in 
the documentation for your computer.
•Your computer might not have the wireless router configured as its default gateway. 
Reboot the computer and verify that the wireless router address (192.168.1.1) is listed by your 
computer as the default gateway address.
Using the Ping Utility to Troubleshoot
Most computers and routers have a diagnostic utility called ping that sends a request to a target 
device. The device then replies. The ping utility makes it easy to troubleshoot a network.
Testing the Path from Your Computer to Your Router
You can ping the wireless router to verify that the LAN path from your computer to your router is 
set up correctly.
To ping the wireless router from a Windows PC:
1.
From the Windows task bar, click Start and select Run.
2.In the field provided, type ping followed by the address of the router, as in this example:
ping www.routerlogin.net 
3.Click OK. You should see a message like this one:
Pinging www.routerlogin.net with 32 bytes of data 
Unless you connect manually, the wireless router will not authenticate using 
PPPoE until data is transmitted to the network. 
						

							Troubleshooting35
If the path is working, you see this message:
Reply from www.routerlogin.net: bytes=32 time=NN ms TTL=xxx 
If the path is not working, you see this message:
Request timed out 
If the path is not working correctly, you could have one of the following problems:
• Wrong physical connections
– Make sure the LAN port light is on. If the light is off, follow the instructions in “Basic 
Setup Checklist” on page 28.
– Check that the corresponding lights are on for your computer’s network interface card.
• Wrong network configuration
– Verify that the Ethernet card driver software and TCP/IP software are both installed and 
configured on your computer.
– Verify that the IP addresses for your router and your computer are correct and that both 
addresses are on the same subnet (for example, 192.168.1.x/255.255.255.0).
Testing the Path from a Computer to the Internet
After verifying that the path between your computer and the wireless router works correctly, test 
the path from your PC to the Internet. 
To test the path using ping from a Windows PC:
1.
From the Windows task bar, click Start and select Run.
2.In the field provided, type cmd. A command screen will display.
3.At the > prompt, type the following:
ping -n 10 
where  is the IP address of a remote device such as your ISP’s DNS server.
4.Press Enter.
If the path is working correctly, replies as in the previous section will display. If you do not receive 
replies:
• Check that your PC has the IP address of your router listed as the default gateway. If the IP 
configuration of your PC is assigned by DHCP, this information will not be visible in your 
PC’s Network Control Panel. Verify that the IP address of the router is listed as the TCP/IP 
default gateway. 
						

							Troubleshooting36
• Check to see that the network address of your PC (the portion of the IP address specified by 
the netmask) is different from the network address of the remote device.
• If your ISP assigned a host name to your PC, enter that host name as the Account Name in the 
Basic Settings menu.