Configuring DAP-1522 and DIR-825

[JohnStamos]

I'm sure similar questions have been asked but I haven't found an answer yet. I guess you can call me a moderate user and can't seem to figure this out.

So just recently purchased the DIR-825 and DAP-1522. At this point I just want to get the DAP-1522 to work as a wireless access point to my DIR-825. So my wireless laptop would connect wirelessly to the DAP-1522 and the 1522 would go wireless to the router. Pretty basic I guess. I was planning on using the WAP to strengthen the 5 GHz signal to the router but again, at this point, I would be happy to get the 2.4 GHz working.

I've been working on this since last night and got frustrated and went to bed. I woke up fresh and decided to try again and I'm not having making any headway.

Also, I'm sure you will let me know if the above configuration makes sense and I welcome all suggestions.

So this is basically how I've set up so far:

DIR-825 is connected to my DSL modem and has no problem accessing the internet. I can connect to either 2.4 or 5.0 directly from my laptop with no problem at all and have access to the internet. Encryption is disabled. It worked with encryption but I turned it off to troubleshoot this AP problem.

It should be simple but I must be doing something wrong. BTW is there a way to scan for network devices from the router or the access point? I tried discovering each device with the wireless setup button on each device but they don't recognize each other so I'm configuring this manually.

So the DAP has access point enabled and 802.11 is running in mixed mode. I've tried different variations but nothing has worked. I've tried 20 mhz and 20-40 auto mhz channels but same problem. Wireless security is off for troubleshooting at the moment.

DHCP server is disabled and I've assigned the DAP an available ip from the router's dhcp range. I can connect to the DAP both wirelessly and hard wired. The problem is that it can't seem to connect to the router. So my laptop can connect to the router and ha internet access. And it can also connect to the DAP but does not have internet access. The ip is showing auto configuration 169.x.x.x when connected to the DAP so I'm not getting an ip. Is the router supposed to assign the ip to my laptop through the DAP? But again, if the DAP can't communicate with the router, then that would explain why I can't get an IP.

This should be simple but I know I must be doing something wrong or missing something. I also might not even doing this right so let me know. lol

Anyway, any help to get this going would be greatly appreciated. I lost my mind last night and would like to get this figured out before I lose it again today. Thanks for any help.

 

[stevech]

... So my wireless laptop would connect wirelessly to the DAP-1522 and the 1522 would go wireless to the router. Pretty basic I guess.

Here's why I recommend you return this for a refund and take a different approach.

To have the Access point (AP) link wirelessly to the router, both devices must support "WDS" (repeater mode). As I write, www.dlink.com is down (!), so I cannot confirm my suspicion that the '1522 has no WDS capability; it is an AP or client Bridge. The AP roles requires a wired connection to the router or a switch. Bridge role requires a wired connection to your client (laptop). Neither are what I see you are seeking.

My suggestion, to get better 5GHz coverage in the area you wish to, is as follows.

Buy a HPNA or MoCA (see forum topical area on this) pair of bridge devices. These extend your router's LAN port to another place in the house using either TV coax or home power wiring. Cost under $100. Put one adjacent to/connected to a Router LAN port. Put the other device in the weak signal area. Connect any old WiFi router to the new remotely located device's LAN port. Config that router to be an AP (cheap). Even 11g will do, you'll be so close to the client device.

Alternatively, keep the '1522 and use it in AP mode, connected to the MoCA/HPNA remotely located device as above.

This avoids trying to link back to the router wirelessly which is complex and never works well, and halves your speeds.

 

[JohnStamos]

Thanks for the info. I might look into another alternative and your suggestions would probably provide a better solution for what I'm trying to do.

It's just messed up that the DAP-1522 is supposed to work as four port bridge/access point. So it should be able to communicate with my wireless router in another part of the house to grant access to non wireless devices.

This DAP-1522 however can also accept wireless connections from my laptop. So I can power it up and access the web interface wirelessly. I just thought that since I would be able to connect to it wirelessly and with its purpose is to communicate wirelessly to the router, that I could use it as a repeater. It even explicitly says on the dlink website that this bridge/access point can be or is best used with their dlink dir-825 router. lol

So I thought it would be cake to get this DAP-1522 to wirelessly interact with the router since that it's purpose isn't it?

Not sure if I'm making sense here or if I'm just confusing what this device was actually made for. I even called dlink support and the dude told be to call a number. It was a pay service. lol. Shouldn't their device that is listed on their website easily work with a another of their suggested devices as I listed above?

From their website:

CONNECT MULTIPLE DEVICES
The Wireless Bridge feature of the DAP-1522 allows you to easily connect up to 4 Ethernet-enabled devices in your entertainment center to your wireless network. Connect devices such as Game Consoles, Digital Video Recorders (DVR), and Digital Media Adapters (DMA) to the built-in 4-Port Gigabit Switch.

So this device should be able to connect wirelessly to a wireless router I guess.

 

[stevech]

D-Link's web site is back up. I downloaded/read the user manual for the DAP-1522. Indeed, it does not support WDS (repeater) mode. Most WiFi bridge/AP products are the same.
see ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Multimedia/dap1522/Manual/dap1522_manual_130.zip

So my recommendations in the post above, do apply.

What you want is the device to be an access point for your laptop and also be a wireless client of your router. So wireless laptop traffic would be retransmitted wirelessly to your router, and vice-versa. This is what WDS is. Again, I don't recommend WDS. Instead, use HPNA or MoCA and you can use your DIR1522 as an access point, connected as discussed in the prior post. Or get a refund on the DIR1522 and use some old WiFi 11g router as an AP. There's a FAQ here on how to do that; it's easy.

The AP/bridge terminology is confusing to the lay person. But D-Link's graphics in their user manual do show that the bridge mode serves only ethernet/wired devices as in a HTPC setup. The graphics do show a wired connection to the router for the AP mode.

 

[calgarychris]

Don't give up

Hi,

I'm relatively new to the networking game but I saw your post - I've managed to get the DAP-1522 working with my wireless router/modem with WPA2 security enabled. I'm not terribly familiar with the lingo, but basically my modem/router upstairs talks to my DAP-1522 downstairs wirelessly at speeds fast enough to stream 1080p video.

I too had some challenges with it - the default ip range for my modem/router is 192.168.1.xxx whereas the DAP-1522 is set to use 192.168.0.xxx. I connected the DAP to my computer via cable, set it to accept a static IP address, input the information for my wireless network (SSID, security setting and pw) and then it works like a charm. I can now access both the router and DAP on the same network (192.168.1.xxx).

Hope that helps
Cheers
Chris

 

[JohnStamos]

Hi,

I'm relatively new to the networking game but I saw your post - I've managed to get the DAP-1522 working with my wireless router/modem with WPA2 security enabled. I'm not terribly familiar with the lingo, but basically my modem/router upstairs talks to my DAP-1522 downstairs wirelessly at speeds fast enough to stream 1080p video.

I too had some challenges with it - the default ip range for my modem/router is 192.168.1.xxx whereas the DAP-1522 is set to use 192.168.0.xxx. I connected the DAP to my computer via cable, set it to accept a static IP address, input the information for my wireless network (SSID, security setting and pw) and then it works like a charm. I can now access both the router and DAP on the same network (192.168.1.xxx).

Hope that helps
Cheers
Chris

LMAO wow that's great.

I actually got this shirt to work ffs. What a nightmare! I don't even really like it and will probably take all the equipment back and get something else.

So this is what happened:

I connected the dap 1522 directly to the router and set it to bridge mode which is the only way to get the bridge web interface to appear as opposed to the AP interface when it doesn't have any net settings.

So once I was in bridge mode I was able to discover my network. I didn't set encryption and set it to 5 GHz. I disconnected the dap1522 and brought it to the location that I wanted it to sit. I then switched that shirt to AP mode and it was then acting as an access point to my router. Only problem was that I didn't set encryption and the goddam 5 GHz still had a shirtty signal. lol

So I went back up and did the same thing but to the 2.4 GHz band but it puked when I tried to set up encryption. I wasn't sure if the settings took and went back down to the main level and it doesn't look like it took.

Now if I want to to do this shirt again I will likely hard reset both devices and start from scratch. haha. not! Screw this shirt!

The product isn't designed to do this so I understand why it doesn't work very well. oh well. wtf u gonna do right?

 

[JohnStamos]

D-Link's web site is back up. I downloaded/read the user manual for the DAP-1522. Indeed, it does not support WDS (repeater) mode. Most WiFi bridge/AP products are the same.
see ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Multimedia/dap1522/Manual/dap1522_manual_130.zip

So my recommendations in the post above, do apply.

What you want is the device to be an access point for your laptop and also be a wireless client of your router. So wireless laptop traffic would be retransmitted wirelessly to your router, and vice-versa. This is what WDS is. Again, I don't recommend WDS. Instead, use HPNA or MoCA and you can use your DIR1522 as an access point, connected as discussed in the prior post. Or get a refund on the DIR1522 and use some old WiFi 11g router as an AP. There's a FAQ here on how to do that; it's easy.

The AP/bridge terminology is confusing to the lay person. But D-Link's graphics in their user manual do show that the bridge mode serves only ethernet/wired devices as in a HTPC setup. The graphics do show a wired connection to the router for the AP mode.

Thanks for the help. I will probably go that route.