Setting up a home wifi repeater

[MyLittleStudPony]

I have a Pix-Link Wifi Repeater / Router / AP. I want to set it up to extend home wifi range.

I plug it in and my devices can see it. I need to set it up so it connects to the wifi.

The instructions say I do this using a device connected and going to a website (192.168.7.1).

This doesn't seem to work as when my device I'm using to set it up (phone or laptop) is connected to the repeater, it's not connected to the internet. If I disconnect from it and connect to the net, I can't set up the repeater. I bought a different one and it had exactly the same problem.

Any ideas? I'm probably doing something daft.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

You need to connect to the wifi on the repeater, then browse to the web page of the repeater, then associate the repeater with your existing internet wifi
Alternatively pay someone who knows what they're doing to come round and do it for you, but as every idiot is a networking expert, just go down the pub and find someone who'll do it for you for a couple of drinks.

[MyLittleStudPony]

I just tried it at this place. It works fine. I'm going to the flat later / tomorrow, I'll try again there. Last time it wouldn't let me connect to the Repeater's website.

[Skub]

Some of them can be a bit fickle. The one we use had multiple 'failed to connect' and I came close to firing it in the bin,then it decided to play ball and has been fine ever since.

Perseverance is the key,something I'm not terribly good at.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Does the WiFi repeater have an IP address that's the same as something already in the flat, might be worth turning off anything you don't need while you set it up.

[Ditchfinder]

Sounds like LFG has it - why not log on to your router (192.1638.1.1 or 192.168.0.1) and check what's connected to that ip. You will need to reserve that ip address for your repeater anyway so you can give it a fixed ip address once it's connected

[MyLittleStudPony]

I can log onto the website (192.168.7.1) to set up the repeater at my old house. But at my new one neither my phone or laptop will do that. I just get: This site can’t be reached.

I'm a bit stumped. That's not something on the same IP address as the repeater, I don't think.

[Kneerly Down]

I can log onto the website (192.168.7.1) to set up the repeater at my old house. But at my new one neither my phone or laptop will do that. I just get: This site can’t be reached.

I'm a bit stumped. That's not something on the same IP address as the repeater, I don't think.

You'll need to set your IP address on the phone or laptop manually.
Instead of using Automatic (DHCP) use a manual IP address.
put in e.g.
IP address 192.168.7.3
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 192.168.7.1
preferred DNS 8.8.8.8
secondary DNS 8.8.4.4

You should then be able to log into the repeater on 192.168.7.1 although you'll lose your ability to go onto the internet with that device until you reset to DHCP or put in the correct details for your router.

If you can't set it up without being on the internet at the same time you might need to change your router settings, temporarily, so it uses the 192.168.7.x range.
e.g. set up the router on e.g. 192.168.7.254 and have it assign DHCP addresses in a suitable 192.168.7.x range.

[MyLittleStudPony]

I can log onto the website (192.168.7.1) to set up the repeater at my old house. But at my new one neither my phone or laptop will do that. I just get: This site can’t be reached.

I'm a bit stumped. That's not something on the same IP address as the repeater, I don't think.

You'll need to set your IP address on the phone or laptop manually.
Instead of using Automatic (DHCP) use a manual IP address.
put in e.g.
IP address 192.168.7.3
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 192.168.7.1
preferred DNS 8.8.8.8
secondary DNS 8.8.4.4

You should then be able to log into the repeater on 192.168.7.1 although you'll lose your ability to go onto the internet with that device until you reset to DHCP or put in the correct details for your router.

If you can't set it up without being on the internet at the same time you might need to change your router settings, temporarily, so it uses the 192.168.7.x range.
e.g. set up the router on e.g. 192.168.7.254 and have it assign DHCP addresses in a suitable 192.168.7.x range.

How do I change the IP address on my laptop? Is it in Settings, then Network and Internet, then Wifi? My laptop is Windows 10 I think.

Would there be any advantage in trying to set it up at my old house? I was able to log onto 192.168.7.1 there, no problem.

[MyLittleStudPony]

I sorted it! Went in through the side door. Wrote a bit of Python Script. Rawl plugs? Pea gravel? Hang a house on them there Lee mate.

[Count Steer]

I sorted it! Went in through the side door. Wrote a bit of Python Script. Rawl plugs? Pea gravel? Hang a house on them there Lee mate.

So, apart from giving it a bit of the dead parrot sketch, how did you actually fix it?

[wheelnut]

So, apart from giving it a bit of the dead parrot sketch, how did you actually fix it?

Switched it off and switched it on again.

[KungFooBob]

He got a person with no degree, who works in IT to fix it.

[MyLittleStudPony]

No, not like that. I sparked it up a treat. Well, less sparking, mainly hacking, like in that Radio Four play, The Lazarus Project. Which was about a meticulous international billion dollar hack, they tried to blame on the North Korean government. At times there were ASCII characters appearing super fast in green, on a black screen and there I was, coding furiously to gain control of the key systems. A critical moment was when I borrowed a friends BT Wifi extender disk, realised that worked and ordered a second hand one off eBay.

[Kneerly Down]

Well, I wouldn't be starting from there if I were you.