# CacheCARD & wireless bridge woes



## Dougal (Oct 31, 2002)

I have tried everything, read every relevant post I can find, but sadly can't get a wireless connection to my TiVo CacheCARD.  

I believe that I understand how to configure my network router and wireless bridge correctly. If I set everything up and plug a PC into the wireless bridge the PC connects fine. Unplug the PC and plug in an IP phone - this too works fine. Unplug the IP phone and plug in the TiVo - doesn't work - ping requests time out. No amount or rebooting the TiVo, routers or bridges between plugging and unplugging different devices makes any difference.

There are no MAC address or IP address conflicts.

I have tried two different bridges:
Belkin F5D7330UK
D-Link DWL-2000AP+ (in wireless client mode)

The wireless access point is provided by my Draytek Vigor 2600VG wireless router.

Both bridges work flawlessly with my PC or IP phone plugged into them, but not the TiVo.

If I plug the TiVo directly into my router, there is no problem - it talks fine over a wire.

I feel it may be something to do with the TiVo network card not registering its MAC address with the bridge when it is plugged in. My Draytek router has a "station list" which shows the MAC addresses of connected wireless devices. As soon as the bridge powers up and connects, its MAC address appears in the Draytek "station list", with status "Connected". If I then plug in my PC to the wireless bridge, its MAC address also then appears in the "station list" on the Draytek. However, I don't see the MAC address of the TiVo appear in the Draytek "station list" if I plug the TiVo into the wireless bridge. I don't know, maybe this is a symptom of the problem rather than the cause, but I thought I would mention it.


IP addresses:
----------------

Router: 192.168.1.1
Mask: 255.255.255.0

Bridge: 192.168.1.150
Mask:255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1

TiVo: 192.168.1.200
Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1

I really am stumped by this one and at a complete loss as to what to try next, so would be very grateful for any help!

Thanks


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## mhall (May 29, 2002)

Hi

I had a very similar problem & I found the only way to get round it was to plug the Tivo into a switch before the access point.

Not sure why this is, but it worked for me!

Cheers


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## AMc (Mar 22, 2002)

Does your router have an option to supply a specific IP address to a MAC address?
My Buffalo router does which is designed to assign psuedo fixed IPs to DHCP only devices. If you could do that you might be able to force the router to recognise the Tivo is attached to the bridge.
The other possibility is that the bridge is having problems auto sensing the cachecard's network speed - might be worth forcing the bridge to Base10 Full duplex to see it that helps.


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## Dougal (Oct 31, 2002)

Thanks for your suggestions mhall and AMc - I will give them a try and let you know if any work.


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## Dougal (Oct 31, 2002)

Well, mhall your suggestion to put a switch in between the TiVo and the wireless bridge worked! Thanks

It's not really a solution I want to run with, but I am glad at least I have means of getting a connection without buying a 20m network cable. I don't actually have a spare switch and I would like to keep the gubbins behind the TV to a minimum.

Interestingly, with the switch inserted the bridge appears to operate in a proxy-arp mode. i.e. If I ping the bridge (192.168.1.50) and the TiVo (192.168.1.200) and then look at the arp table on my PC by typing 'arp -a', I see that 192.168.1.150 and 192.168.1.200 are cached against the same MAC address - the MAC address of the bridge.

Yet, if I plug a PC directly into the bridge (without inserting the switch) then the PC's network card MAC address shows up as a separate entry in my Draytek router's (wireless access point's, hereafter AP) "station list", alongside the MAC address of the bridge. The "station list" is a list of all the MAC addresses that the AP sees as "connected". 

So it seems that the bridge operates transparently (as I would like) when my PC is plugged directly into the back of it, but when the TiVo is connected (via a switch) the bridge operates in a proxy-ARP mode.

Umm, I am guessing there must be something subtly different about the handshaking that takes place when I plug the TiVo directly into the bridge as to when I plug a PC network card into the bridge - PC works, TiVo doesn't. And yet, all that is necessary to get the TiVo communicating over the bridge (albeit in a proxy-ARP mode) is to insert a switch directly between the TiVo and bridge.

Any network experts out there who can fathom this one? 

I have also posted this thread in the Silicon Dust CacheCARD technical support forum. I also mention there that maybe it has something to do with gratuitous ARP request (or rather lack of them) when the TiVo network card detects link up - but this is on the edge of my network knowledge so I am hoping Jafa (or other network experts) may be able to fathom something from all of this. I am sure these findings must also be responsible for some of the difficulties others have had over the years trying to get their TiVo talking wireless so it would be great if some modification could be made to the CacheCARD driver so that it works if plugged directly into the bridge. Anyone any ideas about what's going on?


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## Dougal (Oct 31, 2002)

AMc - thanks for your suggestions. My Draytek router does not have the facility to specify specific IP addresses to be allocated to specific MAC addresses, and at the moment I have the TiVo configured with a static IP address.

Also, I don't seem to be able to specify the network connection speed on my router - it must just auto detect.


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## AMc (Mar 22, 2002)

Does the bridge have any configuration options?


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## Dougal (Oct 31, 2002)

Well it does have limited configuration options via a web interface. 

It's one of those that's marketed as plug-n-play bridge/games adapter e.g. for Xbox connectivity. It has 1 x RJ-45 port and the WAN interface which operates in either client mode (i.e. client to AP), or ad-hoc mode (i.e. peer to peer). This sort of device would be perfect (if the TiVo worked with them) as they are nice and small for hiding behind the tele.

You can configure its IP address, the subnet mask, and gateway. It also supports WEP 64-bit/128-bit or WPA-PSK/TKIP.

As I say, it works fine if I plug a PC or an IP phone into it, just not the TiVo (unless via a switch), so I think there must be something peculiar about the way the TiVo network card registers its presence to the bridge when it is plugged in. 

I think I am going to have to buy a Linksys WRT-54GS (older flashable version) as at least there seems to be a variety of 3rd party firmware out there for this device, so I can try a few until I find one which is TiVo friendly - it's not as compact as a simple games adapter (and more expensive), but if it works... It seems other people have had success with Linksys devices. I just want to run the WRT-54GS in client mode, plug the TiVo in the back of it and have done with it. Any one else had success with WRT054GS in client mode without any other switches or routers involved (other than a wireless access point)?


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## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

I've just taken a quick look at my setup

I have a Netgear WGE101 wireless bridge (which wrks just fine, by the way, take a look at http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Netgear-WGE10...ryZ44997QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem for a possible bargain).

Anyway, my router sees both the bridge AND Tivo as "attached devices", but reports the SAME MAC address (Tivos) for both connections. I know it can talk to the both though as I have dedicated IP addresses for both based on their MAC addresses

Most odd - it looks like the gateway is trying to "hide"!

Does this help your understanding (If not, I'd heartily recommend the WGE101)


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## Dougal (Oct 31, 2002)

Thanks for letting me know about your setup.

Do you know if the latest firmware for the WGE101 supports WPA-PSK/TKIP? I believe WEP is very insecure... I can't see any reference to WPA so I am guessing it may not support this encryption method? If it does then I may consider one based on your success, but it would still be good to get to the bottom of why the two bridges I have bought won't work 



> Anyway, my router sees both the bridge AND Tivo as "attached devices", but reports the SAME MAC address (Tivos) for both connections. I know it can talk to the both though as I have dedicated IP addresses for both based on their MAC addresses
> 
> Most odd - it looks like the gateway is trying to "hide"!


Yes, I believe this is called Proxy-ARP. As you say, I think if you were to do a a trace route, the bridge would not appear. I have read that there are issues with Proxy-ARP (i.e. where the bridge's MAC is allocated to all devices hanging off the bridge) and that a "transparent bridge" is better. But, as you say it seems to work and I guess it's good enough if the TiVo is only device hanging off the bridge.


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## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

The WGE101 is actually now obsolete (it was too good and too cheap methinks!)

Why do you want to secure the wireless connection between you AP and the bridge??


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## Dougal (Oct 31, 2002)

I don't really want to send unencrypted traffic over the airwaves because I imagine anyone with some knowhow could sniff the traffic to glean sufficient information to spoof the TiVo's and hook into my private network via my wireless access point.  

Maybe I am being overconcerned, but as WPA encryption seems to be supported by most products these days I feel I may as well make us of it.


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## mhall (May 29, 2002)

I use the WGE101 for my Tivo (with a Netgear switch) and it definitely doesn't support WPA and won't ever do according to Netgear.

It's a shame really because other than that it's a good bit of kit.


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## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

Or take a look at the Netgear Powerline adapters (to route network across the mains!!!)

By the looks of Misco (http://www.misco.co.uk/productinformation/~104748~WW~/index.htm) they've been localised for the UK

However, I wonder if someone nearby on the same phase could be sniffing on your LAN??


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## Dougal (Oct 31, 2002)

mhall - thanks for the info on the WGE101

PhilG - yep, I quite like the neat form factor of powerline networking. Last time I looked, the bandwidth was somewhat less than wireless, but it may have improved since then. BTW, the WGXB102 appears to be something subtley different - a kit consisting of a wall-plugged ethernet bridge and a 54Mbs wall-plugged wireless range extender for creating an wireless access point by any wall socket in the house.

I have just noticed that the DD-WRT open source firmware now supports my Belkin FD57330 bridge! I think I will give it a try and will report back...


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## Dougal (Oct 31, 2002)

Seems that powerline networking technology has indeed come on since I last looked. 85Mbps appears to be the standard now, with 200Mbps offered by the latest kit!

However, these speed figures seem to overstate the reality:
www.solwiseforum.co.uk/downloads/files/solwise-homeplug-comparison.pdf states that for the 200Mbs technology, througput max is 120Mbs and typical throughput is 50-70Mbs. Still, not bad...

Encryption is somewhat limited - the 85Mbps technology (Homeplug 1.0) has built-in support for 56-bit encryption, whilst the newer 200Mbps technology (Homeplug AV) raises this to 128bit. So need to watch out for neighbours on the same electricity phase


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