Linksys Range Expander WAP54G.

Do not ask me why, but my router's signal is really pathetic in my room (and it is not like the house is very big). Not being able to connect to the internet renders my purchase of a desktop pointless, and so I went to buy a spanking new Linksys Range Expander.

And it is a fucking piece of shit.

No, no - it did work. It is just that the setup was so bloody difficult that I have to dedicate a post to it.

It took me 4 hours last night, and it just would not work. Fatigued by the day and my stomachache I had to go to sleep feeling like an epic failure. Note that while I am not that technology savvy, I am no technology idiot. I know how to set up routers and whatnot. The range expander, however, was different - it is a fucking piece of shit.

Pardon the swearing.

Either way, I got it set up in the morning and now I am just going back to sleep to ease my soul.

Setting Up Linksys Range Expander WAP54G V3
Here is what I did to make that piece of shit work for the poor souls who are having trouble setting it up.

Before you start, you must at least know the SSID and channel of your router. And oh, have an ethernet cable ready.

(And my router is a Linksys, in case anyone is wondering.)

1) In room the router is in, sit yourself close to it with the range expander and a PC. Keep your hands off ethernet cable for now.

2) Turn them all on. Ensure that the PC is wirelessly connected to the router.

3) Using your PC, access your router and turn security off (be it WEP or WPA).

4) Use a needle (or anything small enough) and reset the range expander (a 5 second hold).

5) Most people on the internet say the CD the range expander came with is useless, but in my case it actually helped. Insert the CD into your PC and run the setup. It should automatically detect the now unsecured wireless connection and then configure the range expander to it.

6) I hope you are looking at a congratulatory page now. Check if you are still connected to the wireless connection and if you are, now launch your favorite web browser. We are now going to turn on security for the range expander.

Type 192.168.1.240 in the address bar (the range expander's IP address). Leave the username blank and the default password is "admin".

7) Enable security for the range expander. If your range expander is running V3, use WPA instead of WEP.

8) Oh no! Your PC is having trouble with the wireless connection now! Worry not. Now plug one end of the ethernet cable to your PC and the other to the router (note that I said router, not expander).

9) Your PC should have LAN access now.

Access your router again and turn on security. Match the security settings you just did for the range expander. For example, if you set 3600 for group key renewal period for the range expander set the same for the router.

Unplug the ethernet cable after you ensure that all settings match.

10) Now turn off both the router and range expander. Unplug the range expander and move it to the place you want to extend the wireless network range to (in my case - my room which had really sad signal strength from the router).

11) Wait for a minute or so.

12) Turn on the router. Wait for all lights to stabilize.

13) Turn on the range expander. Wait for around 10 seconds. Both lights should be blue.

14) Try connecting to the wireless connection in that room. The range expander should be doing its job now.

Ta-dah.