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[MaximumZero]

Hey guys, I need a bit of a helping hand. I've been following this guide(http://www.tested.com/tech/298-how-to-use-an-old-router-to-expand-your-wi-fi-network/) to extend the range of wifi provided by my landlord.
I think I'm getting there, but I'm stuck on this instruction:

Give your access point a private IP
Once you've disabled DHCP, you can reconfigure the LAN interface to use a private local IP address that won't conflict with the router. It's a good idea to do this so that you can easily log back into the AP later to adjust settings. To find out what the reserved range is for your new router, you should go to another computer and visit its configuration screen. Typically Linksys and D-Link routers use a range of 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.99 for the reserved IP addresses. It is very important that the address you choose for your AP is outside the range that your new router assigns to DHCP clients. It's worth logging into the new router to check; if you get the IP wrong, it will make your network very unreliable. You'll also need to fill in a few other settings to tell your new AP how it can connect to the Internet at large--namely DNS server, default gateway, and subnet mask. If it's required, you can use your ISP's DNS servers, or simply point the AP toward 8.8.8.8, which is Google's DNS server. Your default gateway should be the new router's IP address--typically 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. Subnet mask is typically 255.255.255.0.

I just can't make sense of the text. Where do I set that private IP? On the same screen where I disable DHCP? How does it make it easier to log back to the access point? Why do I need to use another computer?
If anyone can at least paraphrase the instructions in even more layman's language than that, I'd be grateful. This is the first time I have anything to do with configuring a router, so forgive me for being dense.

What brand of router do you have? Each brand has its own 192.168.*.* page, and each one has stuff in different places.

On my Netgear, it's under Advanced>Setup>LAN Setup>IP Address

[Il Palazzo]

What brand of router do you have? Each brand has its own 192.168.*.* page, and each one has stuff in different places.

On my Netgear, it's under Advanced>Setup>LAN Setup>IP Address

It's a Technicolor(192.168.1.254)

[MaximumZero]

What brand of router do you have? Each brand has its own 192.168.*.* page, and each one has stuff in different places.

On my Netgear, it's under Advanced>Setup>LAN Setup>IP Address

It's a Technicolor(192.168.1.254)

Should be Home Network>Interfaces>LocalNetwork>Configure>IPAddress/Mask, per their site.

[Il Palazzo]

Cheers, MZ.

[Bauglir]

So, I'm having problems with my USB ports. Earlier in the day, after unplugging a USB camera, they all suddenly stopped working. I've uninstalled the devices in the Device Manager and allowed them to be reinstalled, disabled Selective Suspend, deleted the UpperFilters registry key (there was no LowerFilters key), installed all available Windows Updates, restarted my computer several times, tried System Restore to a point when the ports functioned, and deleted INFCACHE.1. I have thereby exhausted every suggestion I've been able to find. Windows believes the USB controllers are working just fine, but insists that something went wrong with the installation of any attached device (whether it was already attached to the computer or not). Error code 43 is prominent in the Device Manager, although the one time it recognized the external HD as a mass storage device, it gave Error Code 10 instead (I have been unable to reproduce this).

I've confirmed that the devices work on other computers. Moreover, the external hard drive (which has a bootable Linux installation) boots just fine on my laptop, but not on my desktop, where I'm presented with naught but an ever-blinking text entry cursor (and no ability to enter text). The first time I tried this, I got a grub error message of some kind, but foolishly neglected to write it down. It's been unwilling to reappear, but at the time I was certain that this meant the USB port itself was functioning in some capacity, since there's no way the bootloader could've gotten far enough to throw an error otherwise. It does still recognize the existence of the hard drive before failing to boot it. Now, I'm no longer sure.

However, I feel like this can't be a straightforward hardware issue. USB ports on the opposite side of my case are nonfunctional as well, and they all function well enough for Windows to realize something's plugged in, although they're almost always Unknown Device, and it can't seem to tell when they're removed. I'm considering trying to reinstall the BIOS, but my scant knowledge of what that is tells me that this is a tremendously poor idea if I'm not sure it will fix the problem, and I'm not even 100% sure how to go about doing it.

Halp?

[Lord Shonus]

It probably is a hardware problem. Last time I encountered something like this, one of the USB ports had been damaged and was shorting out. The system disabled the controller to avoid damage.

[Bauglir]

Well, shit. I suppose I'm looking at buying a new case, then? It'll be a bitch to move everything over, but I suppose it'll at least be relatively cheap, as far as computer parts go.

Meanwhile, my last reboot apparently bricked the OS beyond System Restore's ability to fix, which has led to the absolute stupidest trick I've ever had to pull (which is to say, I yanked the hard drive out of a handy laptop, shoved it in so that I could boot from the Linux install on that, and am now copying files over).

[Lord Shonus]

Well, you could probably replace the ports on the case. That's kind of a pain, though.

[Il Palazzo]

O.k., I need help with this router thing again, as I can't get it to work. Most likely because of either/both of the following:

Once you've disabled DHCP, you can reconfigure the LAN interface to use a private local IP address that won't conflict with the router. It's a good idea to do this so that you can easily log back into the AP later to adjust settings. To find out what the reserved range is for your new router, you should go to another computer and visit its configuration screen. Typically Linksys and D-Link routers use a range of 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.99 for the reserved IP addresses. It is very important that the address you choose for your AP is outside the range that your new router assigns to DHCP clients. It's worth logging into the new router to check; if you get the IP wrong, it will make your network very unreliable.

I don't get it. The address range is 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.253, and the factory set gateway address is    192.168.1.254, so it's already outside the reserved range, right? If I change it, I can no longer log in to the router's config page.
Should I leave it as it is? Should I change it, and if yes then to what value?

You'll also need to fill in a few other settings to tell your new AP how it can connect to the Internet at large--namely DNS server, default gateway, and subnet mask. If it's required, you can use your ISP's DNS servers, or simply point the AP toward 8.8.8.8, which is Google's DNS server. Your default gateway should be the new router's IP address--typically 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. Subnet mask is typically 255.255.255.0.

For the love of me, I can't find where I can chage these settings. They should be still on the router's config page, right?

Any help highly appreciated.

[Aklyon]

If you change the router's ip address, you need to login to that ip to access it, since its changed.

As to DNS, there might be a separate config page for them.

[Il Palazzo]

If you change the router's ip address, you need to login to that ip to access it, since its changed.

That's what I thought. I changed it from the default 192.168.1.254 to 192.168.1.255, and couldn't log in to either address as a result. Also, I don't understand what am I doing here/why it is important.

[Descan]

Can you guys tell me if this guide is good at what it's saying it's good at?

I was thinking of going for great-to-excellent tiers, around there, shopping around for better price/performance ratios but using the guide as a... well, guide.

But first I gotta know if the guide is actually good? And if the kind of specifications it lists in the various tiers seem to belong.

[freeformschooler]

Can you guys tell me if this guide is good at what it's saying it's good at?

I was thinking of going for great-to-excellent tiers, around there, shopping around for better price/performance ratios but using the guide as a... well, guide.

But first I gotta know if the guide is actually good? And if the kind of specifications it lists in the various tiers seem to belong.

It looks fine, but it doesn't discriminate much. When you've got an AMD HD9001 video card, the difference between 6GB and an extra $whatever for 8GB is not so big. All depends on what you're going to be using the computer for.

Also, the higher tiers are primarily NVidia cards which, while awesome, are often equivalent to some AMD card or other at a lower price (you make up the cost in driver configuration woes).

[Descan]

Most of the games I play are high-calc intensive (Paradox games, Kerbal Space Program, Dwarf Fortress, etc.) so if I have to budget between a great graphics card and a great CPU, I'll pick the CPU.

Other than that, it's mostly Youtube, forum browsing, and porn internet browsing in general.

[gimlet]

Well, shit. I suppose I'm looking at buying a new case, then? It'll be a bitch to move everything over, but I suppose it'll at least be relatively cheap, as far as computer parts go.

Meanwhile, my last reboot apparently bricked the OS beyond System Restore's ability to fix, which has led to the absolute stupidest trick I've ever had to pull (which is to say, I yanked the hard drive out of a handy laptop, shoved it in so that I could boot from the Linux install on that, and am now copying files over).

Well, the usb ports directly on the motherboard might still work, inconveniently located on the back of the case though.   If they do, a ghetto solution would be to buy a couple of cheap usb extension cables (monoprice.com, or look for ones on newegg with free shipping unless you're ordering other stuff),snake them around the front, and plug stuff into those.   If you buy something like a hub it's starting to approach the cost of a new case though.

And #2 is a GREAT reason to keep a Live Linux on a usb stick around, even an ordinary distro has lots of tools, or something with a bit more like System Rescue CD.   Or something like Ultimate Boot CD or Hiren's Utilities, that you can stick the various manufacterer's DOS based utilities on too...    Having those available has made some potentially time-sucking problems much less painful.