Wi-Fi Extender/Repeater Configuration Issue

[nl393a]

Hi all,

I've been trying for hours on end to configure the wi-fi extender/repeater on my Linksys EA4500 router with OpenWrt 19.7.1 without success.

I installed relayd, set my IP address as 192.168.2.1, inactivated DHCP. When I hit "Save and apply". it would not take.

If anyone has successfully configured wi-fi extender/repeater out there, any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

[mike]

After changing your ip to 192.168.2.1 do you open a new tab and go to that ip (192.168.2.1)? If not, give that a try.

[nl393a]

Thanks for the quick response Mike. Without hitting "Save and Apply" (because, by hitting "Save and Apply", ,it wouldn't take), it cannot be brought up in a new tab.

[mike]

Yes, click save and apply and you should see the “applying changes” message, once you see that message open up the new tab and try going to 192.168.2.1, if it worked it should let you in and you should see a “changes applied” message.

[nl393a]

Nope! That didn't work

[mike]

If you're familiar with ssh and vi you can try it that way, that should work no matter what, but, you should make sure you can reset your router first (meaning test the physical reset button) just in case so you don't get locked out, if you can't reset it's probably not worth trying. If you're not familiar with ssh, here's some instructions to get started, and some instructions for vi, the settings you would need to change would be in /etc/config/network -

ssh root@192.168.1.1

vi /etc/config/network

look for

config interface lan

and edit

option ipaddr 192.168.2.1

then hit esc > type wq > hit enter

Then you're done and can test in your browser.

[Jack007]

If you make the changes from a computer on the 192.168.1.x subnet and you configure the extender to use 192.168.2.1, your computer is probably still on a different subnet and cannot reach the extender.
Give your computer a fixed ip on the 192.168.2.x. subnet and see if you can reach the extender.

[nl393a]

Setting static IP address worked! Thank you Jack007. And many thanks to Mike for his quick response and follow-up. Note that I chose the static IP route because I know how to do that (I have not worked with ssh). The tricky part is getting the timing right - I had to pull up the IPv4, put in the static IP (I used 192.168.2.10) but not hit the "Enter" key yet - jumped back to the extender session, hit "Save and Apply", then quickly returned to the IPv4 setting and hit "Save", quickly jumped back to open up a new tab and enter 192.168.2.1 (before the 30 seconds is up).

Perhaps this "tip" should be incorporated into the "Wifi Extender/Repeater" instructions for future potential users.

Good Day!