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I am trying to resolve issues with connecting my desktop and LAN capable printer to my network.

I recently upgrade to the Motorola Cable Modem Gateway SBG6580 and have TWC coming into it, this works great for wired and wireless connectivity. Although, I am unable to connect to my device from this modem gateway. So, I am trying to cable a Linksys WRT54G (firmware 4.21.4 build 0) to the backside of the SBG6850 so I can use my printer on my network from both my wired desktop and wireless devices.

I am pulling wireless off of the SBG6580 and do not want to change this. I have disable the wireless feature on the Linksys WRT54G at this moment.

Can someone please help me through this dilemma? I am open to both wired and wireless solutions, but please tell me which approach your sharing in the first line of your response.

Cheers!

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  • try turning off DHCP on the WRT54G if you haven't already.
    – Journeyman Geek
    Sep 2, 2011 at 15:06
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    I don't understand the problem. The SBG6580 is a wireless router and modem already so having the Linksys WRT54G unless your adding additional devices through the lan ports its sort of pointless. You don't seem to indicate the reason your printer is unable to connect to the SBG6580 which it should because mine does just fine.
    – Ramhound
    Sep 2, 2011 at 15:44

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Your Linksys router is taking an IP address from the SBG6850 and sharing it among all devices that are connecting to it. Now, you have a separate network that is essentially firewalled and all devices on the Linksys are inaccessible to the world outside it unless disable DHCP and NAT. It's been awhile since I've worked with the default firmware on a Linksys router - you may be able to do this, or you can install DD-WRT a third party firmware that will allow you to essentially turn the router into a switch (what you want).

DD-WRT

Otherwise, you can find a really cheap switch online and expand your network... the answer depends on how much time you want to spend.

Cheap Switch

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  • Thanks for the input everyone. So I stood the pc, printer, and linksys in a small network and discovered a setting for TCP/IP in the printer admin software. It is all up and running. For the community: a Motorola SBG6580 wired to a Brother 5250DN can work correctly, if BRAdmin Professional is installed, and the networked printer configuration under the TCP/IP tab is changed to "auto" in the IP Config section. I removed the linksys from the network, plugged up to the SBG6580, and the printer is working local and wireless. Thanks again. If anyone needs help, msg me for screen shots. - chris
    – user96407
    Sep 2, 2011 at 18:03
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    @user96407 I assume that changing "to "auto" in the IP Config section" means the printer is set to DHCP. That can cause problems in the future, as it is possible for the router to give the printer a different address. That will stop you printing. You should "reserve" an address for the printer on the router to prevent this.
    – hdhondt
    Nov 19, 2013 at 3:51

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