ORiNOCO RG-1000 Help

You have a ORiNOCO RG-1000 wireless Residential Gateway and need help with

• RG1000 review

• Setting it up

• Non Windows client card installations

• Upgrading firmware

• Finding other setup utilities

Setting it up

Tip #1: Make sure you have Windows.
You’ll need a computer running Win95/98/NT or 2000 to do the setup.  The RG-1000 brochure touts a “browser-based configuration and management tool”, but the only thing that’s browser-based are the setup tool’s HELP files.  In addition, the RG setup utility installer must install version 1.3 of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) onto your machine.

 I’m all for JAVA-based utilities, but not real excited about requiring a JRE to be installed in order to use a product.  Why not use those wonderful jar files and zipped class files that get installed along with my browser?

Tip #2: Get the latest stuff
You should probably download the latest setup utility (v1.10 as of this review) from the ORiNOCO support site.  (If you don’t like futzing with the web interface to the support area, just point your browser or favorite FTP client to ftp://ftp.wavelan.com/.)  The newer version lets you specify a default gateway for the RG-1000, which some DSL users need to be able to set.  You can only do this if you enter static IP information for the RG’s Ethernet port, though.

Tip #3: Be a DHCP client
I suggest using a wired, not wireless client, to run the RG setup program on and set that computer to be a DHCP client (obtain an IP address automatically).  The RG comes set to be a DHCP server on its Ethernet port and that way you might avoid the can’t-find-the-RG problem that some other reviewers reported.

 If being a DHCP client doesn’t work, the RG Help file suggests setting the computer that is running the RG setup program to IP address 10.0.1.55 and subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.  This will allow you to communicate with the default RG IP of  10.0.1.1

 I also found that I needed to set my wireless Client’s TCP/IP DNS properties to point to my LAN’s router IP address and not the IP of my ISP’s DNS server that my router’s DHCP server was handing out.  Why?  I dunno, but I suspect something funny in the RG’s bridging software.

 A few readers have reported that you can find the IP address of the Ethernet port if you press F12 on your keyboard while the RG setup software is running.

Tip #4: Use Bridge Mode
If you have an existing Ethernet LAN, I recommend you set the RG to its bridge mode and use something else as your NAT router to share an Internet connection to your LAN.  As mentioned above, the RG has only one Ethernet port and can’t route to both it and wireless nodes simultaneously unless your WAN connection is via dialup modem.

You get to the Bridge setting by selecting a “Custom” setup and clicking on the “Network Topology” button on the final RG setup screen.

Also check “Configuring the RG” for more reasons why you may want to use the Bridge mode of the RG.

Tip #5: Be Patient!
For some reason, it would take a good 20-30 seconds to load the first web page when I fired up the browser on my wireless client.  Things flew along fine after that.  Again, I’m not sure what’s going on, but the RG’s bridging software may take awhile to learn the MAC address to IP info that it needs to properly pass packets.

Tip #5: Be Careful with the Buttons!
There are two buttons on the back of the RG: Reset and Forced Reload. Read the RG Help file carefully before pressing either of these buttons and when you press them, don’t hold them down for more than a second.  Holding down the Forced Reload button for much longer than that will erase the firmware in the RG, and then you’ll be in for a fun time!

Upgrading firmware.

3/26/01 See this page for info about new RG1000 Setup firmware!

The RG Setup program checks the status of the firmware in the RG everytime it runs.  If functional firmware isn’t in the unit, the program will automatically load it.

If you want to force a software reload, do the following:

1) Set your client computer’s IP address to 10.0.1.55, subnet mask 255.255.255.0.  Gateway and DNS settings don’t matter.

2) Hold down the Forced Reload button on the back of the RG until the light (or lights) on front of the RG turns Orange.  You have now wiped the RG’s firmware.

3) Start the RG Setup utility.  It should find the RG and reload the firmware.

4) If RG Setup can’t find the RG, try setting your client computer to an IP address in the 153.69.254.X range (don’t ask…), subnet mask 255.255.255.0, and repeat steps 2 and 3.

Non-Windows Client card installations

Go here for some helpful tips.

Other setup utilities

See this page.  The programs described there will work with the RG-1000.