Can't find Wifi Router on the network? Solved

oguruma · Jan 24, 2016, 3:06 AM

I have a fresh install of 2.2.6. I am set up as follows: ISP Modem > PFsense Box > Unmanaged Switch > Clients and Wifi Router

Under DHCP leases, I see all of the clients connected, including the ones connected via Wifi. I do not, however, see the router itself. Wifi works fine and the wireless devices can browse just fine. My iPhone indicates an IP of 10.0.01. I cannot browse to that IP. I have tried two different browsers and cleared the cache on both. I have powercycled a few times. Normally, the IP for the Netgear is 192.168.1.10 (I changed it from 192.168.1.1).

When I was connected ISP Modem > Wifi Router > Clients I could access the GUI just fine.

johnpoz · Jan 23, 2016, 10:35 AM

If your local network is 10.0.0/? How are you going to get to a 192.168.1.1 address?

What is pfsense lan network?? You need to put your lan interface of your wifi router that your now using as AP on that same network.. So for example if pfsense lan is 10.0.0.1/24 then make your wifi router lan IP 10.0.0.2/24 and your dhcp scope can be 10.0.0.3-254

oguruma · Jan 23, 2016, 3:16 PM

Local network is/should be 192.168.1.1. Meaning, my default gateway on all of machines is the PFsense box at 192.168.1.1 and all of the client machines are given a 192.168.1.X IP address from PFsense, including the ones that are accessing via Wifi.

Just so we are on the same sheet of music, under DHCP Leases (on Pfsense) I see:

Jeremy-PC –-- 192.168.1.32 <------ Wired ethernet connected to the switch
Macbook Pro ----- 192.168.1.27 <---------- Wifi device connected via Netgear
Brother Printer ------- 192.168.1.29 <-------- Wifi device connected via netgear

The last time I was connected via the Wifi Router (meaning, before PFsense was in the equation) the Netgear's IP was set to 192.168.1.10. Somehow it took it upon itself to change to 10.0.01?

I am not quite sure how I would put my Netgear on the network. I can't access the GUI, and last time I did, it was configured with an IP in the same range, anyway, yet somehow it went from 192.168.1.10 to 10.0.0.1...

johnpoz · Jan 23, 2016, 4:56 PM

What I would do is connect a device (laptop or pc) to one of the wifi routers lan ports. Reset the wifi router to factory. So this will turn back its dhcp server. Connect to it from your laptop or desktop and change its IP to be in your 192.168.1 network. Turn off its dhcp server. Then connect it via one of its lan ports to your normal network.

oguruma · Jan 24, 2016, 3:11 AM

Thanks everybody for their input. After stepping back and thinking about it, it makes sense. This was a basic networking problem (meaning my understanding was the issue), rather than a PFSense problem. All I did was:

Plug Netgear router into power only.
Factory reset (will change IP to 192.168.1.1 by default).
Connected to the router via Wifi on a laptop.
Set Netgear IP to 192.168.1.10 via the Netgear GUI.
Rebooted, and everything is as I would expect.

Now my next question, where in the PFSense GUI can I see all of the devices connected? For example, the Router and a few IP Cameras in the network have static IP address….

johnpoz · Jan 24, 2016, 6:48 PM

diag, arp table is good place to see devices that are talking to pfsense..