| Last update: 2009 02 04 |
Warning: I cannot be sure that the procedure below will work for you. Nor can I be sure that it won't completely screw up your Scarlet Box, your PC, your router, and your life in general. So whatever happens, use your judgement! and no matter what, PLEASE don't send me hate e-mail! I will be happy to answer any questions that I can, though.
This document describes how to adapt the Scarlet Box configuration to enable a connection to a router (wifi or wired). It is assumed that before setting up the Box, an ADSL modem was connected to the router and your LAN worked properly. We will propose a solution to configure the Scarlet Box so as to replace the ADSL modem.
This section describes how to configure a Scarlet Box and a router with a Ethernet connection to the modem. If you have an ADSL Modem/Router that only has a telephone connector for the connection to Internet (your telephone line) then go to the next section ADSL Modem/Router below.
The Scarlet box is configured by default to act as both a modem and a router, but only for a single PC. The goal of the following operations is to disable the routing function of the box and let it simply pass the ADSL connection to the router. This is called Pass through and entails configuring the Scarlet Box as a Bridge.
The following procedure has an advantage in that it does not change the default IP address settings of the Scarlet Box. It has one minor weakness, too. Once the Scarlet Box is configured and connected to the router, it can no longer be directly accessed from the PC's on the LAN. This is only a minor problem. To access the Box, simply connect it directly to one of the PC's.
Unplug the Ethernet cable from the PC and plug the Scarlet Box's cross-over Ethernet cable into the same socket where the router was previously connected.
Double click the network icon, then select properties, then TCP/IP properties, and from there manually set the IP address to 172.19.3.2, i.e. the first 3 numbers should be the same as the Box's IP address and the last one must be different.
Open a browser and enter the URL http://172.19.3.1. You will see the Scarlet Box configuration system. Click the Menu System then Backup. Click on Backup and download the file to disk. Then, open a file browser and rename the backup file from scarlet.tpr to scarlet_original_config.tpr.
A virtual interface allows the Scarlet Box to communicate on several networks at the same time. In our case, we would like it to be able to communicate on our router's network (192.168.168.*)as well as on the Box's default network (172.19.3.*).
Go the main menu, then Configuration, then DHCP. Click to Disable.
Go the main menu, then Configuration, then Save Config.
Click the Menu System then Backup. Click on Backup and download the file to disk. Then, open a file browser and rename the backup file from scarlet.tpr to scarlet_bridge_no_dhcp.tpr. Keep this configuration for future reference.
Click the Menu System then Restart Device.
At this point, your work is "done", but let's just check to be sure that there is no problem...
At this point if all went well, you are ready to connect your router and get your network back. If you could not see the Scarlet Box on the Virtual Interface (http://192.168.168.254), then you should reset the box to its original configuration:
So at this point, let's assume that all is well. Now all that's left to do is to reconnect the cables and you should have your network back the way it was before the arrival of the Box.
Disconnect the Box's cross-over cable from the PC, and plug it into the ADSL Ethernet socket on the router. Plug the Ethernet LAN cable back into the PC as it was originally.
Double click on the network icon, go to properties, then TCP/IP properties and select Obtain an IP address automatically. This will take 1-2 minutes.
Open a web browser and go to your favorite site. It works - you're a hero, Congratulations!
In this section, we will set up the Scarlet Box to work with an ADSL Modem/Router. In this situation, we will use the Scarlet box as both a modem and a router. The ADSL Modem/Router will only act as a hub or switch. This is not optimal, but it's better than nothing. Again, if this doesn't work for you, I am truly sorry, but it's the best I can do at this time.
Our goal is first to see if you can use the Scarlet box, then to see if you can connect the ADSL Modem/Router to your pc and scarlet box.
Part 1: Getting the scarlet Box to work connected directly to the PC.
If that fails, then we're really in trouble. Let' say that it doesn't fail.
Part 2: Getting to the ADSL Modem/Router box:
Now here's the hard part. Be careful and try this exactly as I say:
then click OK, ok, ok until all those windows go away.
The answer was "yes" you are a hero! you feel great! NOW DON'T touch any configuration - just save the ADSL Modem/Router configuration!!!! (http://172.19.3.254, click save configuration, then click restart router!
If the ADSL Modem/Router setup does seem to contain any save nor restart options, but the settings are saved upon exiting anyway, then just relax!
If the answer was "no" (you must have incredible patience), try to go through all this carefully one last time. Then, in case of repeated failure, seek help from someone who knows what they're talking about, i.e. NOT ME...
At this point either you are a somewhat relieved hero, or you probably hate me and all the rest of Internet! I hope it's the former!
Good Luck,
GF.