Cali Kid Corals

Hooking up my APEX to my home network

Any of you guys have experience getting an Apex connected to your home network? I just got a Linksys wireless game adapter (model WGA54G) so that it can connect with my Linksys wireless router (WRT160N). But I have no idea how to actually get everything to work. I first connected the wireless game adpater to my laptop via ethernet cable and ran the setup software on the installation CD. I believe I set the IP address to 198.162.1.50. I "think" I have port forwarding enabled to port 80 on my router. But I really don't know what I'm doing. Any of you tech guys out there know how to get it up and running?
 
Hey Durwin,

Be sure you read the network set-up instructions that come with the Apex very carefully. It will save you a lot of time as setting up the network for remote access does not lend to trial and error approach. If you've done some networking, the apex instructions will take you most of the way there. Follow the instructions for changing your user name and password on the Apex display first. Don't loose track of what you set up.

Once you have your connections set up and your router recognizes the Apex, you are half way there. Like the instructions tell you, once you've got your connection established, you should be able to type in http://apex and have the web based control panel come up on any computer screen connected to your network. It's likely that you may leave the linksys set up with dynamic IP rather than change it to static. What many of us have done is go to www.dyndns.org and establish a free account. It will point at your current internal IP address when you enter the URL youv'e established with dyndns.org on any remote computer. It's really the simplest way to be able to access your control panel from away from your immediate network.

Get it talking to your home host computer first and of course, any other computers on your home network all can access by http://apex. From outside your system, you'll need to type in the URL you set up with the dyndns.org and then enter your user name and password when it prompts you. See how far you get with that. It's really pretty doable. Let me know how yo do, best of luck and Happy Holidays! :santa:
 
Cool...thanks for the info John. I've been able to see my Apex when I have a hardwired connection. So hopefully that's the hardest part. I will try the www.dyndns.org route. I saw that on the Apex website and also Ken on RC has mentioned that. Unfortunately I've had enough tonight and need to crash and won't be back home until the weekend. But I'll make another attempt after xmas and let you know how it goes.

Happy holidays to you too!
 
Happy new year to you too! Still working on it. I think there is something screwy with the wireless gaming adapter that I got. When I connect it to the router to set it up, it stays on the network for a bit...then gets kicked off.
 
Running DHCP right now I believe. Trying to just get my router/network to see the wireless adapter when it's hardwired. I think the wireless gaming adapter should have the following IP address by default: 192.168.1.250. I can see it for up to a few minutes before it gets kicked off.
 
Try going with fixed ip if you can. It makes things a bit simpler. Some consumer grade routers (like mine, a newer Netgear) have known bugs with DHCP, especially when you're trying to reserve local IP addresses.
 
So for my Linksys router under the DHCP Server Setting, do I just disable it? And does that mean I manually assign IP addresses for all of my devices (I only have my laptop, PS3 and hopefully the gaming adapter hooked up to the network)?
 
Sorry for the late response but I was up in Tahoe this weekend. Anyway, I haven't gotten the wireless adapter to work just yet. My bro who is a lot more computer savvy then me is trying to help me remotely. So far, my wireless adapter will work for a short time before it craps out and stops working. Either some other setting is incorrect or I have a bunk adapter.
 
Assign it a static IP and see if that helps. Depending on your router and how far you are away from it, you might get some dropped packets every once in awhile.
 
I think that is what we did. The APEX is 192.168.1.50 and the wireless adapter's default IP is 192.168.1.250. Right when you power cycle the adapter, everything seems to work fine for anywhere between a minute to 10 minutes. Then the connection seems to crap out.
 
Hey Durwin,

I recently bought the Apex controller and installed a witless game adapter. I had the very same issue you did. Then I finally figured it out with the help of a buddy of mine who works at Fry's. It turns out, I don't need a game adapter, because the game adapter requires an IP address, and you really don't need it to have one. Therefore, he suggested a wireless access point; where the access point acts like a bridge between your router and your Apex. He also suggested the Netgear Powerline adapter. This is what I bought, and it works great. There two plugs/modules that come in the box. You have to plug them in directly into the socket, and not via surge protector or extension cord. Then you plug the first near your router and connect via network cable to your router. Then take the second module and plug it in near your Apex and connect them together via network cable. That's it. I was able to set it up in less than 10 minutes. You can then encrypt the two modules for security purpose. I then mapped my Apex to the router's external IP address, and placed it on the DMZ (outside the firewall). That's it. It works great. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the tip scuba! I might have to try that. I think I have a faulty game adapter so my brother is going to give me another one next weekend. If that doesn't work, I will definitely buy that Netgear powerline adapter and do what you did.
 
That's what I thought too, until I talked to my friend. My wireless game adapter also lost connection every so often (not as much as yours), but it was enough where I became agitated with it. The reason they won't work is because you have to have both the Apex and the game adapter outside the firewall in order for it to work. Even then it will still timeout for whatever reason.

Good luck, and let me know if it works.

DurTBear said:
Thanks for the tip scuba! I might have to try that. I think I have a faulty game adapter so my brother is going to give me another one next weekend. If that doesn't work, I will definitely buy that Netgear powerline adapter and do what you did.
 
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