Configuring an old router to work as a repeater

[nabeeltootla]

I am trying to get an old router to function as a repeater, but I don't really know how.

My current router is a TP-Link w8970, and my old router is a Netgear duo pro 300wr (those standard white ones that came from telkom way back).

Anyway, I don't really know how to configure the settings on either for this setup to work, I have read up online but the only solid guides are very specific to other routers. I have gone through the user manuals of both and have found some of the settings that I think I would need to configure, but still don't know what exactly needs to be set to what.

I can't connect them by ethernet so they will have to talk to each other wirelessly. Also this setup isn't permenant, and I want to be able to change the settings back easily, so I don't want to use custom firmware.

There seem to be conflicting information for a repeater, and a bridge setup where the 2nd router would be on a seperate network and connect into the first, I don't want to do this, I just want 1 single network and want to extend the range of it.
For instance, whether the SSID's should be the same or not; or if they should be on the same channel or different ones. From what I can gather, I do need to disable the old router as a dhcp server and also alter the WDS setting. But like I said, the settings I need to use on my routers is sketchy.
Configuring the TP-Link to communicate with the router/repeater is also tricky as the manual only really seemed to mention using the router as a repeater and not as a base station.

Lastly I should mention that I have a hard drive connected to the TP-Link via USB as a network storage and to work as a media server. I want to be able to access this whilst connected to the repeater.

 

[PsyWulf]

WDS is very hit and miss,4/10 times it'll work as expected

Normally you'd select WDS,choose the wireless network to connect to and if all goes well it should theoretically just mirror and extend it

 

[The_Ogre]

Ignore WDS

Settings for the old router:
Connect cable from PC to router
Disable DHCP
Make SSID the same as other router
Choose a different channel
Match the WPA settings and encryption
Match the passwords.
Save and reboot.
Remove cable from PC and stick into other router

Done

Oh, and just remember, this router will no longer be addressable via wifi. If you need to change anything you're going to have to do it by using a LAN cable

 

[Bernie]

Ignore WDS

Settings for the old router:
Connect cable from PC to router
Disable DHCP
Make SSID the same as other router
Choose a different channel
Match the WPA settings and encryption
Match the passwords.
Save and reboot.
Remove cable from PC and stick into other router

Done

Oh, and just remember, this router will no longer be addressable via wifi. If you need to change anything you're going to have to do it by using a LAN cable

Don't you have to link the MAC address of the base router to the old router as well. Or is this for something different.

 

[The_Ogre]

Don't you have to link the MAC address of the base router to the old router as well. Or is this for something different.

Thats for WDS, but as Psy pointed out, its extremely unlikely to work - you need to have routers from the same manufacturer to be guaranteed it would work.

 

[nabeeltootla]

Ignore WDS

Settings for the old router:
Connect cable from PC to router
Disable DHCP
Make SSID the same as other router
Choose a different channel
Match the WPA settings and encryption
Match the passwords.
Save and reboot.
Remove cable from PC and stick into other router

Done

Oh, and just remember, this router will no longer be addressable via wifi. If you need to change anything you're going to have to do it by using a LAN cable

Thanks! I shall try this out.
Does the channel have to differ by atleast 6? I remember reading this somewhere..

 

[nabeeltootla]

Ignore WDS

Settings for the old router:
Connect cable from PC to router
Disable DHCP
Make SSID the same as other router
Choose a different channel
Match the WPA settings and encryption
Match the passwords.
Save and reboot.
Remove cable from PC and stick into other router

Done

Oh, and just remember, this router will no longer be addressable via wifi. If you need to change anything you're going to have to do it by using a LAN cable

Ok so I finally got the opportunity to try this out. With respect to the DHCP, I found a setting under LAN configuration. It had several groups, of it one of them (group 1) had something in it, 4 ethernet and a WAN. I went into configure this group. In there I found I could choose from 3 DHCP settings.
(note that there were other settings here, IP address set at "10.0.0.2" , netmask set at "255.255.255.0", default gateway set at "41.241.0.1", host name set as "login", and domain set as "router" )

I could enable the DHCP server, which allowed me to set a start and end IP address. This was set to 10.0.0.3 and 10.0.0.254, as well as a lease time that was set at 3600 seconds.
I could enable DHCP relay which let me set a relay IP, set at 20.0.0.3
Lastly I could set the server and relay off

I chose the last option, as you stated I should disable DHCP. It didn't work, I tried to get back into the router but couldn't. I tried this using ethernet. Eventually I had to reset the router.

The second time I chose to enable DHCP relay, and put in the IP of my router, 192.168.1.1, again this doesn't seem to work.

Do I need to use a specific IP as the relay IP? Do I maybe need to set my base router to be able to communicate with my old router/repeater?