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[tonyappuk]

Hallo all. I've come to pick your brains again!
In my attempts to get a more flexible set up I have bought on Ebay a Speedtouch 546 which was advertised as "ordered from Demon unrapped then never used". Certainly it looks brand new and the setup CD was still sealed.
Since it won't respond using the setup CD as recommended or any of the URLs I have been able to find, I suspect it has been preconfigured by Demon and the access address could be anything. Has anyone come across this situation before and is it a firmware update required?

[oldfogy]

Hi Tony.
First of all welcome back, secondly, sorry but I am not to well up on modems/routers.

But:
Firmware updates, These I would avoid until all else fails, especially if it's not working to start with, but then again you probably could not update it anyway until it is working.
And even then I would still be a little hesitant to update something that is working okay.

Is there or have you tried to do a "Hard" re-set?
Is there a small hole where you can push "say a paper-clip" to re-set it to the factory settings?

If you think it may of been pre-configured by Demon, have you tried a combination of Demon as the user name and possibly "password or admin" as the password.

Failing those suggestion, hopefully some of the more informed people here will be able to help once they see your post.
Good luck.

[kitz]

Hiyas

Im not aware of Demon locking their hardware to the ISP, but Ive just had a google and I cant find anything to indicate that they do so either.

You shouldnt need the disk to set up the router (my ST disk is still sealed) and you should be able to access the web interface by using http://192.168.1.254

Try pushing a paper-clip in the back of the router to reset it to factory default settings.
Another thing to bear in mind is that after I'd set up my ST 576 (similar chipset) to my preferences, it didnt want to play using IE7 but I can access it fine in Opera.

Also make sure that its not a firewall or something like Norton Internet security which is blocking access.

[tonyappuk]

Kitz and Oldfogy

Thanks for your suggestions but having tried everything you suggested I cannot make contact with my new router (546). ipconfig /all suggests an alternative URL of169.254.252.13 but no joy when using this either. Unless you can suggest anything else I think I shall go back to the seller and ask him if Demon gave him an alternative address when he bought it. Failing that he may be prepared to talk to Demon but I'm beginning to get disheartened. It's a good job my wife has cooked a chicken curry for dinner tonight - that will improve my mood!

[Pwiggler]

hi tony

that 169.254 ip address is a self-assigning address windows gives its self if it cant get one from a dhcp server.

if you've hit the reset button and its the same then i'd go for the firmware update.  there should be an update wizard on the cd which came with it, and you'll have to download then firmware from the thompsons webby ??

[tonyappuk]

Pwiggler

Thanks for that. The only query I have now is how do I do a firmware update if I can't access the router through its Ethernet ports?

[oldfogy]

Just a quickie and hopefully someone will elaborate a little further.

Have you tried entering "Network Connections" find your Internet icon, right-click and select "repair"
On a couple of occasions this has then enabled me to get into my router as the IP I was typing failed (much like you are experiencing)

[tonyappuk]

Oldfogy

Tried that already - more than once!

[kitz]

PWigglers correct. - 169.254.x.x is an automatic private IP addy, assigned by windows if your PC cant see the network and/or get an address assigned by the DHCP server.

Possible causes.

Firewall etc blocking access, cables not fitted correctly.

- Double check the firewall thingy - Ive seen NIS block access more than once on a new connection.
add the IP range as trusted in your firewall.

You could also try manually assigning an IP address to your PC on the off chance that DHCP is turned off on the router. - See instructions on the bottom of this page
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/router.htm
Use  192.168.1.x for your pc  (x being a number such as 1)
subnet 255.255.255.0
Gateway 192.168.1.254

Another possible cause is that winsock on the PC is corrupt after say after adware removal.
Try winsock fix http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winsockxpfix.html

[Pwiggler]

good point kitz - firewalls

if u're having trouble adding additional ip addresses to it then disable it for diag purposes, should be a symbol in the notification area, right click then exit or if its the windows firewall do it from control panel.

another check you could do if to attach the lan cable to 2 of the ports on the router (ie. each end of the same cable), this should show flashing lights on the router ports.  this confirms that the router is (semi) working and the lan cable is ok.  if they dont flash then hit the reset button on the back of the router and retry.  if still the same then try another lan cable..... if still the same the routers had it !

[tonyappuk]

Oldfogy, Kitz and Pwiggler.
Panic over. Not quite sure how I  got in but eventually I got a response using telnet. Set up to connect to my Plusnet account and all tickety boo! This morning I am syncing at over 7 megs which will drop by about a meg this evening. Very good results and I can talk to it with DMT which was the object of the exercise.

On reflection I think the access was enabled after multiple tries at the hard reset button. The CD documentation says hold in for 7 seconds when the power LED will change state. Did that several times with no effect. Then read somewhere online that you should hold the reset button down for at least 20 seconds. I think that is what worked the magic.

Once again many thanks for all the suggestions. It is so nice to be able to talk to like minded souls about technical problems. It's almost like being back at work again!
Tony

[kitz]

Hi

Glad you got it sorted. Thanks for letting us know

Do you have a firewall on your PC?   The fact that you were able to access via telnet but not via the web interface to me would suggest that there could possibly  have been a firewall problem that was restricting access.

[tonyappuk]

Kitz

I don't think it was the firewall. I only use Win XP built in firewall but I tried with it on and off several times. I more and more lean towards the longer hard reset the more I think about it.
Tony

[kitz]

Main thing is that its now up and working ok

[oldfogy]

Hard re-set!
Actually if I had thought about it earlier in my other post, I would of suggested doing it with the power switched off.
Mainly because that's the instructions for my Netgear router.

Still, as Kitz says, the main thing it is now working.
Good luck