Setting Up External and Internal Wireless Networks

[twodogs]

I'm trying to correctly set up two wireless networks with two WRT54GS routers. The first is external to LMCE , so that my wife can always log on regardless of what I'm doing with LCME. The second is the internal LMCE network. I have this partially working, but I always get locked out of the the web-based configuration utility of the LMCE router. If I need to get in, then I have to hit the button that resets it to factory. Seems like I'm doing something wrong. Here is my network configuration:

-DSL Modem
-WRT54GS external, set up as router ( DHCP server enabled, wireless chan 1, IP 192.168.1.1, with its own SSID and security password)
-LMCE Core
-WRT54GS internal, set up as wireless access point (DHCP server disabled, wireless chan 11, IP 192.168.1.2, with its own SSID and security password)

I thought this was the correct way to configure the network, but it behaves strangely.  I can connect my laptop to the internal wireless network and surf the web just fine, but when I try to enter the configuration utility I get "Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at 192.168.1.2." So I turn off the wireless on the laptop and connect via cable. Again I can surf the web just fine, but I get the same error when trying to connect to the WRT54G.

Now I check to see if I can access the external router from the internal network. I thought that this might not work because if could be invisible behind the LMCE core. I enter 192.168.1.1 and get right in to the config utility of the external router.  This blows my mind.

So the bottom line is that I can reach the configuration utility of the external router (set up as a DHCP enabled router) from either the internal or external network. I can't reach the config utility of the internal WRT54GS (set up as DHCP disabled WAP) from either the internal or external network until I do a factory reset and dump my config.

This differs from my expectations. I thought that, to reach the external WRT54GS, I'd have to connect to the external network and enter 192.168.1.1. Then to reach the internal WRT54GS, I'd have to connect to the internal network and enter 192.168.1.2.

Can any smart guys show me the error of my ways?

[Techstyle]

for starters, I would suggest configuring your internal device per the instructions:

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Linksys_WRT54G

differences being - turning off the firewall and setting the IP address within the allowed range of LMCE (192.168.80.129-254 as std)

[twodogs]

  Argh! All is now well. Thanks Techstyle. You were correct and the wiki supplied the answer.  I can now grab my laptop and IP address 192.168.80.129 accesses the internal router. 192.168.1.1 accesses the external router. Problem solved.

Twodogs (embarrassed)