Getting to Know Your Wireless Router

2

To prepare your router for installation:

1.

Carefully peel off any protective film covering the sides of your router.

2.

Place your router in a suitable area for installation (near an AC power outlet and accessible to

the Ethernet cables for your wired computers).

Hardware Features

Before you install and connect your router, take a moment to become familiar with the front and

back panels of the router—especially the status lights on the front panel.

Front Panel

The router front panel, shown in

Figure 1

, contains status lights. (For more information on

interpreting the status lights, see

“Verifying Your Connection” on page 15

and

“Checking Basic

Router Functions” on page 26

.)

Figure 1

1

2

3

4

5

Getting to Know Your Wireless Router

3

You can use the status lights to verify various conditions.

Table 1.

Status Light Descriptions

Label

Activity

Description

1.

Power

Solid Amber

Solid Green

Blinking Amber

Blinking Green

Off

The router is performing the power-on self-test diagnostic.

The power is on and the router is ready.

A software update is in progress.

Firmware is corrupted. See

“Checking Basic Router Functions” on

page 26

for instructions on restoring your router firmware.

Power is not being supplied to the router

2.

Push 'N'

Connect

Solid Green

Blinking Green

Off

Indicates that wireless security is enabled.

A WPS-capable device is connecting to or managing the router.

No WPS connection exists.

3.

Internet

Solid Amber

Solid Green

Blinking

Off

The Internet port is connected, but no IP address has been acquired.

The wireless router has acquired an Internet address.

Data is being communicated through the Internet port.

No Ethernet cable is connected to the modem.

4.

Wireless

Solid Blue

Blinking Blue

Off

The wireless interface is enabled.

Data is being communicated over the wireless network.

The wireless interface is turned off.

5.

LAN

(Ports 1–4)

Solid Green

Blinking Green

Solid Amber

Blinking Amber

Off

The local port is connected to a 100 Mbps device.

Data is being transmitted at 100 Mbps.

The local port is connected to a 10 Mbps device.

Data is being transmitted at 10 Mbps.

No link is detected on this port.

Getting to Know Your Wireless Router

4

Back Panel

The router back panel, shown in

Figure 2

, contains port connections.

Viewed from left to right, the rear panel contains the following elements:

1.

Restore factory settings button. Press for approximately 5 seconds to reset the router to the

factory default settings.

2.

Four Local Area Network (LAN) 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports for connecting the router to

your local computers

3.

Internet/Wide Area Network (WAN) Ethernet port for connecting the router to a cable or DSL

modem.

4.

Power on/off push-button.

5.

AC power adapter outlet for connecting the power adapter.

Side Panel

The router side panel is shown in

Figure 3

.

Figure 2

Figure 3

1

4

3

2

5

1

2

Getting to Know Your Wireless Router

5

1.

WPS button

– Turns on Push ‘N’ Connect (WPS). When Push ‘N’ Connect is active and

ready to add a wireless client through WPS, the Push ‘N’ Connect LED on the front of the

wireless router is blinking. See

“Push 'N' Connect” on page 3

.

2.

Wireless On/Off button

– Turns the Wireless network on and off. When the Wireless network

is enabled, the Wireless LED on the front of the router is solid blue. See

“Wireless” on page 3

.

Router Label

The label on the bottom of the wireless router shows the router’s MAC address, serial number,

security PIN, and factory default login information.

The ports on the router are color-coded to distinguish your Internet port from the other four ports

that connect to the wired computer(s) on your Local Area Network (LAN).

Positioning Your Wireless Router

The wireless router lets you access your network from virtually anywhere within the operating

range of your wireless network. However, the operating distance or range of your wireless

connection can vary significantly depending on the physical placement of your router. For

example, the thickness and number of walls the wireless signal must pass through might limit the

range. For best results, place your router:

•

Near the center of the area where your computers and other devices will operate, preferably

within line of sight to your wireless devices.

Figure 4

Getting to Know Your Wireless Router

6

•

Accessible to an AC power outlet and near Ethernet cables for wired computers.

•

In an elevated location such as a high shelf, keeping the number of walls and ceilings between

the wireless router and your other devices to a minimum.

•

Away from electrical devices which are potential sources of interference, such as ceiling fans,

home security systems, microwaves, or the base for a cordless phone.

•

Away from any large metal surfaces, such as a solid metal door or aluminum studs. Large

expanses of other materials such as glass, insulated walls, fish tanks, mirrors, brick, and

concrete can also affect your wireless signal.

Installing Your Wireless Router

To help you set up your router and get on the Internet quickly, the

Resource CD

contains a Smart

Wizard™ Installation Assistant. The Installation Assistant walks you through the steps required to

connect your router, modem, and computer(s); configure your wireless settings; and enable

wireless security for your network. When you have finished, you will be Internet ready!

You can set up your wireless router using one of two methods:

•

Smart Wizard Setup

: The Smart Wizard Installation Assistant setup is available on your

Resource CD

. See

“Installing Your Router Using the Smart Wizard” on page 8

to use the

Smart Wizard Installation Assistant.

Failure to follow these guidelines can result in significant performance degradation

or an inability to wirelessly connect to the Internet.

NETGEAR does not recommend or support adding a NETGEAR router behind

another router, or replacing a gateway with a NETGEAR router.

If you have a Linux system, you need to use the manual installation method (see

“Manually Installing Your Router” on page 11

).