USR Ethernet / WiFi Bridge Model 5430

This article discusses the use of the US Robotics 5430 802.11g Wireless Ethernet Bridge device to connect to a Ethernet-connected PC to a "managed" WiFi network. This article does not discuss use of the 5430 as an "Ad hoc" network device/node.

By default, the USR Ethernet / WiFi bridge boots up using 192.168.1.201 as it's "Management IP Address". The IP address used can be changed by accessing the 5430's management interface via HTTP.

1. Connect a CAT5e Ethernet cable from the PC NIC to the 5430; this is a "straight thru" Ethernet patch cable, not a crossover cable, although a crossover cable might work here, don't know yet]
2. Perform a "hard reset" on the 5430; this may be acccomplished by holding down the reset switch on the back of the device while power is applied - the reset switch can be depressed using a matchstick or a paperclip - hold it down for about 30 second after power is applied in order to restore the device to its "factory default" settings [30 sec may be overkill in that some smaller amount of time may be all that is required, but 30 seconds works, and we use it here until we have a chance to refine the process.
3. At a Bash prompt [on the computer that is connected to the 5430], do something like

    sudo ifconfig eth1 192.168.1.111 up
   

   This will bring up the 2^nd Ethernet interface on the PC with an IP address in the same sub-net as the bridge's management interface, allowing access to the 5430 using a web browser [HTTP client].
4. Open e.g. Konqueror or Firefox and enter 192.168.1.201 in the Location bar; make sure Javascript is enabled for this address, since the 5430 appears to user Javascript in the web forms that make up the device's management interface. [If there is a username/password prompt/dialog box when opening the 5430 management interface pages, the default userid/password for the 5430 when set to factory defaults is admin/admin]
5. Use the Site Survey on the Tools page of the 5430 management interface to see what wireless networks are available [note that the 5430 firmware does not seem to any channel or signal strength info for the available networks - see below for firmaware version number].

Here is the firmware version info for the 5430:

 Boot Loader Firmware Version:  CFE 3.51.21.0.2
 OS Firmware Version:    Linux 3.51.21.0.3
 Firmware Date:        Mar 9 2004

Once you have the SSID of the wireless network to connect to, select it from the Site Survey popup and follow the prompts. [It may be necessary to enter the desired SSID string directly into the SSID text input element on the Wireless page of the 5430 management interface, as well].

Once the wireless network has been selected within the 5430 management interface, the 5430 will immediately attempt to retrieve a network IP address for the new wireless network association the next time the PC requests DHCP provisioning for the NIC connected to the 5430.

Use the command

 sudo ifconfig eth1 0 down

to close down the static IP configuration for the NIC [created above], and use

 sudo ifup eth1

to bring up the NIC using the default [DHCP] NIC configuration.

Note that the syntax

  sudo ifconfig eth1:1 168.192.1.123 up 

Can be used to re-establish a connection to the 5430 Management Interface once eth1 [or whatever the device name is] has been provisioned using DHCP to have the same WiFi netowkr address as the bridge (I.E. the IP address assigned to the 5430 by the selected wireless network association).