Linksys Wireless Game Adapter

Cisco-Linksys WGA54G Wireless-G Gaming Adapter

This took me about 2 hours to set up, after about 20 attempts. The equipment works fine, but both the configuration utility and the operations manual are poor and only handle the connection to simple networks. I have a non-standard (read: I did not let Microsoft automatically configure my network) and a network of Linksys Wireless G Router with 128-bit (encryption), WEP and MAC filtering enabled. (My neighbor across the street also has a wireless network, which I did not know when I started playing with it.) In essence, if you use a router gateway to the net (which you absolutely should for its inherent hardware firewall capabilities) and you use wireless encryption (which you absolutely should to make it difficult for a techie neighbor from eavesdropping in on your network) you must set this device up manually. Not only that, but you have to set up your game machine network settings manually as well.

First, routers usually also act as DHCP servers (meaning that they’ll automatically give an IP address to anything logging onto the network). That means that unless you give the device a static IP address you’re never sure which address your game machine will have when it boots up. The same thing is true of the WGA54G. Unless you specify a proper static IP address and netmask, it won’t connect. So you have to give both the game machine and the WGA54G (different) static addresses within the range of your local network and which don’t conflict with any existing devices.

Secondly, if you do MAC filtering, you need to realize that the WGA54G has TWO ethernet adapters: the wired one (which you stick the cable plug into) and the wireless one (that connects to the antenna). The MAC address of the WIRELESS device must be included in the filter settings of your router, or it’ll be blocked. Linksys doesn’t make it clear how to find that address (it gives you the wired MAC address on the label), but the wireless MAC device is one of the two MACs you’ve got to include in your router’s filter list. (Hint: it’s one digit higher than the wired MAC address — just add 1 to the last two hex digits). The other MAC address needed is of the IP adapter contained in your game device (or attachment). That you have to obtain from your game network setup screens. I’m not completely sure why the WGA54G’s wired adapter address isn’t needed, my guess is that since it doesn’t make any packet requests of the wireless router (interacts only with the game machine) it’s not “seen” by the router.

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