Ddwrt router can?t connect

[MrTeajunkie]

My folks in Portugal had a power cut last week.
The problem now is I have set up a ddwrt router for them with a VPN setup to access iPlayer etc.

But since the power cut it won?t allow them to connect to the Wi-fi access point.
It?s there and available but just disappears and throws up an error when they click connect.

It?s open so no password required as they live in the middle of nowhere.

Problems.

My dad is a technophobe so it?s hard work.
He has a laptop but no lan connection on it.
We have powered off for a few days
Turned off all other Wi-fi and routers
forgot network on all devices.

Now how can I reset this without a lan connection available?
I can?t even remember how I set it up with the VPN as it was around 6-7 years ago.

If I?m looking at replacing the router what is the best cheapest option available to buy from Amazon which I can remote setup a VPN.

[evilsatan]

Without a LAN port he can probably reset using a physical reset button but then if he can’t connect to the default SSID he is stuck still. If you have a static IP or dynamic DNS set up on the router do you know if you can VPN into it? Been so long since Iast used DD-WRT!

Is this a cable router that connects to radio broadband? Perhaps a used Draytek 28xx series as they can operate as a VPN server for you to remote into with a dynamic DNS/static IP address but cost a lot when new. I’m not sure if they can connect to a VPN service as I haven’t tried that. I think the models that support the latest FW support OpenVPN though so that could do the trick if your provider supports that too.

[MrTeajunkie]

Without a LAN port he can probably reset using a physical reset button but then if he can’t connect to the default SSID he is stuck still. If you have a static IP or dynamic DNS set up on the router do you know if you can VPN into it? Been so long since Iast used DD-WRT!

Is this a cable router that connects to radio broadband? Perhaps a used Draytek 28xx series as they can operate as a VPN server for you to remote into with a dynamic DNS/static IP address but cost a lot when new. I’m not sure if they can connect to a VPN service as I haven’t tried that. I think the models that support the latest FW support OpenVPN though so that could do the trick if your provider supports that too.

It’s a cable router yes. But no ddns and can’t remote to it
I have literally connected it to a port from their Portuguese router for the feed and the Wi-fi output gives the U.K. VPN connection.
I had purchased a mini portable router on Amazon for ?20 which supports openvpn but when I load the files it says not enough space so that’s shit.

Im going to try and get him to do a hard reset but trying to set it up over FaceTime is not going to be easy.

[Over Carl]

Only further suggestion I can offer, if you are going to try and get him to remotely set it up from fresh and you haven't played for a while, might be an idea if you flash any crappy router to DDWRT yourself, so you can go through all the steps at your end at the same time as you tell your dad to do his bit so you can refresh your memory and be one step ahead of him. I remember trying to give remote support to people using XP when I had moved to Win 7/10 so sometimes I needed to boot an XP machine to remind myself of exactly what the other person should do.

[psxcity]

Only further suggestion I can offer, if you are going to try and get him to remotely set it up from fresh and you haven't played for a while, might be an idea if you flash any crappy router to DDWRT yourself, so you can go through all the steps at your end at the same time as you tell your dad to do his bit so you can refresh your memory and be one step ahead of him. I remember trying to give remote support to people using XP when I had moved to Win 7/10 so sometimes I needed to boot an XP machine to remind myself of exactly what the other person should do.

do this makes it so much easier when dealing with a person not to clued up

[Over Carl]

Perhaps a used Draytek 28xx series as they can operate as a VPN server for you to remote into with a dynamic DNS/static IP address but cost a lot when new. I’m not sure if they can connect to a VPN service as I haven’t tried that. I think the models that support the latest FW support OpenVPN though so that could do the trick if your provider supports that too.

Haven't tried it myself, but what would happen if you connected to a VPN service as a site to site VPN? Haven't tried it myself - might need to change the default gateway and DNS specified by DHCP to get internet traffic to go through the VPN tunnel.

Used 2820/2830 can be bought cheap. For this kind of use, the versions with built in VOIP could be nice.

[evilsatan]

Haven't tried it myself, but what would happen if you connected to a VPN service as a site to site VPN? Haven't tried it myself - might need to change the default gateway and DNS specified by DHCP to get internet traffic to go through the VPN tunnel.

Used 2820/2830 can be bought cheap. For this kind of use, the versions with built in VOIP could be nice.

I haven’t tried it either but if it worked you could use the routing policies to direct traffic from particular LAN IPs or VLAN. I have a 2862ac at my workshop but I’m working from home at the moment and have virgin cable connected to a Cisco Meraki system I was given as a demo so can’t try it out here.

[Over Carl]

Sorry I think you are right - might need to implement a static route instead of changing DHCP settings. Been about 10 years since I last played with VPN' and I only ever used them for site to site purposes, or I would set up a dial in VPN server.

[MrTeajunkie]

Lol I won’t be able to do any of this

[icewarrior]

Can you not get him to setup teamviewer on his laptop, you could give him instructions over the phone for that, you could then access his laptop from yours and connect into the DDWRT Router ?
The other consideration is that the power cut when reconnecting caused a power surge and fried the router, happened to me in Wales a couple of years ago.

[MrTeajunkie]

Can you not get him to setup teamviewer on his laptop, you could give him instructions over the phone for that, you could then access his laptop from yours and connect into the DDWRT Router ?
The other consideration is that the power cut when reconnecting caused a power surge and fried the router, happened to me in Wales a couple of years ago.

The issue is he can’t connect to the router via Wi-fi and laptop has no lan connection.
when they get a minute I’m going to get him to reset it and see what I can do.

But I did think a power surge has killed it tbh it happens a lot there.

[evilsatan]

How about a USB LAN adapter? I recommend these to anyone without a LAN port as wireless isn’t without its faults. Sounds like it might be fried though but would be a good idea for future use anyway.

[MrTeajunkie]

How about a USB LAN adapter? I recommend these to anyone without a LAN port as wireless isn’t without its faults. Sounds like it might be fried though but would be a good idea for future use anyway.

Yeah could be a good option i suppose they could order one from amazon spain.