How to configure a Router (TL-WR1043ND) to work in WDS mode?

Posted by LanceBaynes on Super User See other posts from Super User or by LanceBaynes
Published on 2011-06-24T13:28:22Z Indexed on 2011/06/27 0:24 UTC
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I have a WRT160NL router (192.168.1.0/24 - OpenWrt 10.04) as AP. It's:
- WAN port: connected to the ISP
- WLAN: working as an AP, using 64 bit WEP/SSID: "MYWORKINGSSID", channel 5, using password: "MYPASSWORDHERE"
- It's IP Address is: 192.168.1.1

Ok! It's working great!

But:

I have a TL-WR1043ND router that I want to configure as a "WDS". (My purpose is to extend the wireless range of the original WRT160NL.)

Here is how I configure the TL-WR1043ND:

enter image description here

1) I enable WDS bridging.
2) In the "Survey" I select my already working network.
3) I set up the encryption (exact same like the already working one)
4) I choose channel 5
5) I type the SSID
6) I disable the DHCP server on it.

After I reboot the router and connect to this router (TL-WR1043ND) over wireless I'm trying to ping google.com.
From the ping I see that I can reach this router, that's ok, but it seems like that this router can't connect to the original one, the WRT160NL (so I don't get ping reply from Google). The encryption settings/password is good I checked it many-many-many times.

what could be the problem?

I'm thinking it could be a routing problem, but what should I add to the "Static Routing" menu?
I tried to change the IP address of the TL-WR1043ND to: 192.168.1.2
So if this a routing issue then I should add a static routing rule that says:

If destination: any then forward the packet to 192.168.1.1

p.s.: I updated the Firmware to the latest version. It's still the same.

p.s.2: The HW version of the TL-WR1043ND is 1.8

p.s.3: Could that be the problem that I use different routers? (If I would buy.. another TL-WR1043ND and use it instead of the WRT160NL, and with normal Firmware, not OpenWrt, then it would work?? The "WDS" is different on different routers?)

p.s.4: I will try to check the router logs@night - and paste it here! :\

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