Creating a subnet using a BEFW11S4 Router?

[jrobot]

I am very new at networking, so please forgive me if I'm using wrong vocabulary here. I have a very old Linksys BEFW11S4 ver. 4 router and want to know if it is possible to use it in a way similar to a USB hub except for ethernet ports.

I am going to college soon and will have two ethernet ports for at least 4 computers and would like to have them connected to the internet and networked via ethernet (not wifi, I intend to keep that off). I assumed that I could just connect an ethernet cable to the device's "internet port" and use the other 4 ports for computers, but I have attempted this by using one of my new home router's ports connected to my old router's internet port and was unsuccessful. In my test, I switched the router's operating mode from "Gateway" to "Router" and was unable to get Mac OS X or Ubuntu on my laptop to connect to the internet despite messing around with many settings both on the computer and the router. The internet LED on the router was active, as was the light indicating activity on ethernet port 1.

Please help me out; the Linksys documentation is completely useless, and I haven't been able to find any alternative firmware supported by this model. I am updated to the newest firmware available on the manufacturer's website.

 

[office politics]

i would try connecting a straight patch cable from one router switch port to the other router switch port. then connect all machines and test connectivty. It used to be that the cable had to be a crossover for this to work but some routers now have some auto sensing tx rx crap that will allow you to extend the switchports by connecting a patch cable.

 

[jrobot]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean (as I said, new to networking).

Each router has five ethernet ports:
Router1: Internet, Ethernet1, Ethernet2, Ethernet3, Ethernet4
Router2: Internet, Ethernet1, Ethernet2, Ethernet3, Ethernet4

In my test, I connected Router1-Internet to the modem and Router1-Ethernet2-4 to computers that could all connect to the web. I then connected Router1-Ethernet1 to Router2-Internet and Router2-Ethernet1 to my laptop, which could not connect.
By "from one router switch port to the other router switch port," do you mean that I should connect Router1-Ethernet1 to Router2-Ethernet1? Why would that work? By "straight patch cable," you mean a standard Cat5 cable, right?

What settings do I need to change in the router setup? Remember, given my usage scenario, I will not be able to change any settings on Router1. Is this a problem?

 

[NoNameNY]

So basically you want to use the 2nd router as a switch?

 

[jrobot]

Exactly - I couldn't remember what it was called, thanks. That pointed me in the right direction:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20430373-Wired-using-a-BEFW11S4-as-a-switch
http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/r22835997-Wired-BEFW11S4-as-Wired-Switch-only

I connected Router1-Ethernet1 to Router2-Ethernet1 and Router2-Ethernet3 (all straight cables) to my laptop. DHCP is on, "working mode" is "router", Router1 has IP 192.168.1.1 and Router2 has IP 192.168.1.2.

I had to reboot Router1 to get it to work. I hope I won't have to do that when I attempt this for real since I won't have access to Router1.