2 routers home network

Here is how my network is set up:

I have a home network involving two routers, one wireless, one wired.

My cable internet connection comes in on the second floor of my house, into the WAN port of a Linksys WRT54GS Wireless Router. A laptop on that floor makes use of the wireless connection and is used for work purposes, and a Desktop PC also connects to an ethernet port on the wireless.

A network cable connects to another one of the ports on the wireless and runs down to my basement where it connects to the WAN port of a SMC Barricade SMC7004ABR wired router. Two desktop PCs connect to the wired router in the basement.

The internal IP of the wireless router is 192.168.1.1, it has DHCP enabled with a lease time of one day and distributes IPs in the 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.149 range.

The IP of the wired router with respect to the wireless is 192.168.1.100 at the moment, I can't figure out how to get the lease time to last forever on the wireless, so it changes every day. The internal IP of the wired router on the basement network is 192.168.2.1, distributing IPs in the 192.168.2.2 - 192.168.2.40 range. The wired router has DHCP enabled and has the option of a lease time of forever, so those IPs stay static.

The laptop upstairs is used for work purposes and needs a stable internet connection. It also has been configured with WEP wireless security to encrypt it or whatever.

Two ports are forwarded to the wired router and then to my main PC in the basement, for gaming/downloading. These are a pain in the ass, as the wireless router keeps changing the address of the wired router, and I have to re-forward these every day.

When this is all set up at first, everything works 100%. After a day or two, sometimes less, the laptop's connection no longer works, while the connections on the other PCs sometimes continue to work perfectly. The laptop's connection seems to drop most often when my main PC in the basement is doing something that takes up alot of bandwidth, and returns to normal if my PC is shut down. Although, sometimes this doesn't work, and the only solution is to reset and reconfigure the wireless router's settings, WEP security and all.

I should also mention that the connection on my main PC occasionally stops working, at which point I disconnect power to the wired router and then reconnect it and the connection is re-established.

Every computer in the house is running Windows XP, with the exception of the upstairs desktop, which is running WIn98Se.

Please, help me fix this network!!

-Joe

 

Disable the DHCP on your SMC router and take it as a switch.
It might make things simple.

 

I will add to that comment and say DOnt use the WAN port on the SMC. Plug your cable from upstairs into a LAN port and you now have a managed switch.