Computer Wireless Router / Miracast Question

Paul R. | 3/26/2026 | Me

[Paul R.]

I am trying to set up a "Miracast" connection from my laptop to a TV, and apparently I need to manually change the IP address of my wireless router. Although the router is working just fine, I cannot "find" it from my desktop machine, which is connected via a "fast switch" and ethernet.

[HereInTheHeartland]

Can you guys answer my tech question as well?
2nd Google Nest system in a row malfunctions .
The main point is working, but the other 2 won’t connect anymore

[tarator]

Miracast does not work over wired Ethernet. It uses Wi-Fi Direct. Your laptop must have a WiFi adapter. Bluetooth is irrelevant. Your router is also irrelevant.

[SteveH]

routers will usually feature DHCP out of the box, so if the ethernet connectivity is functional end to end, and the router is selected by configuring the desktop to do so, the desktop’s ARP (ethernet-IP) table entries will be thereafter loaded by the router using the ARP protocol. Or something like that.

[Spktyr]

Bring the two nonfunctioning nodes close to the main node and restart all nodes. See if they re-establish connection. If so, move the satellite nodes a little further away and see if they re-connect. It is likely a range or interference issue if they work up close but no longer work at a distance.

[SteveH]

AI Overview

Netgear Ethernet switches are inherently transparent bridges operating at Layer 2, requiring no special “bridge mode” configuration to connect devices. If you are using a Netgear router or modem/router combo and want to use it as a bridge, you must enable Bridge Mode or AP mode in settings to disable NAT and DHCP, effectively turning it into a switch/access point.

[HereInTheHeartland]

Thanks.
Had a 4 year system going and this happened.
Bout a new system, it worked for a week, then the same thing happened.

Bought a new surge protector for the main router point thinking possibly stray voltage did some damage .
I will try what you suggested

[Spktyr]

Surge protector doesn’t really do much against modern power grid issues. Might want to get an AVR or UPS for each node if power issues are a problem in your area - but that said, it’s most likely an interference/range issue.

[wafflehouse]

not sure what all you got going on here, but your wireless router from your ISP is probably the default gateway for your pc. if you pull up your IPv4 settings it should give you your default gateway IP.

[Pollard]

Can you log into your router admin page? 192.168.1.1 is common but that last 1 could be an 8 or something else. Should be on a label on the router. Default login info might be as well.

Seems to be no shortage of tutorials out there - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Miracast&ia=web

Best tool for viewing devices on the network -- https://nmap.org/download.html
Command for it -- nmap -sP 192.168.1.1/24

I don't think you want to change your router's IP address. What you probably need is to set up a static IP address for the TV/Dongle. That way your laptop knows where to find it.

The rest of this is probably no help. It's just what I did to be able to play media on my dumb TV and also be able stream it to any other device on the WiFi.

I bought a Beelink Mini PC S12 and made it my HTPC. It runs Linux, has VLC, web browser and Jellyfin. I used to use Plex HTPC but they're getting commercialized and personal data hungry. Both Plex and Jellyfin will organize and play your media files. They will download meta data from IMDB and other places. Pics and info. Then it all gets displayed in a GUI that looks like a Smart TV.

I have a dumb TV which is the way I like it but turned it into my own version of a Smart TV by setting up an HTPC. I use the web browser for the free streaming services like PlutoTV etc, Jellyfin for my own media or if it's something I don't want added to my media library, like a podcast episode, I'll use VLC to play it.

Since it runs Kubuntu, I have KDE Connect installed and also have the KDE Connect app on my phone. KDE Connect allows media controls so the phone works as a remote. I also have an X-Box controller with buttons/toggle mapped to do the same. Those two things won't do everything. It is an actual PC after all so I have a cordless keyboard and mouse.

I also have Samba installed and configured on my laptop and the HTPC. I use qBittorent on my laptop but download the files to the HTPC in folders that Jellyfin uses. That way they get indexed, metadata downloaded and show up in the media library automatically.

$300 mini PC, HDMI cable to TV, Cat5/6 cable to router and the Mini PC shows up on my laptop and phone via WiFi. KDE Connect enhances the connection with things like clipboard sharing, media control, browsing phone files via laptop etc. Jellyfin just showed up with zero configuration, though I can change the default port number from :8096 to whatever I want.

and of course Jellyfin has an app. Might use it when I finally add some music to Jellyfin. Something to listen to in the shop/garden. Maybe I should have a media type called Podcasts so I can listen to them out there. All the big podcasts have imdb pages so metadata should get pulled in. Would be like my own Spotify.

[Paul R.]

Thanks, everyone! I’ll try to get back to all the replies this evening. This afternoon really blew up on me.

Please note that from the desktop machine, I can find nothing that indicates existence of the wireless router at all. Yet the wireless router is working - as my flip phone can connect to it, and also per its front panel indicator LEDs. (The phone has a calling via the web feature and {very} rudimentary web browsing. Good thing, too - our cell signal here sucks big time.)

[Paul R.]

No, the Bluetooth on the laptop went out, and then I tried the Miracast dongle as a way to get signal over to the TV. That’s when I ran into the IP address problem, and then trying to access (login) to my wireless router, I found that it literally cannot be located from the desktop machine, even though the router is clearly working. (See my post just above.)

It has me completely baffled - but then I’m no networking geek, and most of my real experience goes back to Win 7 or XP.

[Paul R.]

Or to clarify, the Bluetooth failure in my laptop is a separate issue, but it led me into this WiFi mess when I tried to go the WiFi route and set up Miracast. (I had a Miracast dongle sitting around, never used.)

[logi_cal869]

ipconfig /all under the command prompt will answer the question of your router’s IP address.

It’s step #1.

If you have internet - as I recall from your post, but I could be mistake (busy day here, too) - your router has an IP and should be accessible.

[CodeToad]

In a command prompt windows enter: ipconfig /all

The Default Gateway should be listed and should be the router’s IP address.

[Paul R.]

Ok, I have these addresses via ipconfig /all :

(truncated by me)

Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::e...C%7
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 68.67.....221
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.2.....5.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 68.67.......1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.67.......1 (same as default gateway)

and a bunch of other Greek to me. (I assume the “physical address” is not relevant here.)

Which am I supposed to plug into my browser?

[Paul R.]

Oh, wait - it’s supposed to be the default gateway...

Giving it a shot...

[Paul R.]

The browser (Brave) came back with :

This site can’t be reached
68.67.....1 refused to connect.

(I edited out a couple characters to post it here as I am not sure what the security risks might be.)

Anyway, that’s the same message I got this morning working to find an address via Settings. (I also tried Edge: the wording was slightly different.) I think it is the same address as this morning, but I am not sure.

The phone is still connecting to the web via the wireless router, just fine.

[Paul R.]

Please see my post #37.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4372270/posts?page=37#37

Thanks!

[SteveH]

just some more guesses here...

your router-modem appears to be alive and at least minimally working.

does it use http or https for browser based configuration? or non-browser based configuration? a mismatch will cause an error corresponding to the lack of an appropriate configuration server on the router modem. assuming you want to configure it.

https is the secure version of http.

[SteveH]

a http[s] configuration server might also require (depending on how it is set up at the factory) the name of a filesystem directory which can contain configuration directories and files. this would be concatenated at the end of the ascii address given to the browser. again this would seem to be for configuring the modem-router which may or may not be your intent (?)