I've got a cable internet connection that allows me two external IP addresses. I have one router for my existing home network of PC's that only need access to email, browsing, and the like. I recently converted the old dining room into an entertainment room, wired through a second (wireless) router. Right now, I've got that second router running through the first just to have the room online, but that first router's a crappy D-Link that's fine for general family use, but simply doesn't provide enough control over it's firewall to let most games (Steam included) through. What I want to do is make that second router independant of the first, so each router has it's own external IP address. The only other networking hardware I have are a switch and a hub, and my budget's too tight to really buy anything else... Ideas?

Here's what I'd do.....I'd swap routers around and use the Dlink as just a switch....simple, cheap, effective.

Better yet connect the internet to the hub. Then connect the routers to the hub. Since you get two ip address each router will get one. Solution solved. [If you can spare the switch it would be better but the ethernet connection from cable modem to router is usually 10mb half duplex so anything fancy is a waste.] Golly gee wilerkers everyone. Learn to Internet Search

I tried swapping routers, but the wireless is half the reason I got the second router, and putting the wireless router where the D-Link is leaves me with no signal strength outside of that room... I suspect it's because that corner of the house is where the point of entry for the electricity,

I actually tried connecting them both through the switch too, with no luck... Even just one of them plugged into the switch wouldn't work. The switch itself is fine, because if I pull two cables from the router and plug them into the switch, the connected systems can get IP's... But the routers themselves can't do it. Anything in the router settings I'm missing? Specifically, they're the D-Link DI-604 and the Linksys WRT54GC.

Hmmm....I have a DI 604 at home myself and don't find it "a crappy D-Link that's fine for general family use, but simply doesn't provide enough control over it's firewall to let most games (Steam included) through." Perhaps you need to get the manual and actually read it. I've set mine up so I can host several different games and allow my friend(s) to connect to me remotely through it via the games. Granted it's not a Cisco router (I have one of them too, a real router, not a switch with NAT and basic firewall software built in) but it is configurable and reasonably flexible within it's limitations. I've worked with some linksys brand highspeed internet routers and didn't find them any more or less configurable than the dlink.

"The Dlink DI-604 will not allow you to forward enough ports to run Steam." http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Dlink/DI-604/Steam.htm Putting my gaming box in the DMZ didn't fix it either, and even if it did, that won't get a LAN room full of people onto a DoD: Source server.