I have 2 WRT54G wireless routers , I need to set these up to provide additional ports and wireless in another area of my house . R1 is on the 1st floor , hardwired to the Comcast connection and 1 desktop.R2 will be on the 2nd floor , I have a CAT5 cable running from R1 location to the R2 location - how do I configure both routers to allow hardwire and wireless connections on each floor . THANKS in advance for any suggestions .

Your R1 router would remain the way it is. Configure the R2, second router, as a WAP (wireless access point). I don't recall if that is covered in the manual, but you would assign a static address to R2 as the gateway IP address of R2 (example 192.168.1.2), disable DHCP and connect one of the "LAN" ports of R2 to R1. R1 will provide all your DHCP, etc for both devices, if that is how you are currently configured. The "WAN" of R2 is NOT used when configured as a WAP. Don't forget to password both routers!

Hope this helps!

....JIM....

Everything was correct, you missed one item (item 5).  Assume 192.168.1.1 is main router.

1. Set IP address to static 192.168.1.2
2. Set subnet 255.255.255.0
3. Set gateway:  192.168.1.1
4. Set your Wireless name & security settings - would use a DIFFERENT SSID
5. Change from Gateway >>>> Router in advanced settings
6. DHCP server OFF

You can check out this configuring wireless router as access point article and use diffrent SSID on second router.

Think could help you to meet your requirement. Hope this helps.