Cannot ping across wireless access point?

I'm throwing this out there for those of you who might need it.

When you convert a wireless router into an access point, the instructions are usually pretty straightforward. What they usually lack is a very important step: you need to move the Ethernet line that homes it back to the main router. Wireless routers almost always have a WAN Ethernet port and one or more LAN Ethernet ports. The router won't connect to its source be it cable modem or DSL unless that connection is via the WAN. However, when used as an access point, things change.

From the research I've done over the last week, even when changed from router to access point, the WAN port still behaves differently. ARP broadcasts are not properly directed over that port, some firewall functionality seems to remain. Belkin routers certainly fit this bill. Port scans to find specific services such as a media server on the LAN don't work. Ping doesn't work. You can surf though a machine connected via the access point, but that's it.

The solution? Move the Ethernet line to one of the LAN ports. Now, media servers are found, pings go through.

So the rule is, if you have a wireless router and are going to use it as an access point instead, with it homed back to a main router, move the Ethernet line over to one of the LAN ports. If it has one LAN port, connect that to a small switch and put the line in one of the switch ports. You should now be able to ping.