I have a WiFi access point unit that has four LAN ports and a WAN port

[G+_William Burlingame]

I have a WiFi access point unit that has four LAN ports and a WAN port.  I have connected an Ethernet cable from the router via a switch to one of the LAN ports.  It works fine as a WiFi access point.  I hard wired it because it is out of range of the router’s WiFI signal and I don’t care about the dead area in between.  The problem is with a tower that is connected  to the same switch.  It wants to connect to the access point instead of the router.  When it does, it’s on the LAN, but does not have internet access.  WiFi connections work fine.  If I turn off the access point, it connects to the router and works well.  I ether have a good hard wired connection or a good WiFi connection, but not both.  

[G+_Taylor Graham]

If im understanding things correctly...

take the ethernet connection from your switch, plug it into the wan port on your wifi access point. Turn off NAT (your AP should have that option, might be called "bridged" mode). Turn off DHCP as well (your router should be handling this). All should be well.

[G+_David H]

I think that Taylor Graham has a handle on it, I got the same idea from what is written.

[G+_Akira Yamanita]

Is DHCP turned off on that AP? Everything that you described sounds fine to me. Can you post the IP configuration for the wired and wireless interfaces on that tower?

[G+_William Burlingame]

Thanks for the input.  It my be a couple of days before I can test the solutions presented.  I thought I had tried the WAN port at one time and had trouble with the WiFI when the SSID was the same as the router.  If I gave the AP a unique SSID, it worked fine., but I was hoping to use the same SSID.   Akira Yamanita can you be more specific what you need in the way IP configuration.  BTW, I'm using Windows 8.1 on my tower and laptop. My phone and tablet are Android.  

[G+_Taylor Graham]

Any DHCP configuration will be done on the DCHP server, which is the router, and also probably your AP, but you should turn the DHCP server on your AP off. You want to make sure you only have one DHCP server per NATed network. I have the same setup at home as i described above. Same SSIDs on both routers. Works great.

[G+_Akira Yamanita]

Specifically, IP address, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS. The ability to use the WAN and LAN ports and operate all on the LAN will depend on the model. It will always work using the LAN ports as long as everything is configured correctly. Is there an "AP mode" option on that AP? That normally bridges the WAN port, disables NAT, and disables DHCP. Basically everything that Taylor Graham said to do.

[G+_William Burlingame]

I made the connection to the WAN port from the switch instead of the LAN port and everything seems to be working.  I thought I had tried that configuration, but I must have been mistaken.  BTW, the unit was sold as an AP and DHCP and NAT aren't even options in the setup.  Thanks again for the help.

[G+_Akira Yamanita]

An AP with a WAN port? What's the name and model? Glad it's working.

[G+_William Burlingame]

Amped APA20.  I initially had a problem with it losing a connection, but when I updated the firmware, that seemed to resolve that problem.  My problem is that I know just enough to get myself into trouble.

[G+_Akira Yamanita]

Interesting. The literature doesn't indicate that that port is marked "WAN". It's just listed as the switch or router uplink and labeled "Network". Considering that you can create guest wireless networks, that port is probably dedicated to keep the guest wireless separate from the other ports on the AP. Can your wireless devices communicate with devices connected to the other ports on the AP?

[G+_William Burlingame]

Yes.