Configuring Acer Access Point at host end of subnet?

I've got a WLAN at home using a Netgear MR814v2 router/access point which
works just fine with nearby laptop wireless cards. But I'm trying to
connect a desktop PC at the opposite corner of the house via the WLAN, and
I'm not sure if I've got it set up right or if its access point, an Acer
WarpLink which I just picked up, is working right. Acer's documentation
leaves a bit to be desired.

The WLAN is 192.168.123/24, with .1 as the router (the Netgear). The Acer
sees no DHCP (yet?) so I've set it up manually as 192.168.123.161, because
it needs an IP address to be managed over its Ethernet jack. The Acer has
only one Ethernet jack and the power jack, and its book calls it a bridge,
which is what I'd want it to be, not a router. It needs a crossover cable
to connect to the PC.

I've set the PC to be 192.168.123.162, and told it that the gateway is
192.168.123.1 (also tried .161 as the gateway). While the PC can ping the
AP itself at .161, it can't ping the router at .161 or see anything else. I
did set the SSID and WEP passwords, at least as best as I could see!

I've also tried plugging it into my Win98 laptop's Ethernet port, in the
same room as the Netgear router, and it didn't pick up a DHCP address
either. The laptop eventually defaulted to a 169.254 address out of
noplace. So the problem doesn't seem to be one of distance or RF range.

Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks.