Doesn't obtain IP address automaticlly

We're having trouble getting a laptop connected to the internet using a
wireless card. This is the 4th wireless device connecting to the wireless
router modem and there were no problems with the previous ones.

By looking at the IP details displayed with the wireless utility software
it's obvious that it is not getting the correct address from the router. At
the moment it is 0.0.0.0 but was something else earlier. Every thing is
definately setup to optain IP address automatically we even managed to the
internet to work when we connected the laptop to the router with an ethernet
cable. This also had the effect of forcing the ip address for the wireless
network to the correct address and therefore worked without the cable but
after a while it changed back.

By going into the router using another computer we can see this laptop
listed in the DHCP client list with an IP address asigned to it.

The laptop is a dell and is running XP home (SP1a)

Any ideas?

Richard,

There are several potential items here that could be going wrong. You did
not mention the type of security you are using. I imagine that
you have a Open AP using WEP encryption. Now, I wonder if at one point this
node was able to get access, and for that reason did get
a DHCP lease, but later was subsequently unable to do the same.

Please check your WEP Key to make sure it is correct betweent the AP and
this node. This is the first thing that I would check. The second thing
would
be to work around the DHCP client/server: give the node a static IP address
that is the same as what the AP supposedly handed out to this machine. The
default gateway, DNS server, information you should already know, having
configured the AP with this information previously.

If you can get connected to the WLAN and "see" the other nodes using this
static configuration, we can later try to debug the DHCP client/server
problem, if there is one.

To test connectivity, use ping from the problematic node:
From the command window, type:
ping 192.168.1.2
where this address corresponds to one of the three nodes (or the access
point itself) which works.

Please let me know what the results of this are.

--
Brian Wehrle
(E-Mail Removed)
Software Test Engineer/Wireless Networking
Microsoft Corp.




"Richard" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news27E3364-B1ED-44EF-ACC5-(E-Mail Removed)...
> We're having trouble getting a laptop connected to the internet using a
> wireless card. This is the 4th wireless device connecting to the wireless
> router modem and there were no problems with the previous ones.
>
> By looking at the IP details displayed with the wireless utility software
> it's obvious that it is not getting the correct address from the router.
> At
> the moment it is 0.0.0.0 but was something else earlier. Every thing is
> definately setup to optain IP address automatically we even managed to the
> internet to work when we connected the laptop to the router with an
> ethernet
> cable. This also had the effect of forcing the ip address for the wireless
> network to the correct address and therefore worked without the cable but
> after a while it changed back.
>
> By going into the router using another computer we can see this laptop
> listed in the DHCP client list with an IP address asigned to it.
>
> The laptop is a dell and is running XP home (SP1a)
>
> Any ideas?

For the encryption all I know is that we have a 128bit WEP key. We've tryed
manualy entering IP addresses plenty of times but it doesn't seem to change
anything. Also the attempts to ping any other clients or the router failed.

We can still get the wireless capability working by first using the cable
but it will not connect of its own accord.

Also not mentioned in my first post is that the card is a wireless b
standard, this should not be a problem since the router is set up to be back
compatible.

A recent twist to this tale is the appearance of another wireless network
that can be connected to and the internet used sucesfully although the signal
does come and go. We're not sure if this is another wireless network on the
street or some ad-hoc thing created by our own network (I say this because
the name of the network is identical to the name a housemate used when her
zone alarm asked her to give a network a name)

Cheers

"Brian Wehrle [MSFT]" wrote:

> Richard,
>
> There are several potential items here that could be going wrong. You did
> not mention the type of security you are using. I imagine that
> you have a Open AP using WEP encryption. Now, I wonder if at one point this
> node was able to get access, and for that reason did get
> a DHCP lease, but later was subsequently unable to do the same.
>
> Please check your WEP Key to make sure it is correct betweent the AP and
> this node. This is the first thing that I would check. The second thing
> would
> be to work around the DHCP client/server: give the node a static IP address
> that is the same as what the AP supposedly handed out to this machine. The
> default gateway, DNS server, information you should already know, having
> configured the AP with this information previously.
>
> If you can get connected to the WLAN and "see" the other nodes using this
> static configuration, we can later try to debug the DHCP client/server
> problem, if there is one.
>
> To test connectivity, use ping from the problematic node:
> From the command window, type:
> ping 192.168.1.2
> where this address corresponds to one of the three nodes (or the access
> point itself) which works.
>
> Please let me know what the results of this are.
>
> --
> Brian Wehrle
> (E-Mail Removed)
> Software Test Engineer/Wireless Networking
> Microsoft Corp.
>
>
>
>
> "Richard" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news27E3364-B1ED-44EF-ACC5-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > We're having trouble getting a laptop connected to the internet using a
> > wireless card. This is the 4th wireless device connecting to the wireless
> > router modem and there were no problems with the previous ones.
> >
> > By looking at the IP details displayed with the wireless utility software
> > it's obvious that it is not getting the correct address from the router.
> > At
> > the moment it is 0.0.0.0 but was something else earlier. Every thing is
> > definately setup to optain IP address automatically we even managed to the
> > internet to work when we connected the laptop to the router with an
> > ethernet
> > cable. This also had the effect of forcing the ip address for the wireless
> > network to the correct address and therefore worked without the cable but
> > after a while it changed back.
> >
> > By going into the router using another computer we can see this laptop
> > listed in the DHCP client list with an IP address asigned to it.
> >
> > The laptop is a dell and is running XP home (SP1a)
> >
> > Any ideas?
>
>
>