Laptop wireless connection good ~ cannot access Internet

I have a wireless router set up at home with two desktop computers
hooked up and working fine. For the past year I have been bringing my
work laptop home periodically and have always been able to immediately
access the internet through the same wireless set up.

For some reason today, I am unable to access the internet through the
router. The desktops still work great, my connection shows to be
excellent but the internet cannot obtain a valid IP address.

I restarted the router and nothing changes.

I ran ipconfig/release:

for the wireless car:
connection-specific DNS Suffix: [nothing]
autoconfig IP address: 169.254.131.152
submet mask: 255.255.00
default gateway: [nothing]

I then ran ipconfi/release:

for the wireless card:
I got an error : "unable to contact your DHCP server. request timed
out"

I tried to reset the profile for the wireless connection on the laptop
and that didn't work, either. It is set to obtain addresses
automatically.

I've been working on this all day and have got no work done so any help
at all would be absolutely welcomed.

Thanks,

Wendi

On 11-Jan-2006, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> I have a wireless router set up at home with two desktop computers
> hooked up and working fine. For the past year I have been bringing my
> work laptop home periodically and have always been able to immediately
> access the internet through the same wireless set up.
>
> For some reason today, I am unable to access the internet through the
> router. The desktops still work great, my connection shows to be
> excellent but the internet cannot obtain a valid IP address.
>
> I restarted the router and nothing changes.
>
> I ran ipconfig/release:
>
> for the wireless car:
> connection-specific DNS Suffix: [nothing]
> autoconfig IP address: 169.254.131.152
> submet mask: 255.255.00
> default gateway: [nothing]
>
> I then ran ipconfi/release:
>
> for the wireless card:
> I got an error : "unable to contact your DHCP server. request timed
> out"
>
> I tried to reset the profile for the wireless connection on the laptop
> and that didn't work, either. It is set to obtain addresses
> automatically.
>
> I've been working on this all day and have got no work done so any help
> at all would be absolutely welcomed.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Wendi

First and foremeost, return to the basics. Restart your cable/DSL modem,
then restart the wireless router and finally reboot your laptop.
Oftentimes, rebooting all devices solves the issue. If not, attach a cat5
cable to your laptop and see if you can access your network and the
internet. If so, detach the cat5 cable and, if your notebook has an off/on
button for the wireless card inside, turn the wireless card off. Wait about
10 seconds and turn it back on. See if you can access your network and the
internet. If not, check to see if your network shows up in the detected
wlans section of your wireless client's configuration utility. If so, try
to connect to it from there. If that fails, go to the command prompt
(START, RUN, CMD then press enter) and check to see if the laptop is
receiving a valid IP address like you did before. If you receive the
269.254.....then something's not configured right. If you have encryption
enabled, disable it and see if you can access the network and the internet.
If so, and you should, type in a new encryption key in the router and make
sure that you type that SAME encryption key in the laptop's menu. If none
of these tips solve your problem, let us know and we'll go from there.
Furthermore, provide the make and model number of your Wireless router and
the laptop or laptop's wireless device. Also provide the OS info and whether
or not you're using WZC utility to manage your wireless client or third
party utility. If third party, provide that info, as well.

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Just Me, D