Re: Windows 7 laptop cannot get IP address from router

On 11/17/10 09:16 AM, Mortimer wrote:
> I was trying to set up a laptop (Dell Inspiron, Windows 7 Home Premium)
> to a router (Netgear DGN1000) yesterday.
>
> The laptop worked perfectly when connected by Ethernet. Another laptop
> (Vista Professional) connected to the router wirelessly (WPA-PSK
> security). There was no MAC address filtering configured on the router.
>
> However the Win 7 PC would not connect to the router wirelessly. The
> network icon in the system tray displayed the network, prompted for key
> and accepted the router's key; if I deliberately entered an incorrect
> key the PC prompted for it to be entered again - so it could distinguish
> good from bad! Having entered the correct key the network was described
> as being connected - but the network was listed as "unknown network" and
> "no internet access".
>
> ipconfig showed that the PC was not being given an IP address: it was
> getting a 169.x.x.x address.
>
> I tried turning the router's security off, deleting the network profile
> from the laptop's list of wireless networks and connecting again. As
> before, the network was shown as being connected, unknown and with a 169
> address. I then turned WPA-PSK back on again.
>
> I established that signal strength was good (the router and laptop were
> next to each other, as was the Vista laptop that worked). The router was
> set to Auto (Wireless B/G/N) and auto channel, though I tried setting it
> to B/G only and an explicit channel which InSSIDer on the Vista PC
> showed was free of any other network.
>
> In desperation I set a static IP address, gateway address and DNS
> server, having first excluded that static IP from the router's DHCP pool.
>
> The laptop worked perfectly from that point onwards.
>
> Can anyone think what I may have failed to test in diagnosing the problem?

I have run into similar problems when the router was too close to the PC
resulting in a signal that was too strong, not that the PC software
would report that kind of problem... Most PC's are not affected by this
but it has turned up a time or two. Try testing with the PC a room away
from the router and see if it connects properly from there.

Make sure your software is compatible in order to run it full screen.

Tara
Windows Outreach Team