Wireless PC's are not getting IP addresses from router

I'm using a Linksys BEFW11S4 router. I have 2 PC's wired to the
router, and 2 PC's that connect wirelessly.

DHCP is enabled on the router, and all PC's have been obtaining IP
addresses automatically.

This setup has worked flawlessly for several months.

A few days ago, the 2 wireless PC's suddenly had no IP address (IP =
0.0.0.0), and thus can't connect to the internet or the shared
files/printer. The wired PC's still work fine, and are obtaining IP
addresses as usual.

I changed the 2 wireless PC's to static IP's, and they work fine.
However, my wife travels with her laptop, and this situation may not
work well when she's on client's networks.

Why is this happening? How do I fix this so that they go back to
obtaining IP's from the router like before?

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 16:17:39 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>I'm using a Linksys BEFW11S4 router.

So do I. Mine's a version 4. What's yours? (They're all different).

>I have 2 PC's wired to the
>router, and 2 PC's that connect wirelessly.
>
>DHCP is enabled on the router, and all PC's have been obtaining IP
>addresses automatically.
>
>This setup has worked flawlessly for several months.
>
>A few days ago, the 2 wireless PC's suddenly had no IP address (IP =
>0.0.0.0), and thus can't connect to the internet or the shared
>files/printer. The wired PC's still work fine, and are obtaining IP
>addresses as usual.

Power cycle the router?
I'll assume Windoze XP Home on the laptops.
Try to manually get an IP address with:
Start -> Run -> cmd
ipconfig /release
(wait about 10-15 seconds)
ipconfig /renew
Then run:
ipconfig
and see if you're getting a proper 192.168.xxx.xxx IP address.

>I changed the 2 wireless PC's to static IP's, and they work fine.
>However, my wife travels with her laptop, and this situation may not
>work well when she's on client's networks.

If you're running XP, you can set it up to default to DHCP assigned
IP's, but if that fails, to go to a static IP address. It's in the
network advanced properties for the wireless card somewhere (I don't
have an XP box in front of me right now). I use that trick for some
problem networks. Instead of defaulting to 169.254.xxx.xxx when DHCP
fails, it goes to your static IP's.

>Why is this happening? How do I fix this so that they go back to
>obtaining IP's from the router like before?

Dunno. It's not clear if it's the router or the two laptops. If
there have been any recent software updates to the laptops, methinks
that's the place to start looking. Otherwise, reset the router to
defaults, reload your settings, and see if miracles are still in
fashion.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

(E-Mail Removed) said the following on 9/16/2004 9:17 AM:

> I'm using a Linksys BEFW11S4 router. I have 2 PC's wired to the
> router, and 2 PC's that connect wirelessly.
>
> DHCP is enabled on the router, and all PC's have been obtaining IP
> addresses automatically.
>
> This setup has worked flawlessly for several months.
>
> A few days ago, the 2 wireless PC's suddenly had no IP address (IP =
> 0.0.0.0), and thus can't connect to the internet or the shared
> files/printer. The wired PC's still work fine, and are obtaining IP
> addresses as usual.
>
> I changed the 2 wireless PC's to static IP's, and they work fine.
> However, my wife travels with her laptop, and this situation may not
> work well when she's on client's networks.
>
> Why is this happening? How do I fix this so that they go back to
> obtaining IP's from the router like before?

Might be one of these:

DHCP Client Initializes Improperly and Causes an Invalid IP Address
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 812335
<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812335&Product=winxp>

"Ipconfig" Command Reports IP Address 0.0.0.0
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 822123
<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822123&Product=winxp>

Lance
*****