DHCP Problems Over Wireless

[thefultonhow]

So here's the deal. I have a D-Link DI-514 802.11b wireless/wired router. My desktop, along with my mom's, my dad's and my brother's, are hooked up via the wired portion, as is my dad's laptop from work, and they usually have no problems getting IPs from the router. In contrast, I want to hook my Sony Vaio TR1A laptop up via wireless. It gets an IP fine when it's hooked up with a network cable, and it works on the wireless network at my school, but it can rarely get an IP from the router over wireless, even when I'm sitting 10 feet away. A friend of my mom's has the same problem when she tries to get on using her laptop (Dell Inspiron 600m). If it helps, SSID broadcast is on, the channel is set to 10, and WEP is off (who cares about security if your router doesn't work, right?)

[ktkendall]

IF you reboot the router with the laptop on and searching for the connection does it work then? I find I have to reboot my wireless router a bit to get stable connections and I don't even bother trying for DHCP, I just use static assignment. I realize that will be a pain since you take it to school and use dhcp and you would have to keep changing the setting from static to automaticly obtain but for now it will be a work around till you find the real problem. Check for firmware updates on that router that may address that problem.

[AlwaysUp]

How wide is your DHCP address range? Have you administered a limit?

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by AlwaysUp How wide is your DHCP address range? Have you administered a limit?

I believe it's just the standard D-Link DHCP range -- 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.199.

[glc]

What version of Windows is on the Vaio?

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by glc What version of Windows is on the Vaio?

XP Home. I was planning to upgrade to Pro once SP2 came out, but now that it has, I don't have a whole lot of time. (For the record, though, my mom's friend has Pro and she has the same problem.)

[yellohut]

I'm having a similar problem trying to connect to a Linksys router. I always get a message that says "trying to obtain a network address".. eventhough I have an IP address already assigned. I also lose my conenction seemingly randomly.

I'm interested to see how you fix yours.. maybe it will work on mine.

[Mhollinr]

I had similar problems trying to get my Toshiba pocket pc e755 (built in wireless) to connect to my D-link DI-614+

After pulling my hair out, I found that the wireless router that I have has a "4x mode" that alows faster transmissions between D-LINK Acess points and D-LINK cards. I wondered why it worked fine on my laptop but not the pocket pc.

It turns out that the laptop had a D-link wireless pc card and it was able to talk to the router. the pocket pc's built in wireless was not D-link and I had to turn OFF the "4x mode" for it to connect perfecctly every time.

My setting on the router was under 'Advanced' - 'Performance' not sure of the setup on the DI-514, but if you have that setting, try turning it off and see if that helps.

[RonBoy]

I'm glad I found this thread...I'm in the same boat. Here's the equipment load out that's giving me heartburn:

Dell P2 Laptop (416Mb RAM) running Win XP SP2
Netgear Wired LAN NIC
Realtek Wireless LAN NIC
Netgear MR814 wireless router (four port fast-E wireable)

If I use the Netgear card and wire the laptop to the router DHCP works perfectly and I get my IP, Subnet and Gateway asigned in a snap and it's stable. If I use the wireless card (the whole reason for having the LAN is so my wife can use it anywhere in the apartment) then it looses the gateway totally, the subnet gets scrambled to a random batch of 255's and 0's and the IP assignment gets lost.

I've tried shutting off Windows software and letting Realtek's software run the card. I get an occational hookup for a few moments and then it goes away again.

I've tried everything except killing all the security measures in the router (XP SP2's firewall function got shut off the second I found it) and setting up an assigned IP between the router and laptop.

Is an assigned IP the way to go? If I do that when I have LAN parties will I have to have all my friends take asigned IPS if I go that route?

Sorry if I come off as a newbie but I'm still learning the ropes of wireless routing.

Thanks.

[Redfallon]

Originally Posted by RonBoy I'm glad I found this thread...I'm in the same boat.

Welcome to PCMech!

Originally Posted by RonBoy If I use the Netgear card and wire the laptop to the router DHCP works perfectly and I get my IP, Subnet and Gateway asigned in a snap and it's stable. If I use the wireless card (the whole reason for having the LAN is so my wife can use it anywhere in the apartment) then it looses the gateway totally, the subnet gets scrambled to a random batch of 255's and 0's and the IP assignment gets lost.

Have you updated the firmware on your router to make sure it's current? Try deleting any/all network adapters windows has listed, you can do this in the network connections folder, or device manager. Nuke 'em all, shut down the laptop, power-cycle/reset the router (follow manual's instructions), after router syncs with modem, power up laptop. Do this *after* updating your firmware if applicable.

Originally Posted by RonBoy I've tried shutting off Windows software and letting Realtek's software run the card. I get an occational hookup for a few moments and then it goes away again.

Generally, XP (especially SP2) driver's should be more than adequate.

Originally Posted by RonBoy I've tried everything except killing all the security measures in the router (XP SP2's firewall function got shut off the second I found it) and setting up an assigned IP between the router and laptop.

Although not recommended for the long term, I would turn off any WEP/WPA security, make sure the SSID is on, make sure no MAC filtering has been enabled. You will want to change your username/PW before doing this, and remember to re-enable all security once you get the problem solved. Keeping encryption on while troubleshooting can add a new layer of complexity. Also disable any third party firewalls you may be running (you won't need them with a router anyway)

Originally Posted by RonBoy Is an assigned IP the way to go? If I do that when I have LAN parties will I have to have all my friends take asigned IPS if I go that route?

An assigned IP is fine, the only problem comes up when you take the laptop somewhere else that uses DHCP, you would have to do a dual-config boot, or manually change the settings. If you don't go anywhere, this is not a problem. You can still have your router assign IP's while using a static IP yourself, you don't have to disable DHCP to assign one machine a static IP, just make sure it's not in the "IP pool" for the DHCP. (usually 50~99 IP's by default).

Originally Posted by RonBoy Sorry if I come off as a newbie but I'm still learning the ropes of wireless routing.

Everyone has to start somewhere! And networking is such a pain anyway! Again, welcome aboard.

[RonBoy]

Wow! Thanks for the fast response Redfallon. I think I'm going to try this resolution:

1) set Windows to run the Realtek wireless card
2) assign a static IP, Subnet Mask and Gateway specific to my in-home network
3) IF we take the laptop where we can hop into another network I'll set up a second config in the networking folder for DHCP.

Question: I noticed that there's an "alternate assignment" window in the networking settings. I wonder if I should set the static assignments there and leave everything else as dynamic. If it can't obtain an address then it'll go to the default or so it would seem.