Just got a internet problem the other day. Originally I have only two computers accessing the wireless router/modem (Westell Versalink 327W). No problems at all. I had to install the Verizon software which I thought was necessary.

Well, we have an extra laptop now and I just thought to myself, maybe I can give this new laptop wireless internet without installing all the useless Verizon software. I got it working (set up the SSID, WEP, etc...). Great... Until ALL 3 machines started to go online... I see a warning message on my laptop saying that there is more than one machine trying to use the same IP.

My laptop (Windows XP Home) usually has 192.168.1.47 as the IP address. Router assigns me that IP every time. The Desktop machine (Windows 98 SE) always uses 192.168.1.45 (also assigned by router). Now this new laptop (Windows XP Home) seems to be the cause of all the problems.

I was online first. Then the new laptop was online. The last one to go online was the desktop and that started to give me the warning message on my laptop. I checked my IP address and it changed to 192.168.1.46 instead, so that bugged me. The new laptop went online without any problems and the same applies to my laptop. But the desktop now can't get online. I tried assigning an IP address to it manually but that didn't work. It's not getting a IP address, except one from the router 169.254.x.xxx which means it's not picking up a connection.

Why is this happening? My router is assigning the IP addresses itself (DHCP presumably). Why couldn't it just assign a free one like 192.168.1.44 for the new laptop? Also curious why it changed my IP to 192.168.1.46 instead of ...47. I checked back now on this laptop and it's back to ...47

Thanks.

I would say make sure that all 3 of your computers are running the DHCP client properly and not having an assigned IP. If any of the computers have an assigned IP then the DHCP of the router is being over ridden and this sounds like the most likely problem from what you have posted. If it isn't then you might want to check the DHCP settings on the wireless router and make sure that the available IPs are set to allow 3 individual computers to sign on, some routers that are given out by the ISPs are default set to only allow 2 computers to sign on, and sometimes you can override this setting and sometimes you can't. Since you didn't post any information about the router I can't come up with a good hypothesis on this subject.

Hope this post helps you out.

Thanks for the reply Logan. They are set to obtain the IP address automatically already. Just asked my brother about the problem an hour ago and he said it was working (with all 3 machines online) the other night. So I'm not sure if it's just an intermittent thing or not now.

The router (also a modem) is Westell Versalink 327W. Verizon allows us to hook up to 5 computers wirelessly as I recall. So having 3 users shouldn't be a problem...

I guess that simply one of the wireless connexions had detection problems, maybe a wall at the wrong place, or even two guys facing the antenna...
Just verify the wifi device properties, see if the device is seen as "conected". If you have obtain no IP address, just try again in a DOS window, by typing "ipconfig /renew"

on the subject of walls and obstructions, make sure the router is located away from a main wall with wiring in them or old metal pipes...and make sure it is up as high as possible.

My router is where I found place to put it... So it's exactly on the wall, near all the pipes... I'm lucky everything works most of the time....

My router is sitting near the phone port and as far as I know, there is not metal pipes nearby the wall. I had no problems with this setup at all until I added that new laptop to have internet access.

All signs on the Windows 98 desktop says that it's running (my wireless internet connection program says I have a signal) but no valid IP address. Tried renewing the IP through winipcfg already but that didn't work.

I guess this is just one of those mysterious problems. Ready to chuck this Windows 98 computer anyway...almost finished building the new one (will also be running XP)

I guess it's a problem whith enkryption or recognition of your accesspoint from the wifi driver on the laptop. If this is really the case, you will have it whichever OS you install on it : if you did it the wrong way once, you wil do it the wrong way the next times.

This is one of the reasons i dont like wireless networks....
Well the router is handling ips in the 192.168.1.xxx range so its DHCP is working.
I dont know that particular trademark but i do know routers.... and often the problem is in their own configuration..... you should do some tests just to check if it is working correctly.
Use the basic ip range and manually set the ip in every computer, then check if you have a good connection. then try to use the 192.168.0.XXX range and see if the router responds with a connection....

the operating system can also be the problem.... try XP SP2 Pro for a change and see if it works better... i kind of hate the home version.

as for firewall, xp firewall sucks so its better not having any than that thing on. use a professional one.... one that you can costomize for your network needs... and no NORTON or Panda apps please..... my solution is Kaspersky Personal Pro AV and Look'n'Stop firewall.... and dont make jokes about this firewall prog that has only little over 1Mb instalation, because its one of the best arround.

Hope this has helped you

That so funny. I love it when computers fight over IP adresses. It's kinda like my high school that i go to. Picture this: over 300 Dell's on a high speed gigabit network, all fighting for the same IP. It is mad funny when you think about. Especially when the network admins have absolutely no clue as to why the network isn't working.