I "need" some help with a wireless connection/IP address issue. ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED!?

Question

Well, my dad is having issues establishing an internet connection via wireless. I told him I'll take care of it since i'm the "tech" guy of the house. I'm also the one who set up the entire network. I checked it out, his p.c. is picking up the his new wireless. I can locate the network, it received the password to access the network just fine. My problem is his p.c. "attempts" to receive an IP address from the router, and it "continues" to try and receive an IP address. It just stops there. It actually kept trying for about 1 1/2 hours when I finally just disabled it and told him just "let it go" until I figure out what's going on. It's just "spinning it's wheels" I checked his p.c. activity and it's just idle. I set his preferences to auto-receive the IP address and it still won't work. I double checked my network, and everythings fine. If you need more detail in a certain area just ask & I'll be happy to fill you in. Any & all help will be appreciated. Thx! ^_^

Answer 1

There are several possible issues. There can be a problem on the router side, the client side, or both. Make sure the client is using the correct SSID name. The router can be set so that it will not broadcast its name but it still needs to be set correctly on the client side. Does the router use security encryption? If so, which variety (WEP, WPA, WPA2)? The client must use the same exact encryption method as the router. Assuming the encryption method is properly chosen, are you sure that you are using the correct security password? I have often seen an incorrect security password result in the wait for an ip address from the router. Has the router been setup to limit connection to specific MAC (physical) addresses? If so the new client MAC address can be found on the ethernet NIC from a command prompt using the command 'ipconfig /all' and looking for the Physical Address value for the correct ethernet adapter (may be more than 1 installed in system). Good luck!

Answer 2

Did you enable the DHCP server on your router? Try basic encryption like WEP over WPA/WPA2. Also, try changing the channel to Wireless Channel to 6.


On windows
Start-->Run
cmd
ipconfig /all

write down the IP address of the Default Gateway on your Local Area Network Adapter.

Open your web browser and type http://{IP address of Default Gateway}
ie http://192.168.0.1

The Web Administration Username and Password should be
Username: admin and the Password should be left blank by default.

Enable DHCP and save the settings. Reboot the router.

Answer 3

Check that the router has enough dhcp addresses for all your machines, also I assume you have encrypted the wireless, if not someone outside could be using up addresses.

Answer 4

It does look like a WEP/WPA issue since you said the SSID picked up fine to begin with, are you running a Linux system that has the problem?