WiFi problem - no IP assigned

[Naki]

I am using an EnGenius router (WiFi b/g).

I am trying to connect a second computer to it. First computer is connected via wire, for second I want to do it via WiFi (via a WiFi USB Dongle).

WinXP Pro (32-bit) connects to router, but will NOT assign an IP address to the WiFi dongle and says “Connection has limited or no connectivity”, and shows a Yellow triangle with a Exclamation mark.

On the other hand, it shows it has connected to the router OK, so the problem is just the IP.

Is that a problem with the dongle, or with Windows?

Any way to fix?

Dongle is ZyXEL G-220 v2.

I also have an iPod Touch, and it works fine, connects to router and can browse Internet.

[Tripredacus]

On the computer with no internet connection, go to the command prompt, type 'IPCONFIG' and press enter.

It will list your network adapters. They will all have their own headings, example:

Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection

Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection 2

etc

One of them may have the word 'wireless' in it. You can look at Network Connections to find the name of the wireless NIC.

- If the IP address says 0.0.0.0, then type IPCONFIG -RENEW. If you get an error, post it here.

- If the IP address says 169.x.x.x then type IPCONFIG -RELEASE, it will change your IP to 0.0.0.0. Then type ARP -D. Ignore what it says if anything. then restart the computer. When it comes back up, wait your 30 seconds after the desktop loads, and see if it says anything new. You can then do the IPCONFIG from the command prompt again to see what IP it has. If you get an error on any of the commands here (except ARP), post it here.

- If the IP address says 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x, then post the IP address here, as well as the subnet mask and default gateway.

- If the IP address says anything else, post the IP here as 24.x.x.x, (in otherwords, only type the first number group in and not the rest of the numbers, use x to hide them).

Your alternate option is to set a static IP on the wireless NIC via Network Connections. You would need to look at what IP address your other computer has, and pick a different number. You then would need to input the same subnet, default gateway and DNS serverss that the other computer has. Note, that if this is the only way you can get access to your network, there is a problem with either your hardware or operating system!

Edited November 18, 2008 by Tripredacus

[Naki]

I used the second option.

I assigned a manual, static IP to the WiFi dongle.

And now Internet is working OK and all is fine.

Another computer is connected to router via wire.

So, I checked the IP adress and other settings on the wired computer, and set them

to the following for the 2nd computer WiFi dongle:

IP address -> 192.168.1.150.

Gateway -> 192.168.1.1

DNS -> 192.168.1.1

192.168.1.1 is the IP address of the router.

NOTE: I used the WiFi dongle on the first computer and it worked fine for several

weeks, then started failing to assign an IP.

But, on the second computer it failed right from the start.

For router restrictions, it is set NOT to ask for key/password, but to allow only

certain MAC addresses.

I have added the iPod Touch and WiFi dongle's MAC to the "Allowed MAC" list of the

router.