Wireless and hardwired network issue

[colorcrayon]

I'm a graphics artist / web designer. Most of my work is done at home. I'm having what I think are IP address conflicts.

I have a modem where my internet comes in. It goes from there to a 4 port wireless router. I have one computer (my main desktop) hardwired with a cable to a port on the router. It works fine and I never have connection issues there. I have another computer (my entertainment computer) (both are running XP pro) which uses a wireless usb stick to connect to my wireless router and then to the internet. Then there is my laptop which I will often use for work while sitting on my couch or lying in bed. My laptop is running vista home and it never has connection issues either.

My entertainment computer used to work fine with internet and everything. I have it tethered to my TV so i can stream movies and such from the internet to it. I use hulu.com alot because I like to choose what I watch. Either way it gave me an error the other day that said there might be an IP address conflict. Then since then it will connect to the router with a good strong signal but can't find the inernet. I have all my computers on a network because when i am working from the couch I need to connect to my main computer with my laptop for files and such. My entertainment computer says it is connected to the router but i can't see it from my other cimputers like I used to when i look at my network.

The two computers that have no issues have IP adresses begginning with 192 but the one that won't see the internet starts with 162. I don't know if that makes any difference. I tried to use the "repair" feature when i right click the connection and it says it can't renew my IP address and to contact my network admin or my ISP. Since my ISP is useless and I am the admin ... i need help. So if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Thanks

[rendrag]

an IP that starts with 192 is fine. the entertainment PC that starts with 162 is bad. They should all start 192 in your residence.

There are a few reasons that your entertainment PC (hence forth to be called ePC for purposes of typing) has a 162 address:

1. cannot communicate with the router's DHCP server (DHCP is what assigns each device an IP address)

2. can communicate with the DHCP server, but the DHCP server is out of available addresses to assign

3. device has driver malfunction

3. device has hardware malfunction

Possible resolutions are listed below. Make sure you can log into the router's web interface (usually accessed via 192.168.x.1) Replace the 'x' with whatever your ip address has listed

1. check signal strength on the ePC. make sure it's got a good signal

2. in the router's interface, there should be a section where you can define the DHCP range (check the documentation). Make sure it has a pool of at least 5 addresses (the default is usually 50)

3. update the drivers on the device. grab them from the manufacturer of the usb stick

4. remove and re-insert the device. see if anything changes.

while the above aren't exhaustive options, it should at least get you started.