Wireless network conundrum!!

Hello,

I have 4 pcs in a home network.

PC 1 connected by wire
PC 2 wireless
pc 3 wireless
laptop wireless

Problem one is that dhcp will only give ip addresses to the wired pc but not the wireless pcsl. This has always been the case despite the router I have used.
Its only a minor problem as I have set ips in all pc's anyway, but its just annoying that its never worked like it should.

Problem 2 is that pc 3 seems to change its mind about how it will connect to the internet.

For example its settings were this.

ip 192.168.1.4
subnet 255.255.255.0
default gateway 192.168.1.254

DNS

preffered 192.231.203.132 (these are my ISPs dns addresses)
secondary 192.231.203.3
And it wouldnt connect so I changed the preffered DNS to 192.168.1.254 and then I had a connection.

The next day no connection so I changed it back to above and it worked again. Then just now no connection so I changed the dns back to 192.169.1.254 and connection works again.

So what exactly is going on here? Also should I be using the DNS adresses supplied by my isp on the network pcs, or the routers Ip address instead?

On the main PC1 I have to use my isps DNS or I wont connect to all web pages.

Advice appreciated.

What router?
Is there a switch involved?
What AP?

All 4 machines should be set to get ip automatically - no dns settings, but you can put in the gateway address which is the ip of the router.

The router is a Billion 7401vgp modem/router/voip. But problem one of the pc's not getting an ip address happened on the last 3 routers Ive had.

Ive noiced that only the pc connected via wire will get its ip address from dhcp. The two wireless machines if set to obtain ip automatically will try to acquire for a few minutes then give up.

Thats why Ive had to set the dns servers and ip addresses in them. PC 1 is set to obtain automatically but pc 2, 3 and the laptop are set manually.

If you set the Dns statically to point to the isp's servers and then click the advanced tab and then DNS and add a third DNS and input the router IP that will set the computers to use any of the 3 DNS servers.

On the wireless do you have security enabled?

It's happened to the last 3 routers? Is there a switch involved? Are the cables in good condition? Something else is happening!!

Just to rule it out. Turn off the wireless router, and reboot all the wireless pc's. Are any of them getting a signal? I'm thinking another network is interfering with yours.

Yes I do have security enabled on the wireless network and thats the annoying part. If I set the ips on the other pcs they connect to the net. Can wireless security stop dhcp even though the network keys are correct?
No there is no switch involved Noo Noo and the cables are all okay. Its only the wireless pc's that cant get an auto Ip anyway.

Mobilephysician, There is only one other network in range of mine and thats the neighbours. The pcs can see it but its got WPA set on it (Well it didnt until I told him I could connect to his internet connection and showed him how to set it up.)

Today I decided to change PC 2 to use dhcp and for the first time it actually acquired an IP address. Although my wife said it wasnt connected at some stage during the day whilst I was at work. I cant explain it but its weird. PC 3 still wont obtain an ip though. Havent tried the laptop again but last time it just gave up trying to acquire an IP anyway.

Who knows....One of those Wireless mysteries I guess. I can just use static ip addresses on all pcs and set the dns as per futuretechs post above, but thats beside the point as it should work with dhcp and doesnt..

are you using the windows wireless config or the one supplied by the wireless card maker?

Imusing the windows wireless config on all pcs. On one of them I had to keep the netgear software installed but use the windows config or it wouldnt work. (You may recall my post about this a few weeks ago.)

change the channel on your router and all should be well