Network Help Needed!...or, I am kind of annoyed and don't want to take this anymore.
Over the years my wife and I have bought a number of Windows PC computers. Somehow, I have cobbled together a wireless network, using a linksys wireless G router (with SpeedBooster!, no less). Two desktops are hardwired directly into the router, no problem. A few laptops access the wireless network.
Those laptops have chronic (but strangely, not continual) problems.
Those laptops can access the network, for a few minutes, for a few hours, sometimes there will be no problem for quite a while. Then, just when my wife is nearing the bubble of some tournament, the laptop will stop connecting, indicating "Limited or no connectivity". The network is still there, visible in the network connections. Usually it will indicate that it is still connected (and firewalled), but the machine just won't get out on the internet.
(I think) I have discovered that, whenever the disconnect occurs, the computer/router/network/whatever has reset the IP address for that computer to another address, one not appropriate for the network. When the laptop is connected well, an IPCONFIG in the command prompt shows an IP address like 192.168.X.X. Whenever disconnect occurs, an IPCONFIG shows that the address has been changed somehow, invariably to something like 169.X.X.X. Sometimes my wife will try to "repair the connection" and it then works, such repair changing the IP address back to the 192.168.x.x numbers, most of the time it doesn't work.
How do I fix this so that the network doesn't keep bubbling my wife out of tournaments?
If I can't "fix" it for whatever reason, is there a work around that is reliable?
ANY help/thoughts appreciated immensely, If you need more info, please don't hesitate.
Thanks so much for any help.
Those laptops have chronic (but strangely, not continual) problems.
Those laptops can access the network, for a few minutes, for a few hours, sometimes there will be no problem for quite a while. Then, just when my wife is nearing the bubble of some tournament, the laptop will stop connecting, indicating "Limited or no connectivity". The network is still there, visible in the network connections. Usually it will indicate that it is still connected (and firewalled), but the machine just won't get out on the internet.
(I think) I have discovered that, whenever the disconnect occurs, the computer/router/network/whatever has reset the IP address for that computer to another address, one not appropriate for the network. When the laptop is connected well, an IPCONFIG in the command prompt shows an IP address like 192.168.X.X. Whenever disconnect occurs, an IPCONFIG shows that the address has been changed somehow, invariably to something like 169.X.X.X. Sometimes my wife will try to "repair the connection" and it then works, such repair changing the IP address back to the 192.168.x.x numbers, most of the time it doesn't work.
How do I fix this so that the network doesn't keep bubbling my wife out of tournaments?
If I can't "fix" it for whatever reason, is there a work around that is reliable?
ANY help/thoughts appreciated immensely, If you need more info, please don't hesitate.
Thanks so much for any help.