Developer Forum

I have a LAN connection to the outside world running into my desktop
computer (Win2K). The desktop has a USB 802.11 device (D-Link DWL-120+)
plugged into it, with WEP currently turned off and SSID set. These are
the only two network devices on the desktop. Internet Connection
Sharing (ICS) is turned on in the network settings for the hardline
device. The desktop has full use of the network, and an IP
(192.168.0.1) is assigned to it.

I also have a laptop (WinXP), with built-in 802.11 (WirelessLAN 11Mbps
WM168b USB Module) networking. It is set to use DHCP to get IP and DNS
settings, and is using Zero Configuration Wireless. I can connect fine
to the wireless networks at school and at work.

However, in my dorm room, I cannot make a full connection without
manually entering an IP address. I select the ad-hoc network from the
Available Wireless Networks list, it communicates, but the laptop is
never assigned an IP address.

So, I got Ethereal on both ends of the connection and examined the
communications. The laptop starts out with IP 0.0.0.0 and sends a DHCP
Discover to the desktop over the wireless link. The desktop sends an
ARP packet asking if a (random?) address is free on the subnet. It then
sends a DHCP Offer packet back at 255.255.255.255. Neither the ARP or
DHCP Offer packets are seen by the laptop.

Eventually, the laptop changes its IP to 169.254.146.108, but it is no
more successful in getting an IP on the appropriate subnet.

Like I said, if I manually enter an IP on the 192.168.0.* subnet,
(except for the reserved ones, obviously), the connection works fine.
However, since it's not the only wireless network I use, I don't want to
manually enter my IP information. Besides, I want to know why I'm never
seeing the ARP or DHCP packets on the other end, if you happen to know :-)

TIA.

--
Patrick