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I have a Linksys BEFSR41 v 4.3 wired router connecting two computers, both running XP. Both computers can share files and the "local" computer can use the printer attached to the "remote" computer. The local computer has internet access, but the remote computer says it has "little or no connectivity" and when I attempt to repair all I get is

"Repair Local Area Connection

Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the
following action cannot be completed:
Renewing your IP address

For assistance, contact the person who manages your network."

Unfortunately I am the person who "manages" this network so the recommendation was not very helpful.

Each computer can ping the other and the router but the remote computer cannot reach anything on the internet. I spent over an hour with one of the Linksys phone help folks, but he could not resolve the problem. I must say that I am at a loss as to why I cannot connect with the internet via the router when I have no problem filesharing.

Have you checked for a firmware update for the router in question? It sure does sound like a router problem. However, it is also possible that you have a firewall or antivirus problem on the remote computer that is blocking the connection. Have you tried turning all of those applications off (after you have checked, of course, to ensure that the machine is no infected, which might also be the problem?)

If the error message said that it could not renew the IP address, then i believe you need to do that manually through the router's settings. It sounds like your router is giving the same IP adress to both computers which is cancelling one out.

I tried dropping the firewall on the remote computer with no effect. I don't believe that it could be infected with anything yet because it hasn't ever been connected to the web yet... I will try to check the anti-virus software (AVG) to see if it is blocking anything...

Firmware seems to have been up to date.

Further investigation has led me to believe that my router is not assigning any kind of IPA to the remote computer. It has been defaulting to the alternate configuration IPA, which I entered with a number in the router's range.

There must be some setting on either the router's set-up (which is ironically web-based) or in the computer's settings that is preventing the IPA from being assigned, but still allows the remote computer to ping both the router and the local computer...

How can I determine if the router is assigning an IPA, but the same one as the local computer already has and how do I correct that when I do?

on the remote; find the NIC and under TCP/IP, click properties
be sure that DYNAMIC is selected for both the IP and the DNS addresses.

the default 169.x.x.x tells you the system did not find the DHCP service in the router
(or did not even look for it)

On the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties page on the General tab, both IPAs and DNS are set to be obtained automatically. I only entered information into the alternate configuration tab so I could at least share files.

This has a new wrinkle. On a lark I unpluged the remote comptuer's ethernet cable from the router and stuck it directly into the cable modem. No connection (infact the connection speed went from 100 Mbps to 10 Mbps! I am at a total loss

I have also checked the DHCP Client table in the Linksys Local Network Setup and the remote computer isn't even listed... What's going on?

EMPTY the alternative config info as it will (and as already interfered) with the operation.
Good for you -- that should have worked!

Is the NIC even operational? check the Device Mgr for a red X or yellow ! on the device.

What firewall are you using? the default XP FW will allow dhcp (port 67), but others could actually deny it.

Switching the Alternate Config back to auto merely results in one of the local windows IPA being assigned and loss of all connectivity. I only have the Windows Firewall, which is deactivated. The only other thing might be my AVG Free antivirus Resident Shield, but I deactivated that as well with no result.

Atheros L2 Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-T Controller Properties claims the device is working properly

I updated the driver to the most current for XP from the Atheros Communications website (www.atheros.com v2.6.7.15)

Under [Advanced] are the following options (current setting first, alternates follow slash)
Flow Control - on/off
Interrupt Moderation - on/off
Max IRQ per Second - set at 5000
MediaType - Auto / 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps at Full or Half Duplex
Network Address - Not Present / enter value
Number of Receive Buffers - set at 256
Number of Transmit Buffers - set at 64
Shutdown wake up - off/on
Wake Up Capabilities - Magic Packet & Pattern Match / All; Link Change; Magic Packet; None; Pattern Match

Right clicking on the property window gets a "What's This" description. It says "These properties are device dependent. Read the device manufacturer's instruction manual to determine the correct property settings." I don't seem to have an instruction manual and can't find one on the Atheros' website as they seem to be pushing the wireless technology. I can't even guess what any of these do so I'm not going to monkey with them.

Under [Resouces] I have
Memory Range DFFC0000 - DFFFFFFF
IRQ - 17

There is no value for I/O and I don't see any way of setting one...

Any suggestions?

of course it looses connectivity -- leave it that way and now get DHCP to assign the
network parms.

this: Network Address - Not Present / enter value

is due to ipconfig /all showing IP Address. . .0.0.0.0 or nothing at all

you should see:
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes