We have a 3Com OfficeConnect Wireless 11g Cable/DSL Router in our livingroom. It connects via ethernet cables to a server and a couple desktops, and via wi-fi to the Wii and a couple laptops (one running WinXP Home, the other Ubuntu 9.04).
The server and the desktops get their IP from the router using DHCP without problems.
The laptops and the Wii often end up requesting an IP 4-5 times before giving up. Sometimes it works if you just retry, other times it wont work for 10-15 minutes and then suddenly work, and some times it wont work at all until the router has been power-cycled (causing the server and the desktops to get disconnected from the internet).
Looking at the logs from the ubuntu laptop and the router, I can see that when it isn't working, the laptop sends a discover request, the router sees the request and issues an offer. The laptop sees no offer and sends a new discover, which the router replies to with a new offer. Repeat until the laptop gives up after a minute or so.
Since the router claims to be sending the offer, and the laptop doesn't see it, I was going to write it down as an ubuntu problem, until I realised the WinXP laptop had the same problem (although less often), and so does the Wii. I'm now wondering if it's a problem with the router, and if it's fixable or if I have to get a new one?
Other related information:
- There are atleast 15 other wlans available in our apartment block
- We use WPA encryption on the connection
- There is no such problem when connecting to our neighbours unencrypted wlan (probably using a dlink router of some sort).
