Problem with a router and a wireless laptop

I have a cable modem that feeds a wireless router. There is a cable connection from that router to a desktop computer. I also have a wireless laptop. I had a netgear router but a few days ago something stopped working somewhere and the only way that I could connect to the internet was to unplug the router and connect the desktop directly to the modem. So I went out today and got a new Linksys Wireless G router and hooked everything up. After some intial problems I got everything to work. The desktop worked and I could take the laptop into another room and it worked. Then the wireless laptop stopped working. I can still get on the internet with the desktop connected through the router but I can't connect the wireless laptop. Now whenever I try to get a connection on the laptop it sits there and stays at "Acquiring nework address" forever and the desktop states "There is an IP address conflict with another system on the network."

I think the router is trying to put both the desktop and the laptop on the same IP adress. Anyone know what the problem actually is if not that and what to do about it?

Do you have a static IP assigned to either your desktop or your laptop?

Which device is handing out DHCP on your network, the cable modem or your new WLAN router? Have you run a repair on the laptop's WLAN connection?

Make sure only one device is DHCP enabled, and start your IP address pool at 100, instead of 1 or whatever the default is.

That I know of the IP address is assigned by the modem but the new router may have changed something. I tried running a repair on my laptop's wireless connection but it became stuck at the same point. Checking the status of the wireless connection gives me an "Invalid IP Address" of "0.0.0.0". I don't know of another way to check if the wireless is DHCP enabled and I don't know how to changed the IP address pool.

Login to the router using the wired connection (desktop) and disable the DHCP function of the router. Then repair both desktop and laptop network connections and see if gets new IP addresses (from the DHCP client on the cable modem) OR disable the DHCP client on the cable modem. I think they're conflicting with each other and the only reason your desktop is working is because it's address hasn't been renewed.

Well, I don't know that I fixed the problem I was having, I never found how to access the router from the desktop. However, I knocked something into place somewhere because I can get on the net with my laptop again. If the problem comes up again I guess I'll know where to look. Many thanks.

You can also check the site: www.portforward.com