Question about Windows 98 networking

Okay, so my boss's wife wants me to help her with a hybrid network she has at her house. She has a Dell router and a few wireless computers with one computer hardwired to the router. The one plugged into the router will only connect to the internet on occasion, and so she called Dell. Dell told her that her IP address started with 162 (per running ipconfig) and that was the incorrect address, which was causing her problems. My question is this.....can I assign her an IP address within the 168.192.1.x range to fix this? Was the Dell tech support correct? If I can't assign her an IP address like that, what solutions are there for me....keep in mind, this is Windows 98, not XP (she is a doctor's wife....why she even still has that computer confuses the heck out of me....)

Thanks in advance for anything you guys can offer to help me out!!

 

why isn't she being assigned an address from the router?

 

I don't know.....but if she isn't, how can I set it so she is? and if she isn't, will my solution work?

 

are the other computers dynamically or statically adressed?

i don't remember win98 specifically in terms of how it talks to a dhcp server. under network properties, i believe you have to tell it to use DHCP and WINS via a checkbox or something.

search microsoft's site for a white paper on win98 networking. should be step by step guide there.

 

I would also take a look at the speed connection on the port and the NIC the 98 pc has... i had to bring a W98SE pc down to 10mbps half duplex so she can talk-undertand with the router.... maybe was the card... but that was the only way i got it solved... and since your problem is "on occasion".... i'll start there...