PC + Macs on Same WLAN Network Have Relationship Issues?

I've always wondered this, because its happened in a couple of places I've lived. On a WLAN network people with Macs seem to have a lot of trouble connecting if people are using PCs on it. Likewise sometimes PCs will get booted off the network and have IP allocation errors. Is there some sort of explanation ?

hmm never had the problem myself and I run a mac, several laptops (PC) and a server. You are using DHCP I presume?
What router are you using and what authentication, it all adds up.
I would check the IP allocation to see that you have enough addresses to give out as well..

We run a set up where there's a modem somewhere in the basement which connects to a wireless router (D-Link Di 624) 2 floors up via an ethernet cable. DHCP is disabled on the wireless router. I presume its enabled on the modem (no one knows the admin password to it). Encryption WPA TKIP.

I know the solution is probably resetting the modem and having a play there but that its a bethere speedtouch which apparently has a back door in it which needs to be fixed + i have no idea what the login details for the isp are :(

what I would actually do is let the router do the DHCP , I used to have one of those routers and they run it well. However getting into the modem is obviously a problem to disable it! I would imagine that the router is handling your encryption as the modem isnt capable of that part.
That might have a lot to do with your ip issues tho, the modems just arent built to run DHCP well. The setup I have is the modem plugs into the router, then all the internal IP addressing and encryption is handled on the router.
Is there no way you can ring your ISP and get the password of the router - or failing that get the modem hard reset and putting the login details back in, that wouldnt be too hard.

There will be no issue with multiple OS on the wireless router, sounds like a DHCP problem maybe the scope is set to 5 addresses or so, for example if a sixth node comes along it will get an ip allocation error, then when some one shuts down or gets kicked off someone else logs on they take there allocation, if you get what I mean?
easiest thing would be to phone the isp get all the details hard reset the modem, let the wireless router handle DHCP with no scope restrictions.

Yeah, its just i live with 12 people and once I take the initiative on fixing it it means i have to follow through and i cant really be arsed with the hassle!!!!

Thanks for your help though guys... its kinda what i expected it to be, was wondering if it could be something else. One day i will get round to resetting the modem, when no one is looking....

whats the make and model of the modem? chances are its still default [url=http://www.phenoelit-us.org/dpl/dpl.html]default password list[url]

nah its not the guy who lived here before went mental with the security on the network 'cos there is a guy across the road who spends his time trying to fuck with it....

hehe mental security at its best, well I like a challenge :D

option 2: Use static IP addressing, find out what your IP scheme your using ie 192.168.x.x (most likely) and then assign each node a sequential IP.

eg.

router is: 192.168.0.1

assign to the remaining computers (start mid range to avoid the DHCP scope)

192.168.0.101
192.168.0.102
192.168.0.103
etc

the only pain in the arse is if people use laptops and take them to work/uni and have to keep changing the settings, so if you just make the computers that dont move static IP addresses and let the rest use the DHCP, assuming you have enough addresses in the pool.

gimme a wisper if you need any help :)

Change the wifi channel off of the default. I simply find some bandwidths are saturated.

Right I'm on this again....

1. I reset the modem downstairs and now have admin access to it. Its the standard BeThere Speedtouch job which i find really badly laid out admin wise. I couldnt find a way to switch off DHCP on it.
   
2. There is someone who connects to that modem with an ethernet cable, so if I did switch off the DHCP on that and left it to the router upstairs the cabled guy couldnt connect, right?
   
3. There is a new PC in the house, and this gets perpetually stuck on "assigning IP", I can get into the router and modem admin pages but cant get onto the net at all from it. So I guess that reinforces what you guys were saying.
   
   

The channel isn't default, but i'll change it anyway....

Edit// ahh the router is setup by BEthere in there special way so you cant tinker with lots of things + the password and user name for the ISP is hidden in there somewhere so would have to get the logon details off BE and find a way to wipe the modem clean and then start again. In that case its too much effort ;)

Is there a WEP or a WAP access problem here? I seem to remember some issue re. 13 character passwords: Macs needed to add a $ suffix, or maybe PC's did. For WAP; or maybe for WEP. Either way, WLAN (802.11) should work cross platform. It does at my house, but I can't remember the hoops I had to jump through to set it up.

That probably doesn't help much.
Soz...

runcible rakan Right I'm on this again....

1. I reset the modem downstairs and now have admin access to it. Its the standard BeThere Speedtouch job which i find really badly laid out admin wise. I couldnt find a way to switch off DHCP on it.
   
2. There is someone who connects to that modem with an ethernet cable, so if I did switch off the DHCP on that and left it to the router upstairs the cabled guy couldnt connect, right?
   
3. There is a new PC in the house, and this gets perpetually stuck on "assigning IP", I can get into the router and modem admin pages but cant get onto the net at all from it. So I guess that reinforces what you guys were saying.
   
   

The channel isn't default, but i'll change it anyway....

Edit// ahh the router is setup by BEthere in there special way so you cant tinker with lots of things + the password and user name for the ISP is hidden in there somewhere so would have to get the logon details off BE and find a way to wipe the modem clean and then start again. In that case its too much effort ;)

oooooh :)

1. as soon as he turns off his PC the IP would be lost and he would end up with the could not allocate IP error message next time he tried to connect. you would need to assign him a static IP address, or just simply plug him into the wireless device if it has a spare Ethernet port and let the DHCP on the wireless take care of addressing.
   
   

Can you flip the modem over and get any model numbers? and~~ whats your Wireless device? is it a router or an access point~~ got it from above post ;)

the be speedtouch has very little customization options on offer i'm afraid. the only way to make sure everyone gets an ip is to get the ppl on static. in my house we are 17 and have had a lot of probs with ppl being kicked out after their ip address was stolen by a machine that was suddenly turned on.
those routers are very bad, and even worse at dhcp.
we have a very similar set up to yours in my place, where i also set up another d link router as a bridge to make sure ppl on the top floors could still get a signal.

having said that, we now have yet another mac (wireless on WEP) and no conflicts... so the mac/pc thing is not really the problem.