I just purchased a laptop... for a variety of reasons... didn't want two desktops in the household... wanted some portability, which a laptop brings verses a desktop computer, since we travel from time to time...

I installed a D-link wireless router on the desktop that we already had connected to the internet via a DSL modem, to give our laptop internet access.

I ran into a apparent common problem... Both my wireless router and the DSL Modem had the same IP address, so they bumped heads when trying to access the internet at the same time and my laptop network connection kept losing the battle and lost its connection to the wireless router... so I had to get the DSL modem placed into bridge mode, and create an internet connection on the desktop computer with a different IP address....

I somewhat understand the DSL Modem in bridge mode.. But I don't completely understand how creating an internet connection on the desktop with another IP address worked to help solve the problem

Can someone please help...

Thanks Ken

I don't quite get what you're trying to say. Sorry.
Here's my 2 cents on what I think you're trying to say.
Since you gave your desktop a static IP, your not using DHCP, which is alright in your case.
Giving your desktop a different IP makes sure that it doesn't conflict with what your laptop has.
You can assign any IP to your desktop (and laptop) as long as they're in the same subnetwork as your router.
The reason, I think (based on how I understand your post), on why you needed to assign another IP to your desktop was simply because your laptop was also configured statically with the same IP as your desktop originally had. 192.168.1.x for example is a common static IP assignment.

I was trying to say that initially we had a desktop connected to the internet via a DSL Modem connection...

We wanted a 2nd computer, so we purchased a laptop, and I used a wireless router that I had already had so I could connect the laptop to the internet via a the wireless router...

So I connected the router into the system with the DSL Modem still connected. However both the DSL Modem and the wireless router had the same IP address, thus conflict...

I was able to place the DSL Modem into bridge mode and I think that we created a different IP address on the desktop... not completely sure why

So now my internet connection goes thru my DSL Modem into my wireless router into the desktop, and I connect to the internet with the laptop using the wireless router...

I am just trying to understand this basic network and the creation of the IP Address on the desktop...

Thank You, Ken

Thank You,

I believe I have it figured it out....

The IP address on the laptop is static and different to avoid conflict....

I just placed the DSL Modem in bridge mode to hide or have it's IP address ignored...

So now there are now two different IP addresses to avoid conflict, and the wireless router allowed me to add my laptop to the network and allowing me internet access on both the laptop and the desktop..

PS: Not that matters but the Desktop has Windows XP and the laptop has Windows Vista Home Premium

Ken

Well based on your re-explanation I guess I understood your post the first time around.
Good that you were able to get it.

Here is an explanation of bridged mode in a DSL modem. By bridging the the modem you make it a pass through device. this takes any firewall and NAT provided by the modem out of the way. The signal is then passed to the next device in line where in general the Authentication for the wide area network is handled. This eliminates the conflic in IP addresses by getting rid of the first dhcp server in the modem. Once authenticated the router then does the dhcp assignments for the Local Area Network.

Thank You...

You have been very helpful...

It has been a little while since I have been involved with computer systems or networks.. So if you don't mind, would you please reiterate the definition of the acronym's "DHCP" and "NAT"...

I do also understand that since my DSL Modem is in bridge mode that both my network security and firewall are now in the hands of my wireless router, which is encrytped with 32 bit encryption..

Thank You Once Again, Ken

The easiest method for your setup is to just use DHCP from the router and let it assign both the desktop and laptop the IPs. You would have to remove any static IP from both of those and set them both to automatically receive an IP. Power both computers down, power the router off, and power the modem off. Then make sure the modem cable connects to the router and that the wired computer cable plugs into the router. Then power on only the modem and once all the lights are on, then power on the router, then each computer. That should automatically assign both the laptop and desktop as well as the router the correct IPs and information to connect to the internet.

Here's DHCP from Wikipedia and from ietf.org.
In my own words, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (usually used by routers) automatically assigns IP addresses to network devices connected to it (those devices must also be configured to use DHCP). The IP addresses assigned by DHCP comes from the 'pool' which is a range of IP addresses where the router can choose from.
In addition, I don't know if I can add a machine to my DHCP network, assign a static IP that is in the DHCP pool, and get connected. Better try this in PacketTracer. I'm guessing it won't since the router won't sense the DHCP protocol it requires for the machines to have. I'm not sure.

Here's NAT from Wikipedia and from howstuffworks (i love this site!).
In my own words, Network Address Translation is a method used to represent a group of hosts (network) under a single IP address. This is what your home router does. In your home network, with a router, you can have three, four or any number of computers using the Internet. But as far as the outside network is concerned, they only see your router. This is used to conserve the limited IPv4 addresses we have. There are other effects of implementing NAT but I'm not sure if the main reason for it's implementation is to conserve IPv4 addresses.