I'm having a major issue with a friend's new Dell laptop... He has a wireless network with 3 notebook's that can connect no problem to a Linksys router, which connects to the cable modem subsequently. Anyways with this new Dell machine (notebook #4), the external Dell wireless card can pick up a signal, but absoloutley refuses to assign an IP address to the machine. Instead it's assigned a 169.254.xxx.xxx address meaning that it can't hit the DHCP server I believe (correct me if I'm wrong). Anyways, I've tried repairing the connection to which it says "can't renew IP"... I've tried releasing it, renewing it... you name it, it keeps coming back to the 169.254.xx... address. Firewall has been disabled as well -- does anyone know how I go about getting to the DHCP server for a real IP?

Check the router to make sure the security measures aren't enabled. For example, if MAC filtering is turned on, you can't connect. Also make sure the DHCP address pool is large enough. If it's set for only three addresses, it can't assign a fourth.