Laptop and Wireless DSL Connection Problem

yeah.. right..
Because the entire point of DHCP is to set up only 1 available address.

Have a sick baby and haven't had time to futz with this yet...

Will update later.

How do you know what is defined in the DHCP address space? Reread the thread, I'm quite sure you don't.

Do we know the router setup? No.

However we can make reasonable assumptions. The default in DHCP server set up is never for one address. I know of no reason to set up DHCP to only supply one address. If you are going to restrict it to one wireless connection there are better ways to do that than leaving it in DHCP mode.

We also have the statement that in the past both computers have connected. Since the person asking has no idea of how to adjust DHCP, it is unreasonable to think that the settings on the router that earlier allowed more than one connection would have changed to now only allow one.

Since the connections to the router are by wifi, it also raises the question of whether the router can even be accessed to make changes to its configuration. Most wireless routers have access to setup disabled for wireless connections by default.

Is it possible that the DHCP server could have been changed to only allow one connection? Yes.
Is it likely? No.

There are many other possibilities to check before we have to worry about that. Checking those other possibilities would quickly eliminate DHCP being restricted to one address which is why I asked for a check of connection using ipconfig. A check of the laptop vs the desktop could well reveal the problem. Are both set to DHCP? If not then we have narrowed the problem down.

The one question that has never been asked or answered is if a technician set up and tested the computer when you changed to DSL. That could be when changes would have been made that are now restricting access by the laptop. It is more likely that a technician would have set up the router to not run DHCP and given the desktop a static IP address than it is for the technician to restrict DHCP to one address.

If her experience is anything like mine, it just came in a box with a modem and DSL filters and a CD/DVD. No technician ever came to my house.

Which is why a router that was set up to have more than one connection via DHCP would not change just because someone went from cable to DSL.

The likely culprit is the way the connection is made on the DSL line. Is user and password set up on the router, the modem, or on the desktop? Unless the CD made changes to the router the user ID could be stored on the desktop which is why the laptop can't connect.

The connection must have been
Cable modem ----> router -----> computers

Now it will be
DSL modem ----> router -----> computers

The connection point was changed so how the ISP verifies the connection changed. The ISP could be restricting connection by MAC address and only recognizes the desktop.