Network won't play nice

My son called and is a bit frustrated with his network. He has two laptops connected to a wifi Belkin router. One is a Mac and his is a PC with XPsp2. When he called, I had him unplug the router and reset it, then plug it back in. He was able to connect without issue, the Mac then tried to connect and both computers lost the router signal. They are in the room with the router so it's not signal strength. Any ideas of where to look?

 

What happens if he tries first the other computer by it self, does it play Nice?

Tell him also to log to Belkin's support and check if the Router's firmware are the most recent.

 

Same thing happens regardless of which computer logs in first. As soon as the other tries, they both loss connection and the "view available wireless connection" no longer shows the router.

I'll have him look for updated firmware.

 

try checking the routers settings...open up internet brower(ie,firefox etc.) type in 192.168.1.1 username=admin password=admin

once there check to make sure the setting dont interefere with him trying to connect two comptuers wirelessly...also under the wireless tab and then advanced wireless settings make sure wireless mac filter is disabled...exceptions with having two comptuers connect could cause the routers wlan to reset itself thus having both computers disconnect at the same time.

 

More details.
The router is a Belkin F57320-4 but I haven't been able to determine which version to know for sure which firmware to download. Belkin's website didn't help much in locating the version. I'm hoping that the version will be in the web-based configuration page.

The two laptops are a Ibook using OS 10 and an HP Pavilion DV8000 using XPSP2.
Neither can stay connected at this point.

The Ibook used to connect with no issues originally. The router and Computer were moved to a new apt and now is having issues either connecting or staying connected.

They have tried connecting while next to the router to eliminate interference issues but they still can't connect or stay connected.

Zigg, Could you simplify that a bit. not having the computer in front of me, I'm having to translate it to my son. What would indicate that the "setting ... interefere ... trying to connect two comptuers wirelessly"?

I understand the MAC filter setting to "Disable", but not sure what is meant with "exceptions with having two comptuers connect could cause the routers wlan to reset itself thus having both computers disconnect at the same time." Are you saying that the MAC Filter being enabled would cause a conflict when both computers connect thus kicking them off? If so, why would they have issues staying connected when only one is connected?

I understand that there may also be multiple issues not just one. I'll send this to him to have him look at this and see if it works.