No IP wirelessly from DHCP

Setup: eMac running OS X 10.3.9 attempting to connect to Netgear WGR614, attached via Ethernet cable to Motorola SB5101 cable modem (Comcast ISP).

I can only obtain an IP address wirelessly via DHCP when I have an Ethernet cable connected to one of the Netgear's local ports. In this scenario, my Ethernet adapter has a local IP from the router of

192.168.0.2 and my eMac's Airport Extreme card gets an IP from the router of 192.168.0.3 - everything works fine and I can access the Internet.

However, there is no need for me to connect to my router in this manner; I only had the Ethernet cable running to the router because I was doing setup. Once I remove the Ethernet connection between router and machine, I am unable to obtain a valid IP address wirelessly from the router. If the IP is dropped, or if I try to manually renew the IP address, I pull a 169.x.x.x.

The router's firmware is up to date and I have tried restoring factory settings, rebooting, renewing the IP address, and all of the typical primary troubleshooting maneuvers.

Could it be that my router is damaged, or is it my brain that's on the fritz?

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BolivarBalues hath wroth:

Which hardware version of the WGR614? v1 thru v8? Look on the serial number tag.

I vaguely recall that there were some versions of this router that had DHCP server problems and needed a firmware upgrade. Incidentally, I may have one WRG614 (in my office so I can't lookup the exact hardware version), that even the latest firmware version gave me headaches. In addition, I have one of these sitting on a mountain top that seems to be crashing when hit with even the slightest power glitch. To be fair, I have other WGR614 routers in service that work quite nicely and reliably. It might be a problem with a specific production run.

That means you're getting your DHCP issued IP address via wired instead of wireless. DHCP requires the use of broadcast packets, which some wireless contrivances tend to block. Look for a firmware update.

169.254.xxx.xxx is what you get if the client can't get an IP address via DHCP.

Neither. I think that your WGR614 may be fundamentally flawed. I suggest you borrow a different wireless router and try it in place of the WGR614. If that works, methinks it's sufficient proof that there's a fundamental problem with the router.