Question : DHCP over wireless

Okay, got a humdinger for y'all...

I have a Linksys WRT54G with the latest firmware from the Linksys Website with IP address 192.168.1.250
I have one Windows 2003 Server installed as DHCP & RAS Server connected to the router via Wireless NIC with IP address 192.168.1.5.
I have one Windows XP Laptop connected to the router via Wireless NIC with IP assigned by DHCP.
The laptop is configured for VPN so that I can access my network when I'm away from home.

I have DHCP disabled on my router
I have DHCP scope setup on my Windows 2003 Server as 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.249

When I try and connect to the network, I am assigned IP addresses in the range 169.254.x.x.  If I enable DHCP on the router I can connect just fine, but it's as though the router doesn't support DHCP relay.

Also, when I connect via VPN/RAS I get assigned a 169.254.x.x address the same as if I'm connected via the wireless router directly.

How do I know if the DHCP server is receiving the request for an IP address so that I can see if it's the server not receiving the request, or the client not receiving the response?

Thanks

Answer : DHCP over wireless

When you get assigned a 169.254.x.x number, it simply means that it did NOT get a real IP address from the DHCP, just think of it that way, for simplicity.  So NO, when you get this number, you are NOT getting through, period, so it is not sending a request through the wireless, and not receiving an IP in that domain.

For testing of the wireless relay, you really need to leave the systems on "get IP by DHCP" otherwise you will never know if you are on the network.  Assigning a fixed IP at the end of a "wireless DHCP passthrough", which is what you have, will give you endless problems, intermittent, and on-going.  Tell me, shy can't you just leave it to get an IP by DHCP, what is wrong with that?  That will ensure the request gets relayed by the WAP receiver onto the DHCP server, but without that, there is no relaying, which is why it is giving up at the WAP receiver, not going on to the server.