Shared internet connection/networking question

[gospel]

First of all here is my setup:
Satellite internet modem (HN7000S) that hooks into the "internet" port of a 4 port router. My wife's computer is hooked into port 1 of the router and my computer is hooked into port 2. My wife's computer will boot up and automatically make it's network connection which in turn allows internet connectivity. However, my computer, when booted up will not make it's own connection to the network. Upon boot up it acts like it is bogged down when I click on "network connections". In troubleshooting this problem I did ipconfig through the command prompt and my computer's IP was 0.0.0.0. In other words it did not have an IP address. I did ipconfig/renew which is supposed to make the computer establish a new IP and it does not work.
I found out by going to TCP/IP properties of my network connection that my PC is set up to "obtain IP address automatically" but it is not doing this. In order for me to connect to my network and the internet I have to change the IP to something I just make up and then change it back to "obtain IP automatically". It will then establish an IP and connect to the internet and network.
Anyone have any idea what the problem is here. My weakest thing about computers is definitely networking.
Almost forgot. Both PCs are running XP Home

[kfinchie]

Is DCHP enabled on the router?

[Law]

It could be there isn't enough address or your NIC is bad. To test if your NIC is bad or not, record your wife's computer IP then unplug her computer and leave only yours plugged in and reboot it and see if it picks up an address and if this address is the same on your wife's computer. This would indicate there is only 1 address to go around and that your NIC is in good shape. If not, might be a bad NIC.

Symptoms for 0.0.0.0, please refer to this link for additional troubleshooting "Ipconfig" command reports IP address 0.0.0.0

[gospel]

Thanks for the help. I started thinking about DHCP and went to "services" and found it to be set to 'manual'. When I set it to "automatic" it establishes an IP and connects to the network.