Both NVs drew the same IP address (DCHP)

Yes that's the address when they can't pickup an I.P.

Yes you could try removing and reconnecting the cables if you'd rather not reboot them.

Well that was interesting.

I didn't have a crossover cable handy, and I wasn't up to making one (been too long since I needed to, so at best it would have been of questionable quality) so I scrounged an old 802.11B WAP to use instead. Which probably was just as well because I don't know I could have made this work without the use of an alternate DHCP server.

Simply unplugging from the current WAP and plugging it into the old one, the NV+ responded to its DHCP server and acquired an IP address in the proper range. But the NV didn't. So I changed the NV's IP address to static, configured it manually, rebooted, confirmed connectivity, then changed it back to DHCP and rebooted again. And it appeared to accept the change, so I shut it down, plugged it back into the original WAP and fired it back up.

Now both are on the correct (static leased) DHCP-acquired IPs from the new WAP. The static bit is key because the NV also is my WINS server, and a WINS client (in a DNS-less network) needs an IP address to identify the WINS server by, for obvious reasons.

I'm less averse to rebooting when I can do it gracefully via the GUI than just punching the power button, but I figured a reboot gave the NIC the best opportunity to pick up the correct IP address, or to throw it off.

But it's a mystery why they both initially balked at the change from the exact same DHCP server they've been on for years, just in a slightly different IP range. The new WAP is a LinkSys WRT300N N-wireless broadband router running 3rd party DD-WRT firmware (which has been serving faithfully for years) and the old WAP was an M$ MN500 "wireless base station."

Score another one for the IT packrats.

I'm glad they're up again.

You wouldn't have needed a crossover cable btw. The NAS autosenses, so a straight cable would have worked fine.