E4200v2 Router Assigning Arbitrary Ip Addresses To Wired Peripherals?

problem I have encountered with a Cisco E4200v2 router (with current firmware update) which is just over three months old. The other day my internet connection (cable "always on") hiccuped a couple of time (which is not unusual for this area). However, when the service finally restored itself, I lost a PC and printer from my home network, and the ability to connect to the internet with the wired PC. Outages like this are normal in this area and have not had an issue like this before. Both were "wired" via (CAT 5e) cables. The three PC's that were connected via wi-fi were not affected. We switched CAT 5e cables several times with not changed in status. The wired printer and PC were assigned arbitrary ip addresses in the 16X.XXX etc. range. I think that has to do with not being able to communicate with the DHCP server? However, we connected one of the laptops via a CAT 5e cable directly to the router, and it too was assigned an arbitrary ip address. I finally reverted to my old router (LINKSYS WRT160N), and the issue went away. Is this a known E4200v2 issue? Is there a fix or workaround for this? The "wired" PC and two laptops are Windows 7, and the all-in-one is running Vista.I can continue using my WRT16N. But hate to think I wasted good money on this new dual band. Have never had any issues before with Linksy/Cisco before.