Self-Assigned

I’m having computer issues, very frustrating ones. My Macbook is having trouble connecting to wireless networks, but not all networks and not all the time. Most of the time when my computer is able to connect, it somehow has trouble getting an IP address and just gives a ‘Self-Assigned IP’ (example 169.254.113.197). This IP address is completely worthless and it means I can’t get on the internet. Sometimes I can’t even connect to the networks at all, it gives me an error of ‘Connection Timeout’ when I try to submit the network password. I have been tracking my connection status through my System Preferences, however, my network preferences will crash and unexpectedly quit. This problem has become very testing and frustrating. One very frustrating aspect of the issue is that I haven’t been able to recreate my problems the two times I’ve been to the Apple store to consult a “Genius”. The last time I was there (Saturday) the Genius said that he thought the problem was most likely hardware related, not a bad guess, and that he would swap out the airport card and hopefully that would fix the issue. It didn’t work. Now I don’t know what to try, I’ve talked to a number of people and Mike and I have talked a lot and I think my four options include 1.) reinstalling OS X 2.) getting my internal antenna replaced 3.) cry 4.) reject all technology and live a duller simpler life.

Any ideas? I’ve decided to tell everyone who will listen about my issues just incase someone out there can help me.