My MacBook is self-assigning its IP address (and won't let it go)

My MacBook is generally well-behaved, but at times (seemingly random times), it self-assigns an IP address when it should be getting one from a router. The problem is sporadic and occurs in two separate locations - home (where I have control of the wireless router) and school (where I have no control over the router).
Sometimes I come home from school, and I have no problem connecting to my WLAN (2Wire router). Sometimes, however, I get the dreaded "self-assigned IP address" message, and I cannot thereafter get an "un-self-assigned" IP address. I have tried renewing the DHCP lease - no luck. I have tried trashing com.apple.airport.preferences.plist, and although that has worked on occasion, usually it doesn't solve the problem. Even more maddening is that rebooting doesn't help. Nothing consistently solves the problem - and that is so much more annoying than the problem itself!
At school I have this same problem and more. The school network SSID is not broadcast, so AirPort seems not to be able to remember it. Every single time, despite the fact that I've asked it to "remember this network," I have to type in the SSID and WEP in order to join the network. Sometimes it works quickly, and sometimes it won't work for a while, and other times it self-assigns an IP address. (ARGH!) And then I have to try the hit-and-miss "solutions" that work sporadically at home, which work equally unreliably at school.
Can I make it STOP self-assigning an IP address when it thinks it can't get one from the network? Part of the problem seems to be that the AirPort does not to want to give up its IP address after it has self-assigned. Is there an equivalent to the DOS command ipconfig /release that I could type from a terminal window? (It has been a while since I used UNIX.)
There are many things I like about my new Mac (I was a UNIX user in grad school and then had to use a PC at work, so I am a newbie to Mac OS), but this problem is totally unacceptable for a computer that is supposed to be so much better than a Windows-based machine. At least in Windows I knew how to troubleshoot problems - here I am completely helpless! And I CANNOT believe Apple has not fixed this, because from what I can tell by looking on the web (when I can actually get a real IP address), people have had the problem for at least FOUR YEARS!!!!!!
Please help - I am desperate! Thank you in advance.

Have you tried making a New Location for each yet? The Automatic one get confused easily.
Some "nix" to try when it happens also...
sudo ipconfig set en1 BOOTP;sudo ipconfig set en1 DHCP
sudo ifconfig en1 down;sudo ifconfig en1 up
Sometimes having an all OFF Location can help, thanks to Gnarlodious...
http://gnarlodious.com/Computer/MacOsx/WiFi

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