[lug] home network question

[Davide Del Vento]

Folks,
I have a TRENDnet TEW 432BRP with firmware v2.00.19 connected via
ethernet to another wireless+ethernet router. Then I have two PCs
connected to the TRENDnet via ethernet and my wife would like to use
its wifi for her phone.

The trouble is, if the PCs are off, the phone always says the wifi is
out of range, even when sitting in the same room where the router is.
When the PCs are on, it's 50-50 (sometimes the wifi is out of range,
sometimes is working). The PC always access the network fine.

Do you have any idea of what's going on? I suspected something like
power save, but couldn't find anything. Neither did Google. Do I have
a defective unit, or is it anything else I could try? I'd be eager to
try something hacky, but e.g.
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start#trendnet isn't supported.

Even just suggestions about keywords to Google would be good.

Thanks,
Davide