Can't get an IP address assigned using DHCP

[Guest]

Hi,
I have a home network which is a mix of 98 and XP machines, some wired, some
wireless, connected to AOL through a router. Up until recently, everything
worked great, however, my daughter's PC has recently stopped connecting to
the network so she can't get internet access (no MS Messenger etc!).

This PC was using a wireless connection, I've now changed to an ethernet
cable, but still nothing works. The first roadblock that I've reached while
debugging is that the PC doesn't appear to be getting an IP address from the
router which is configured to act as a DHCP server. All other machines on the
network are getting addresses correctly. Things that I've tried so far:
- I have compared network settings with another machine and can't see
anything that is different.
- I can ping the PC itself, but can't ping anything else on the network
- Tried the windows trouble shooter but that's not helped.
- Checked ipconfig, which shows IP address as being Autoconfiguration IP
address 169.254.178.246

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[Al Romanosky]

You are correct in that the address in 169... range indicates no DHCP
(address should be in 198... range)- it does permit the PC to communicate
locally with other computers on the network. Have you checked to assure that
"auto configuration" is still valid on the daughter's PC

 

[Chuck]

Hi,
I have a home network which is a mix of 98 and XP machines, some wired, some
wireless, connected to AOL through a router. Up until recently, everything
worked great, however, my daughter's PC has recently stopped connecting to
the network so she can't get internet access (no MS Messenger etc!).

This PC was using a wireless connection, I've now changed to an ethernet
cable, but still nothing works. The first roadblock that I've reached while
debugging is that the PC doesn't appear to be getting an IP address from the
router which is configured to act as a DHCP server. All other machines on the
network are getting addresses correctly. Things that I've tried so far:
- I have compared network settings with another machine and can't see
anything that is different.
- I can ping the PC itself, but can't ping anything else on the network
- Tried the windows trouble shooter but that's not helped.
- Checked ipconfig, which shows IP address as being Autoconfiguration IP
address 169.254.178.246

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Alan

Alan,

The problem computer is getting an APIPA address.
<http://support.microsoft.com/?id=220874>

If you have other computers on the network, all getting DHCP from the router,
you have 2 possibilities:
# The router DHCP scope is exhausted.
# The problem computer is not connecting.

How do you "ping the PC itself"? Are you pinging it from itself? Are you
pinging it by name or ip address? Are you getting a reply?

When you use an Ethernet cable, is it a tested cable? Connecting to a tested
router port? Have you tried swapping cable / port with another computer that's
having no problem?

 

[Guest]

Alan,

The problem computer is getting an APIPA address.
<http://support.microsoft.com/?id=220874>

If you have other computers on the network, all getting DHCP from the router,
you have 2 possibilities:
# The router DHCP scope is exhausted.
# The problem computer is not connecting.

How do you "ping the PC itself"? Are you pinging it from itself? Are you
pinging it by name or ip address? Are you getting a reply?

When you use an Ethernet cable, is it a tested cable? Connecting to a tested
router port? Have you tried swapping cable / port with another computer that's
having no problem?

Hi Chuck,
Thanks for the reply! The router scope isn't exhausted...the annoying thing
here is that the machine was working until about 3 or 4 weeks ago on a
wireless adapter. Nothing changed (that I can think of) and suddenly it
stopped working. Having tried to fix the wireless adapter I've changed to an
ethernet connection but can't get that to work either!
Cable has been checked on another system, just tried another router input
and that didn't fix it. Router is a Speedtouch 510, BTW.
I can ping the PC from itself, but not from any other system on the network.
I was able to ping both the IP address and the computer name successfully.
The IP address range on the LAN is 10.x.x.x
I've also checked the Local Area Connection Status and it indicates that the
network is connected, and the activity is listed as:
- Sent 68
- Received 0

Any other suggestions?

Cheers,
Alan

 

[Chuck]

Hi Chuck,
Thanks for the reply! The router scope isn't exhausted...the annoying thing
here is that the machine was working until about 3 or 4 weeks ago on a
wireless adapter. Nothing changed (that I can think of) and suddenly it
stopped working. Having tried to fix the wireless adapter I've changed to an
ethernet connection but can't get that to work either!
Cable has been checked on another system, just tried another router input
and that didn't fix it. Router is a Speedtouch 510, BTW.
I can ping the PC from itself, but not from any other system on the network.
I was able to ping both the IP address and the computer name successfully.
The IP address range on the LAN is 10.x.x.x
I've also checked the Local Area Connection Status and it indicates that the
network is connected, and the activity is listed as:
- Sent 68
- Received 0

Any other suggestions?

Cheers,
Alan

Alan,

Besides a physical connectivity (wired and wireless) problem, your best bet
would be an LSP / Winsock problem. Follow all 5 steps listed; LSP / Winsock
repair is not scientific.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/problems-with-lsp-winsock-layer-in.html>

 

[Guest]

This might be staing the obvious, but have you tried taking the power off the
router for at least 1 minute. I have seen some routers stop issuing IP's and
this fixes that particular problem.

 

[Guest]

Also, you could try to manually set the IP's and see if you regain
connectivity. That would help eliminate some issues.

Peter G

 

[Guest]

Alan,

Besides a physical connectivity (wired and wireless) problem, your best bet
would be an LSP / Winsock problem. Follow all 5 steps listed; LSP / Winsock
repair is not scientific.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/problems-with-lsp-winsock-layer-in.html>

Hi Chuck,

THANK YOU!!! Peace has been restored thanks to your suggestion. The LSP-Fix
didn't fnd any problems, but the WinsockFix utility has done the biz and it
is now functioning on either the ethernet or wireless connection. Many thanks
for your help.
Alan

 

[Guest]

Also, you could try to manually set the IP's and see if you regain
connectivity. That would help eliminate some issues.

Peter G

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the suggestions....I had tried both of these though and it hadn't
fixed it! Seems the problem was tied up with the winsock layer and Chuck
suggested some utilities that fixed it.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[Guest]

You are correct in that the address in 169... range indicates no DHCP
(address should be in 198... range)- it does permit the PC to communicate
locally with other computers on the network. Have you checked to assure that
"auto configuration" is still valid on the daughter's PC

--

Hi Al,

Thanks for the suggestion, however it seems the problem was tied up with the
winsock layer and Chuck suggested some utilities that fixed it.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[Chuck]

:

Hi Chuck,

THANK YOU!!! Peace has been restored thanks to your suggestion. The LSP-Fix
didn't fnd any problems, but the WinsockFix utility has done the biz and it
is now functioning on either the ethernet or wireless connection. Many thanks
for your help.
Alan

Alan,

That's great news!! Thank you for persevering. And thanks for letting us know!

 

[Guest]

Alan,

The problem computer is getting an APIPA address.
<http://support.microsoft.com/?id=220874>

If you have other computers on the network, all getting DHCP from the router,
you have 2 possibilities:
# The router DHCP scope is exhausted.
# The problem computer is not connecting.

How do you "ping the PC itself"? Are you pinging it from itself? Are you
pinging it by name or ip address? Are you getting a reply?

When you use an Ethernet cable, is it a tested cable? Connecting to a tested
router port? Have you tried swapping cable / port with another computer that's
having no problem?

Thank You Chuck!

I've been messing with a friend's computer and could not get it to connect
to my home network (Linksys router). When I saw your "scope exhausted"
comment, the little light bulb over my head went off. Bingo!

You 'da man!!!!!!!!