dhcp vs. alternate configuration

[Guest]

I recently had a power outage overnight at my house, and since that time, my XP Pro PC does not seem to be able to get it's DHCP config from my Netgear router. It instead was using the Alternate Configuration (automatic) which of course didn't work on my network. Looking at the Connection Status, I could see bytes going out, but nothing coming in.

By the way, the computer was not turned on during the outage.

For a while I thought it was the router. I tried doing a hard reset on the router. However, I then used my laptop (Win 2000 Pro) and it was fine. So, this leads me to believe there is something with XP Pro that is causing this behavior.

I have worked around the problem for now by manually configuring the Alternate Configuration with the correct information, but I would really like to know if there is a way to fix it. I have poked around some websites and it seems that resetting the TCP/IP stack with netsh might work, but do I need to do that?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Chuck]

I recently had a power outage overnight at my house, and since that time, my XP Pro PC does not seem to be able to get it's DHCP config from my Netgear router. It instead was using the Alternate Configuration (automatic) which of course didn't work on my network. Looking at the Connection Status, I could see bytes going out, but nothing coming in.

By the way, the computer was not turned on during the outage.

For a while I thought it was the router. I tried doing a hard reset on the router. However, I then used my laptop (Win 2000 Pro) and it was fine. So, this leads me to believe there is something with XP Pro that is causing this behavior.

I have worked around the problem for now by manually configuring the Alternate Configuration with the correct information, but I would really like to know if there is a way to fix it. I have poked around some websites and it seems that resetting the TCP/IP stack with netsh might work, but do I need to do that?

Thanks,
Greg

Greg,

If the XP computer had its TCP/IP stack corrupted by the power outage, resetting
it would seem a valid procedure. But, if the computer was powered off during
the outage, I'd doubt that was the problem.

Is the laptop truly getting DHCP from the router? Check the DHCP table on the
router - is it actually issuing an address? Is there a router activity log?

Please provide ipconfig information for each computer.
Start - Run - "cmd". Type "ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt" into the command
window - Open c:\ipconfig.txt in Notepad, copy and paste into your next post.
Identify operating system (by name and version) with each ipconfig listing.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Guest]

Chuck,

here they are. I x'ed out the MAC addresses but the rest of it is there.

By the way, I could not find how to view logs on the router.

XP Pro (desktop)
----------------------
Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Homepc
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 192.168.0.5
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

*****************

Windows 2000 Pro (laptop)

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Homepc2
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : attbi.com
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905C-TX Compatible)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.4
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 63.240.76.4
204.127.198.4
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, July 07, 2004 6:40:15 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, July 10, 2004 6:40:15 PM


It looks like DHCP is working from the router. It works with my Linux box too.

I have also tried moving the connection to a different port on the router, no difference.

Greg

 

[Chuck]

Chuck,

here they are. I x'ed out the MAC addresses but the rest of it is there.

By the way, I could not find how to view logs on the router.

It looks like DHCP is working from the router. It works with my Linux box too.

I have also tried moving the connection to a different port on the router, no difference.

Greg

Greg,

Both the boxes are getting DHCP. Homepc is using the router as its dns server
(dns relay), Laptop has actual dns server addresses ("63.240.76.4" =
ns6.attbi.com).

Is that the complete IPConfig list from Homepc? I was hoping for Lease
Obtained. Compare Homepc and Laptop IPConfig lists.

Check the dns settings on the router, and check on the laptop - is the laptop
getting dns addresses from the router, or are they hard coded on the laptop
("Use the following DNS server addresses" rather than "Obtain DNS server
addresses automatically")? After you reset the router, did you re input the dns
servers addresses?

What model Netgear router? Let's make sure that it will do dns relaying.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Guest]

Greg,

Both the boxes are getting DHCP. Homepc is using the router as its dns server
(dns relay), Laptop has actual dns server addresses ("63.240.76.4" =
ns6.attbi.com).

It's using the router because that's what I defined in the "Alternate Configuration" tab under TCP/IP properties. Before, when it was set to Automatic, it would use some address like 169.x.x.x which didn't talk to anything.

Is that the complete IPConfig list from Homepc? I was hoping for Lease
Obtained. Compare Homepc and Laptop IPConfig lists.

Yes, that is the complete IPConfig list. It's not getting DHCP. If I try doing an ipconfig /release and /renew, it does not find the DHCP server. Weird.

Check the dns settings on the router, and check on the laptop - is the laptop
getting dns addresses from the router, or are they hard coded on the laptop
("Use the following DNS server addresses" rather than "Obtain DNS server
addresses automatically")? After you reset the router, did you re input the dns
servers addresses?

As far as I can tell, the settings on both PC's are correct. I recently got this desktop with XP so I am thinking there is some new networking feature or setting that I am not aware of.

The router gets the DNS servers automatically from the ISP.

What model Netgear router? Let's make sure that it will do dns relaying.

It is a MR814v2. Since I am using the desktop right now, I would say that it does the DNS relaying...

Again, this was working just fine before, not ever using the Alternate Configuration. Now it always uses the Alternate Configuration.

Thanks again,
Greg