IP 169.xxx problem

[Rob]

Had a (very) recent problem with a 169 IP address, which
could not be resolved by the ISP (ntl). System restore
worked once, for a few days but got 169 IP back again,
and all the system restores in the world didnt help this
time. Ended up doind a complete reinstall. Has anyone had
a similar problem with XP failing to communicate, and
come up with an answer? McAfee VS and Firewall used, and
I have a slight suspicion that it could have been one of
these that caused the whole episode.

Ta

Rob

 

[Seth]

McAfee VS and Firewall used, and

I have a slight suspicion that it could have been one of
these that caused the whole episode.

Entirely possible. A 169 address will be assigned to your
computer automatically by Windows when Windows doesn't
have any other source by which to obtain an IP address
(aka a DHCP server). So if your computer was for some
reason unable to get a response from your ISP's DHCP
server (perhaps a firewall was blocking the request), then
you will get a 169.254 address and you will not be able to
use any services that are not local to your computer
(which rules out the internet).

Kill both firewalls, or better yet, all kinds of software
that proport to "help you" and see if it works naked
first. If it does, then you can start adding stuff back in
to see which one causes the problem. If it doesn't work
naked, then your ISP needs to tell you why you are not
getting DHCP service from your modem/router.

This idea of trying everything "naked" first and then
working upwards from there is applicable to.... everything?