Network IP Address autoconfiguration

[Alan]

Over the last few weeks suddenly the NIC card on my desktop PC gets a static
IP address 169.254.164.39 with a subnet mask 255.255.0.0. Doing ipconfig in
the dos window, shows Autoconfig enabled as ON with the IP address shown
above. There is no network connectivity and the system indicates limited or
no network connectivity.

This computer is connected via a physical LAN to the home networking hub.
The network configuration is setup for DHCP and other wireless computers
connect without a problem.

A couple of weeks ago after spending a couple of hours making all sorts of
changes I was able to get this to work normally again with DHCP. Today
however it has reverted to the same static address.

Any suggestions and advice on fixing this is deeply appreciated ? Can I
disable autoconfig through some registry setting ? Could this be some virus
or other malware on my system.

Thanks in Advance,
Alan.

 

[Guest]

Hi Alan,

The IP 169.254.x.x is a Microsoft idea for getting computers to communicate
if a DHCP server goes down. If the computer in mention is getting it then
that means it cannot find a dhcp server. You said other computers at home
get ip addresses and that this computer is connected to a wired connection.

I'd suspect the network cable. Try switching it out. Also make sure the
nic is enabled - under network connections - right click the local area
connection icon, which is your nic and make sure it's enabled. If you see
disable there then it must mean the nic is enabled. Right? Next right click
the icon again and select repair, this a good way to tell the nic to release
it's current IP and search for a DHCP server and get another.

Hope this helps, let me know your results.

Paul

 

[John Wunderlich]

Over the last few weeks suddenly the NIC card on my desktop PC
gets a static IP address 169.254.164.39 with a subnet mask
255.255.0.0. Doing ipconfig in the dos window, shows Autoconfig
enabled as ON with the IP address shown above. There is no
network connectivity and the system indicates limited or no
network connectivity.

This computer is connected via a physical LAN to the home
networking hub. The network configuration is setup for DHCP and
other wireless computers connect without a problem.

In addition to Paul's suggestion of a bad network cable, another item
which can cause this problem is a misconfigured firewall. The
computer needs ports 67 & 68 to remain open in order to re-negotiate
the IP lease from the DHCP server. If you have firewall software
installed on your computer, try removing it completely and see if it
helps.

HTH,
John

 

[Alan]

Thanks John. Never saw Paul's suggestion that you mention in this message.
Would appreciate if you could resend that message so that I could try out
his suggestions. I did change the ethernet cable recently, so by stretching
that thinking could it be the physical RJ-45 connector on the NIC card that
may be damaged.

I've the Windows firewall installed which is turned off by the TrendMicro
antivirus product that I have running.

Thanks again for your help.

Alan.