[network] can't get rid of a 169 ip address

Oh god, this is a mess. It all started when I wanted to use my laptop to stream media to my 360. To do this, I connected my 360 directly to my laptop via ethernet cable; I used this guide: Circlets: Connecting directly to your PC (http://xboxelle.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E83A6D6C82C489F1!265. entry). Ok, later on, I wanted to connect my laptop back to my regular network. I undid all the changes from that guide, so everything should've worked fine as if I didn't change anything in the first place. Unfortunately, it seemed like my laptop was still stuck with the 169 ip. I Googled it, and it seems like there's tons of solutions to fix this problem, however none seemed to work. I tried winsockfix , resetting router, going into cmd and doing a ipconfig /release and /renew. Eventually, I somehow fixed it not even knowing so. I think it was some kind of combination of undo'ing the coax cable, turning off the modem/router/computers, and restarting everything.

Ok, so earlier today, I guess our provider was having some problems since I was losing my cable connection for a few seconds every few minutes or so. I rebooted my laptop after/during one of these hiccups, and low and behold, I'm stuck with a 169 ip again. Super. Trying everything to fix it again, and during one of the modem/router restarts, I somehow gave one of the other four computers on our network a 169 ip (it was not even turned on during any of this, I found out it had one after turning it on to check what it's current IP was). So now I'm stuck with two comps with it. I have no idea how to fix it. I've been trying everything I've found through my searches. Halp plz.

edit: also, even if I directly connect one of the 169 comps to my modem, it still doesn't get a new ip.

Okay, well, a 169 address is basically what your PC assigns itself if your modem/router's DHCP services aren't answering it.

This will sound redundant, but just try it anyways.


1. Power everything in the chain off, modem, router, all PCs that are having the problem.

2. Unplug the data cable from the router to the modem, RJ45, LAN/Network cable, whatever you want to call it. Also, disconnect the data cable running from the router to the PC.

3. Power the modem back on, and wait for it to establish it's connection to your service provder, as in wait for the lights to finish their blinking sequence, and verify that they are establishing a connection.

4. Reconnect the RJ45 back to the router in the proper port.

5. Power on the router, give it at least 20 seconds to establish it's connection.

6. Power on your PC, while it's still disconnected from the network, allowing it to boot into Windows.

7. Go to Start -> Run -> "cmd". And run "netsh winsock reset", no quotes obviously when you type these.

8. Reboot your computer by going to Start -> Shut Down.

9. Once the PC has booted back into Windows, plug your data cable running form the PC back into one of the ports on the router.

10. Wait for the PC to establish it's connection, there should be an icon on the taskbar indicating it is trying to establish a connection.

11. If this works, run the same command on the other machine, reboot it, and reconnect it to the network while Windows is running, verify the connection is working.

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If while connecting your machines you get an error message stating "Limited or no network connectivity" then let us know!
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If the above doesn't work, let us know, if it works.... Let us know.

tried above, and after it's at "acquiring network address" for about 45sec, it goes back to limited or no connectivity and the 169 address. Also, while doing everything, I kept this PC on - would that affect anything?

basically what is happening is that your machine is not being given a DHCP lease.

Reasons for this are:
your DHCP server has handed out all the IPs in the scope.
Your DHCP server is not reachable.
Your DHCP server is off.

Make sure that your 'DHCP client' service is running in windows. (assuming you are running windows)

in a command prompt do the following:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

If that doesn't work do the following and post the results here:
ipconfig /all

man, wtf. so after repeating all of the above again with every pc off. my laptop's connection works, however, now the 169 has spread to my main pc (the pc that i was originally posting on) and i can't fix it. plus, the other pc that had it still has it and i can't fix that one either.

Here's the /all from my main comp that is now not working, but originally was:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : jason
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-F2-3F-1A-8B
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.114.199
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :


Here's the /all from the other non-working comp:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : mypc
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit
Ethernet Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0F-EA-F3-6B-AA

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0F-EA-F3-6B-A8
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.16.5
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

what kind of router do you have

apparently i'm using a switch, not router. It's a Netgear fs6o5 v2 switch.

also, now the fourth computer on the network has a 169 address. i don't even understand how it spread from my laptop to all the other computers.

You didn't install any of the nForce Networking utilities prior to this happening? I know that some of their software clashes very heavily with the Windows firewall and is known to cause problems like this.

If you're not sure, check Add/Remove Programs from the Control Panel.

tried above, and after it's at "acquiring network address" for about 45sec, it goes back to limited or no connectivity and the 169 address. Also, while doing everything, I kept this PC on - would that affect anything?

I laid everything you needed to do in the exact order, if at any point I called for a shutdown/restart, you need to have done it at that time.

No, haven't installed any networking software on any of the pcs or anything like that. Also, is there an win98 equivalent command for netsh winsock reset? One of the comps is running win98 (yeah... i know)

it's not "spreading". getting a 169 address, as he already pointed out, means that your computers aren't getting their IP addresses from the DHCP server like they are supposed to be doing.

in that case, it is your router (built into your cable/dsl modem if all you have is a switch plugged into that) acting up probably. it's also possible your switch is fucked up.

remove your switch and plug in ONE of your computers to your dsl/cable modem and see what happens.

No, haven't installed any networking software on any of the pcs or anything like that. Also, is there an win98 equivalent command for netsh winsock reset? One of the comps is running win98 (yeah... i know)

A similar fix for Windows98 would be Winsock2 Fix (http://www.bu.edu/pcsc/internetaccess/winsock2fix.html).


The only thing thing I'd say about this situation though that strikes me as odd is... Why are you using a switch? A switch won't do the internet connection sharing, at least not to my knowledge, that a router will do. That isn't to say you can't jimmy rig your setup to do that task, but a switch doesn't provide the same DHCP services as a router does. Again, I'm no expert on switches, I've rarely ever used them.

My understanding though is that a switch doesn't perform as an access gateway to the IP address assigned to it, in other words it creates a closed private network - it'll function for things like file and print sharing, but won't serve as a gateway to the internet, thus no internet sharing - unless you pay your ISP to allot another IP address for your internet service.

Yeah, we pay for the additional IPs

when i connect directly the the modem, everything seems to work. i was able to get the win98 comp working this way. i then disconnected it, and plugged it into my switch, and then connected switch to modem. the win98 comp still worked, however, none of the other comps did - came back with 169s.

Yeah, we pay for the additional IPs

Why not just use a router and save yourself the fees from a second IP address?

dunno, but all i want to do atm is fix this. i dont understand how all the computers all of a sudden had problems with the DHCP server.

is there a way to manually enter the dhcp server address or something? i copied all the info down on the pc's when they were working.

try connecting your other computers to the modem directly and see what happens. also, tell me what ip address (at least the first 3 parts of the address if you don't want to give out the entire address) that your win98 computer got when it was plugged into your modem directly.

p.s. your switch appears to possibly be broken from the information you've given me so far, but we'll see. need some more info.

that would be a pretty huge coincidence if it somehow broke. the ip on the win98 comp when directly connected was: 24.15.92.x

edit: two of the other comps worked when directly plugged in as well. haven't bothered with the fourth since i can worry about it later.