Win2k won't release or pull an IP

[srvblues00]

Last week I got a cable modem installed. The dude that installed it said they give me 2 IP addresses. I have 2 computers in the house connected with a Linksys 10/100 switch. I plugged the cable modem in the uplink port, and both computers worked great. The other day, I released the IP of one maching so I could use my laptop for a while. I later shut down my laptop, but now my win2k machine will not pull an IP (using ipconfig /renew *), and it gives me this error message:

"All adapters bound to DHCP do not have DHCP addresses. The addresses were automatically configured and can not be released."

Why the heck is it doing that? What causes to not release this 169.x.x.x IP it pulls out of its butt? It refuses to renew.. I have reinstalled the ethernet adapter (Dlink) and all the protocols, but still nothing. Any ideas?

 

[stash]

The .169 addresses cannot be released. They are assigned by Windows after it has attempted and failed to reach a DHCP server. If ipconfig /renew is not getting an IP from the cable company, then something is wrong with the connection between your server and the ISP, or the DHCP server thinks there are already two addresses on your network.

You may want to make sure that you release the IP from the laptop. Or if you dont, you should eventually pick up an IP on the PC, since the lease time for the address (whatever the ISP set it at) will expire.

 

[mastertech01]

The dude that installed it said they give me 2 IP addresses

Maybe they gave you static addresses, in which case DHCP would not work. Did you record the addresses and try to manually install with static address?

 

[srvblues00]

Originally posted by: STaSh

You may want to make sure that you release the IP from the laptop. Or if you dont, you should eventually pick up an IP on the PC, since the lease time for the address (whatever the ISP set it at) will expire.

Thanks for the info. Before I shut the laptop down, I used winipcfg (win98 OS) to release the IP. Do I still need to wait for the lease to run out?

mastertech01 - I do not think it's static. Before when it was working, everything worked great by just telling to automatically obtain the IP.

 

[stash]

If you released the ip from the laptop then you shouldnt have to wait for the lease to run out--you are effectively terminating the lease when you release the address.

I would check connectivity between the PC in question and the switch.

Also, to rule out any problems with connecting to the cable company, you could try releasing and renewing the IP of the other machine. You may also want to call your cable company to verify exactly how they set up your service.

 

[AKA]

You didn't need to release any Ip addresses when swapping to your laptop. If your disconnecting the network from that machine its no different.

Next time just swap them out.. no need to renew release on a dhcp.

If its showing the 169.x.x.x ip address then its not detecting a dhcp server out there. Check your cables & switch.

 

[srvblues00]

Well, get this.. last night I unplugged the power to the cable modem. This morning, I plugged the power cord back in, and both systems worked fine! Go figure.. I have no idea.. but at least it works now.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: srvblues00
Well, get this.. last night I unplugged the power to the cable modem. This morning, I plugged the power cord back in, and both systems worked fine! Go figure.. I have no idea.. but at least it works now.

srvblues00,

I was going to suggest you power down all appliances (machines included) and then power them back on cable modem first. From my experiences, the cable modem seems to do some MAC address caching. It has trouble switching between MAC addresses. Glad you figured it out.