# Wireless not getting DHCP address



## k2s (Apr 18, 2008)

Anyone have a similar problem to this? I have three other computers on my network that are currently accessing the internet - one G4 desktop via ethernet, one Windows XP professional laptop via wireless, and one G3 iBook via wireless. 

I've been trying to get a fourth G4 iBook on the internet via wireless, but I keep getting an invalid 169.254.x.x address. I've tried restarting the router, resetting the router back to factory default, restarting the computer, turning airport on and off, turning port on and off, nothing seems to make a difference. 

But...when I plug it into the router via ethernet it gets a valid address and can connect to the internet. So that leads me to believe there is something wrong with the Airport card, except that I can connect to other wireless networks, just not this one. 

Anyone have some ideas? It's baffling to me. Don't see anything about Mac filtering on the modem. 

BTW, I'm using a 2701HG-D from Qwest. Running 10.4.11 on the iBook. 

Thanks!

Karl


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## Yellowbeard (Apr 18, 2008)

OH damn I have been having the same problem with 10.5 though.  It is SOOOO anoying.  What I end up doing is entering the valid IP address and all other settings manually then it works.  After awhile I switch it back to DHCP and it seems to work then.  It is the strangest thing.


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## k2s (Apr 18, 2008)

Oh, I've tried entering a manual address, but that didn't work either. You're right, supremely annoying! Especially since I'm now on the G4 iBook in question and it's connecting fine at a wireless cafe. 

So it suggests that there's a problem specific to my Qwest connection at home, yet all my other computers connect fine. so what is it about this particular computer and my Qwest router/service? Hmmm...


Might try calling Qwest tech support again, but they haven't been much help, just say it's an Apple problem.


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## rit_81 (Jun 10, 2008)

Did you get any further with this ?

My girlfriend is having a similar problem with her macbook (running tiger). It connects fine at home. Recently though, she hasn't been able to connect fine at work. Airport seems to be connected to the wireless router (from the icon in the top right) but the laptop isn't getting an IP address via DHCP. I've set up a script using tcpdump to monitor UDP packets on port 67/68 (DHCP). Pressing the 'renew lease' button doesn't seem to do anything (no packets sent) when we have this problem.

Any ideas ?


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## k2s (Jun 10, 2008)

Actually, I can't remember everything I did, but I did get it to work. I know one thing you have to do is clear the saved settings in the keychain manager for that particular connection. I found a step by step by googling. Also, I had to clear out the settings in the airport connection, basically like starting everything from scratch, had something to do with outdated settings. Wish I had something more specific. If you can't find it, I'll look again on my computer when I get home.


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## rit_81 (Jun 10, 2008)

Thanks for the reply. Just had a look. Her macbook doesn't have anything in the keychain for that particular connection - it's an unsecured network. Let me know if you find out about the outdated settings you had to clear.


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## mcliffe (Sep 26, 2008)

Same problem....The Airport card was getting a valid address for our guest network but when the MacBook is configured for one of our secure wireless networks it wouldn't release the old IP address and therefore wouldn't work.       


DHCP release/renew does not seem to have any affect.    So far I workaround this by removing the Airport configuratation and start over - which usually works        Sometimes I have to manually set the IP address  and then revert back to DHCP - then it works. 

I just wish there was an easier way - It seems to be happening more with 10.5 and even after updating to 10.5.5 it still is annoying.


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## Satcomer (Sep 26, 2008)

Open System Preferences->Network and click on Airport. At the top on the pane use the pull down to make a new location (you can call anything you want), one for work and one for home and one for tooling around your random wireless access points. 

Then click on the "Advanced..." button to bring down a menu. When it comes down click the TCP/IP tab and in there turn off IPv6.

After you do this tell us if this helps it.

PS- What wireless security is you router running and does it match the Mac's wireless capabilities?


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## mcliffe (Oct 2, 2008)

That didn't seem to help on the MacBook - however I've seen disabling IPv6 on some Vista machine help so I was hopeful        I disabled LEAP and used PEAP instead but I found I still had to do the 'ipconfig set en1 BOOTP' and 'ipconfig set en1 DHCP' commands to make the interface get a new IP.     


The IP address ended up being correct when displayed with 'ifconfig' in the Terminal but Network Prefences showed No IP Address.       A reboot then had everything working correctly.  

I'm wondering if the problem will come back when this person connects to a different wireless network via DHCP - I'll post back when I find out.


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