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Sometimes when I connect a computer to my LAN, it doesn't seem to be
able to get an IP address assigned from the (ADSL) router even though
'Use Automatic IP Address' is selected. When I do an 'ipconfig', I see
that it has a different subnet mask than my other computers (e.g.
255.255.0.0 instead of 255.255.255.0), and the only way I can get it
connected to the LAN is to enter a specific IP address, subnet mask,
and Default Gateway.

How does XP decide what subnet mask etc to use when 'Use Automatic IP
Address' is selected? I thought it would just query the router and get
assigned everything from that.

Chris Lim wrote:

> Sometimes when I connect a computer to my LAN, it doesn't seem to be
> able to get an IP address assigned from the (ADSL) router even though
> 'Use Automatic IP Address' is selected. When I do an 'ipconfig', I see
> that it has a different subnet mask than my other computers (e.g.
> 255.255.0.0 instead of 255.255.255.0), and the only way I can get it
> connected to the LAN is to enter a specific IP address, subnet mask,
> and Default Gateway.

what is the IP addr when it has the incorrect mask?

> How does XP decide what subnet mask etc to use when 'Use Automatic IP
> Address' is selected? I thought it would just query the router and get
> assigned everything from that.

It should do

Nathan Mercer wrote:
> what is the IP addr when it has the incorrect mask?

I can't remember - the computer that it just happened with has gone
back to its owner. Incidently, it was working fine until I changed the
computer's name, then rebooted. In the past the problem seemed to
happen when I changed the router, so is XP somehow caching the details
and refusing to use the correct ones or something?

On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 20:08:22 -0700, Chris Lim wrote:

> Nathan Mercer wrote:
>> what is the IP addr when it has the incorrect mask?
>
> I can't remember - the computer that it just happened with has gone
> back to its owner. Incidently, it was working fine until I changed the
> computer's name, then rebooted. In the past the problem seemed to
> happen when I changed the router, so is XP somehow caching the details
> and refusing to use the correct ones or something?

It'll set up a local guess and provide you with limited ( ie none )
networking if if doesn't get a sensible answer from your dhcp server when
needed. This can also occur if you rename your domain ...<something>.local
( thanks Microsoft! ).

ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew should fix it if it was a
connectivity issue.

Steve

Steve wrote:
> It'll set up a local guess and provide you with limited ( ie none )
> networking if if doesn't get a sensible answer from your dhcp server when
> needed. This can also occur if you rename your domain ...<something>.local
> ( thanks Microsoft! ).
>
> ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew should fix it if it was a
> connectivity issue.

Yeah I tried both and neither of them worked. ipconfig hangs for a
minute then returns an error saying it couldn't perform the action.

Next time it happens I'll note the current IP address etc that it's
trying to use and post that.

In article <. com>,
says...
> Steve wrote:
> > It'll set up a local guess and provide you with limited ( ie none )
> > networking if if doesn't get a sensible answer from your dhcp server when
> > needed. This can also occur if you rename your domain ...<something>.local
> > ( thanks Microsoft! ).
> >
> > ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew should fix it if it was a
> > connectivity issue.
>
> Yeah I tried both and neither of them worked. ipconfig hangs for a
> minute then returns an error saying it couldn't perform the action.
>
> Next time it happens I'll note the current IP address etc that it's
> trying to use and post that.

It sounds like your NIC isn't correctly configured/installed - or
possibly faulty.

--
Duncan