Why is my computer using a 169.254.121.233/169.254.113.107 address?

KiKiweaky

KiKiweaky

KiKiweaky

Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2009
Posts
15
Hi as the title says my computer recently started using these addresses and every now and then I cant connect to the internet for some time, it has become more frequent and I just spent the last hour playing around with network settings etc and turning my computer on and off was what sorted it in the end basically I don't have a clue what I'm doing.

For a while I thought I was part of a botnet or something but apparently its my computer not being able to find a dhcp server for whatever reason. I could be and probably am wrong on :\

Operating system is windows vista 64 bit if that helps, I'm using a desktop connected directly to a router by ethernet cable, if more info would help please ask any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Any other devices affected? Change cable? New router? You are right, your computer is not getting a valid IP address
 
We recently changed router as we upgraded to fibre, but it was happening with the old one as well but only to my computer, my dads laptop was unaffected when we had our old router.

When I couldn't connect earlier I tried to get help on my dads laptop but to my surprise that couldn't connect either and also had a 169.x.x.x address, restarting it sorted it though. So my desktop couldnt connect but the laptop could.

Taking out the Ethernet cable from my computer turning it off/on and then putting the cable back in when the computer had started back up again I was able to connect again.
 
What ip address does the computer get when there is a connection? I'm not sure maybe the computers kept some old settings. Did you ask the engineer when you upgraded to fibre?

If you get no reply when pinging localhost it might mean the TCP/IP stack is corrupt.
 
Last edited:
needforspeed said:
What ip address does the computer get when there is a connection? I'm not sure maybe the computers kept some old settings. Did you ask the engineer when you upgraded to fibre?

If you get no reply when pinging localhost it might mean the TCP/IP stack is corrupt.
Click to expand...

My computer when I cant connect uses
169.254.113.107

The laptop had
169.254.121.233

I can connect to the internet so the localhost is responding to pings, if I come home tomorrow and cant connect initially I'll try it again. Can the tcp/ip stack be refreshed/fixed easily if its corrupted?
 
Yep they're zeroconf/Apipa addresses which you'll end up with if your pc is not getting info from the dhcp server on your router.

Check that you windows dhcp client service is starting properly and if/when it happens you can try doing a ipconfig /release followed by a ipconfig /renew in a cmd prompt.

Of course as it's a physically connected desktop machine you could just set it up with the appropriate static settings and forgo dhcp completely
 
memyselfandi said:
Yep they're zeroconf/Apipa addresses which you'll end up with if your pc is not getting info from the dhcp server on your router.

Check that you windows dhcp client service is starting properly and if/when it happens you can try doing a ipconfig /release followed by a ipconfig /renew in a cmd prompt.

Of course as it's a physically connected desktop machine you could just set it up with the appropriate static settings and forgo dhcp completely
Click to expand...

I'll check out the service forgot about that, maybe restarting that might help instead of shutting down the entire computer.

I've tried doing ipconfig /release & ipconfig /renew but cmd responds that there is nothing connected to the network adapter or something along those lines, cant recall the exact wording.

I didn't think you could manually assign your own ip address when you make use of an isp.

quackers said:
Log onto the router and have a look at the dhcp settings
Click to expand...

Cheers I'll do that, too.
 
ippe said:
When you say that u get the 169 address and you can't connect to the net for 'some time' how long does it last?
Click to expand...

I was playing medieval 2 at one stage and when I stopped playing after an hour or 2 I discovered I wasnt able to connect to the internet with the 169 address there as usual, so it can last for an hour or 2 at least but I have seen it last as little as 5 minutes as well.
 
Might be the dhcp pool on your router has been used up,and it's not releasing addresses; have you tried giving your router a 10 minute power cycle?

alternatively, setup your pc's ip manually.

can post more if needed :)
 
KiKiweaky said:
I'll check out the service forgot about that, maybe restarting that might help instead of shutting down the entire computer.

I've tried doing ipconfig /release & ipconfig /renew but cmd responds that there is nothing connected to the network adapter or something along those lines, cant recall the exact wording.

I didn't think you could manually assign your own ip address when you make use of an isp
Click to expand...

Hmmm ... You have tried a different network cable haven't you? And tried updating your network drivers?

You should be getting you dhcp address from your router of the form (probably) 192.168.x.x and those addresses are nat'ed by the router from the ISP ... So as long as you are using addresses in the correct range then of course you can configure static addresses for your end user devices. For example most of my devices are statically addressed but I have a small dhcp pool for visiting devices (e.g. Work laptop) so my router is configured to give out 192.168.0.200-220 via dhcp and the other 192.168.0.x addresses are used statically as needed.

A friend of mine did have an issue the other week which could be something else to check ... His router had somehow got into bridged mode and hence he was getting dhcp addresses for his end devices from his ISP directly! ... Of course that is not supposed to happen or work so he was randomly getting the sort of symptoms you describe ... Putting the router back into the correct mode fixed his issue as it meant he was getting addresses from his own router again.
 
snakefood said:
Might be the dhcp pool on your router has been used up,and it's not releasing addresses; have you tried giving your router a 10 minute power cycle?

alternatively, setup your pc's ip manually.

can post more if needed :)
Click to expand...

Power cycling is basically off/on I've done that but I havent left it off or alone for any length of time, you reckon leaving it alone longer might help?

memyselfandi said:
Hmmm ... You have tried a different network cable haven't you? And tried updating your network drivers?

You should be getting you dhcp address from your router of the form (probably) 192.168.x.x and those addresses are nat'ed by the router from the ISP ... So as long as you are using addresses in the correct range then of course you can configure static addresses for your end user devices. For example most of my devices are statically addressed but I have a small dhcp pool for visiting devices (e.g. Work laptop) so my router is configured to give out 192.168.0.200-220 via dhcp and the other 192.168.0.x addresses are used statically as needed.

A friend of mine did have an issue the other week which could be something else to check ... His router had somehow got into bridged mode and hence he was getting dhcp addresses for his end devices from his ISP directly! ... Of course that is not supposed to happen or work so he was randomly getting the sort of symptoms you describe ... Putting the router back into the correct mode fixed his issue as it meant he was getting addresses from his own router again.
Click to expand...

I know all routers are different but how did your friend know it was in bridged mode, I just checked my one there and the only option I has was to enable/disable dhcp or use dhcp relay which I have never even heard of, or I could edit the amount of time I held the dhcp lease.

The same problem was happening with another network cable, but I could sort the problem with the other cable by plugging it in/out of the router, the new cable is 15 meters long as the router was moved into the hallway when we upgraded to fiber so unfortunately I cant use the old one again :( the new cable is cat6 cable could that be a factor? I'm not sure what category the other cable was and I don't think we have the box lying around anywhere.

I haven't done anything with my network drivers actually and as I'm unable to update windows vista 64 bit (long story but suffice to say Microsoft broke their own product with an update whether it was intentional or not I don't know but I cant manually check for updates and I've been stuck installing the same one for about a year now) so they probably are well out of date.

I've never really looked for them tbh, didn't even think about them until you mentioned it there. Any idea where I could dl them from if they even post them online anywhere? Would it be Microsoft or the motherboard manufacturer's website I should be looking at btw?
 
If it's an onboard network port then yes look at the motherboard manufacturers site for drivers.

Normally there should be some form of info page in the routers web gui which will indicate what mode it is running in; NAT, bridged etc. I mentioned it as it fits the symptoms but it is a long shot as it shouldn't work at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom