I have a fresh install of Windows 2000 on an AMD Athlon machine using an SMC EZ 10/100 NIC. We recently reconfigured the network, adding a router (CentreCOM AR230E) that is in turn attached to a WAN. Beneath the router is a fast ethernet switch, which the computer is connected to. BEFORE the configuration change, the network connection was fine. The router is set up to serve as a DHCP server as well, which seems to work fine for every other computer connected to it (about 20), except for this one. We have plenty of IP addresses available, with the router set at 192.168.2.1, and the range of addresses from 192.168.2.2 to 62 being distributed. Unfortunately, everyone here, including myself, are barely amateurs. We know enough to enter ipconfig /all to see what's going on, and found that the subnet mask is 255.255.0.0, NOT 255.255.255.0 like we thought it ought to be. Further, the autoconfig IP is 169.254.140.206, which means it's outside. There's no entry for the default gateway, nor is there any info on the DNS servers. Normally, there's entries in both. This machine has DNS disabled, IP requested via DHCP, and everything else is as it is on a new Win2k box. Any ideas would be much appreciated, as I've lost already too much gray hair and can't afford to lose more over this. Thanks much, James

Are you sure that your 2000 DHCP server is authorised to hand out ip addresses, and have you doubled checked the scope, and are you sure that dhcp is enabled on the client machines and that they dont have static ones

Mark: Thanks... Are you sure that your 2000 DHCP server is authorised to hand out ip addresses? Yes. Other computers have checked out IP addresses from the server. This one computer is the only one that appears to be having trouble. Have you doubled checked the scope? Yup. On the DHCP server, it's pretty simple to set the scope in this case, and we know the scope is probably OK because we screwed up earlier with a printer by specifying a static IP outside the defined scope 192.168.2.2--->62 . We don't have static addresses set for this NIC; I mean, the MAC address for this card is not in the DHCP's database of static IP addresses. The computer (client) is also set to receive an IP from a DHCP server.

Hello, The "169.254" part of the 169.254.140.206 seems to be the default network ID, because the same network ID of "169.254" was automatically given to my W98_PC when I tried to connect it to a W2000_PC via crossover cable. To get rid of this ID, I reconfigured NDIS adapter of W98_PC to 192.168.0.0 with the subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and achieved an acceptable connection. But, this time a confusion on another thing has emerged (at the moment, I'm not sure what it is, whether a confusion on Network Protocols, MS Client options or any other settings, ... don't know). In your message, you had stated that there was no entry for the default gateway, nor was there any info on the DNS servers. And you had said there should have been entries in both. I guess the problem is related to this, especially to the "gateway" info. So I keep on working on that.

The 169.254.x.x address is being given out by the local computer itself. This is called Automatic Private IP Addressing or APIPA. This happens when the client attempts to contact the DHCP server and can not get an address. Either because they are all gone or the client can not communicate with the DHCP server. After it fails to get an IP, the client assigns itself and address from the 169.254.x.x range. This is not an 'outside' address. Quite the opposite. It is a reserved range for local hosts only which is why there is no default gateway defined. The most likely cause of this is a problem with that pc... network card, cable, duplicate name on the network... something. I'm a little confused though. You say the router is the DHCP server yet you talk about authorizing the server DHCP. If the router is the DHCP server, then authorization is not an issue. The mask of 255.255.0.0 would still work for you, otherwise I'm sure in the router you can change the mask that is handed out. So, what machine is actually hanging out addresses? I'm sure I can solve your problem with a bit more info.

Maybe i didnt understood what you said right, but: "Further, the autoconfig IP is 169.254.140.206, which means it's outside." That IP isnt an outside IP. That range of IP is given by Windows when it didnt receive an IP from somewhere else ( DHCP server for example). I know the 169.* range does that. I never checked if IPS within 169.0.0.1 and 169.255.255.254 existed ... but chances are, your windows box got that IP because it couldnt get a valid one from the server.

There are a few things to check. 1) is the NIC card working right? 2) is the NIC set to auto for speed? Try looking in device manmager and ensure there is no conflict, set the speed to either 10 or 100 instead of auto. You could go to the DNS tab of TCP/IP and set the DNS servers address to the routers IP. It sounds like their is no response from the DHCP quick enough and it times out and assigns itself the APIPA address. There is a registry entry to allow a longer timeout, I just can't remember what Hkey it is in.