computer obtains wrong subnet ip address

Richard59 September 19, 2010 at 19:32:44

The 169. address is a default address that windows allocates when it cannot reach the DHCP server. You have lost connection to the router. You need to work out whether this is a hardware or software issue. What happens when you scan for available networks? Does it find your router? Does the netbook have a manual switch to turn on/off wireless? Is the wireless NIC shown OK in devicemanager? Goin' Fishin' (Some day)

Yes the wireless router shows up. It says it connects but with limited access. Other wireless devices on the network connect. Like I said if I manually set the ip address the netbook says its connected but the router does not indicate its connected. I wonder if the wireless hardware in the netbook is bad.

Richard59 September 19, 2010 at 20:46:29

I haven't found any definitive answer to this problem but suggestions have included a power reset of the router as well as uninstalling the wireless NIC and re-installing it.+ updating the drivers. Is the problem machine running XP or Vista? Is the router a Netgear unit? This problem seems to come up most commonly with Vista and Netgear. Has the router had a firmware update recently? What type of security encryption do you use in the router? Goin' Fishin' (Some day)

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll see if I can uninstall the NIC, but since its an inexpensive Netbook running XP (no CD drive) it didn't come with any installation software. I haven't done a firmware update to the router.

wanderer September 20, 2010 at 09:13:39

if connecting wirelessly and you don't have the correct encryption key you won't authenicate to the router and you won't get a router provided ip address. Review your wireless settings or try connecting wired to the router.

Well it works when I connect with the wire so I think the wireless NIC has gone bad.

wanderer September 21, 2010 at 16:24:29

Did you review and confirm the wireless encryption key is correct? Can this wireless card see any other networks? If so, odds are its not bad.

Thanks for all your help. I finally got it to work. I had been using WEP since I've had this network for so long now. I switched to WPA2. That seemed to make the netbook happy, even though it had worked fine for several months. Of course I had enter the new key on all my wireless devices, but everything is working now. :)