Windows retrieving bad IP address by DHCP

[alechiko]

Interesting little mess I have gotten myself into.

My home network consists of 3 computers which are all connected to the internet via a Linksys NAT/router. Up until now, all the computers have been assigned IP addresses by DHCP. I use one of the computers, and the remaining two are used by others in the household.

On my computer Linux and Windows XP are installed. I am having connectivity problems through Windows XP on my laptop which have only started today. The other two computers are receiving their IP addresses (192.168.1.*) from the router with no problems. My laptop works fine under linux but with windows when set to DHCP it is now holding the IP: 169.254.163.246 which I have never seen before.

The system has actually been restarted several times for various reasons over the last 24 hours, but I cant remember exactly what the last modifications I made to the system were before the Internet/Network was last working properly.

I have uninstalled my Outpost firewall. Disabled Windows firewall. When set to DHCP the IP Address the computer is getting is still 169.254.163.246

I checked the configuration for the network settings on one of the other laptops:

IP Address: 192.168.1.3

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1

DHCP Server: 192.1681.1

DNS Servers: 0.0.4.0

194.168.8.100

194.168.4.100

I tried setting an IP address of 192.168.1.2 on my laptop and was able to get a connection instead of the "Limited/No connectivity" message I had been getting with DHCP, however with this connection I am not able to ping 192.168.1.1 successfully (100% packet loss), however I *am* able to access the files I have stored on a network harddrive at 192.168.1.10 which is ever so strange.

Unfortunately system restore has not been enabled on my computer so there is no option to go back in time. The cdrom is currently broken so i cannot use a windows XP cd to try to fix/reinstall the system.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks

[Jesse Carlton]

run > cmd > ipconfig /release

then

ipconfig /renew

copy output and paste it here.

[Lexxan]

That's the default subnet xp assigns if it cannot talk to the DHCP server. Try a new cable.

[0sit0]

169.254.X.X = no DHCP server

[alechiko]

  jester1983 said:

run > cmd > ipconfig /release

then

ipconfig /renew

copy output and paste it here.

586664230[/snapback]

An error occured while renewing interface local area connection: The request service provider could not be loaded or initialized.

  XP-RTM said:

169.254.X.X = no DHCP server

586664271[/snapback]

Ok, so you are the second person saying that, but what does it mean? As I said, the router assigns IPs to the other computers fine and even to that computer (but at the moment only under linux)

  Lexxan said:

That's the default subnet xp assigns if it cannot talk to the DHCP server. Try a new cable.

I'll give that a try in the mean time

[Asmo]

  alechiko said:

Interesting little mess I have gotten myself into.

My laptop works fine under linux but with windows when set to DHCP it is now holding the IP: 169.254.163.246 which I have never seen before.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks

586664148[/snapback]

If you get a 169.254.x.x IP address, this means you can NOT contact the DHCP server.

Either your cable is bad, the port is dead on the router, etc, the point is, you can't even reach the router/dhcp server. Google that IP address would give you the same info a lot faster.

[Jesse Carlton]

if it works in linux on the same computer, it's obviously a software problem. try reinstalling winsock.

How to Recover from Winsock2 corruption:

==================================

Reinstall of the TCP/IP protocol to restore Winsock functionality

Step 1: Delete registry keys

A) Open Regedit

B) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ and delete winsock and winsock2

C) Restart the computer

NOTE: It is important to restart the computer after deleting the Winsock keys.

Doing so causes the XP operating system to recreate shell entries for those two keys. If this is not done, the next step does not work correctly.

Step 2: Install TCP/IP on top of itself

A) Open the properties window of the network connection

B) Click Install

C) Click Protocol, then Add

D) Click Have Disk

E) Type the path to the nettcpip.inf file, for example: c:\windows\inf, and click OK (if you try to click Browse, then browse to the \inf folder, it may not show up in the list).

F) You should now see "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" in the list of available protocols. Select it and click OK.

G) Restart the computer

When the computer reboots you will have functional Winsock keys.

NOTE: If the network connection properties contained more than the following three items: Client for Microsoft Networks, File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, and TCP/IP, then the additional items may need to be removed in order to restore browsing. If those items are needed they can be reinstalled. The reason for removing them is due to those items placing entries into the Winsock keys and those entries will no longer be there.

Side effects and possible problems:

This method will restore basic functionality to the Winsock keys, but is not a complete rebuild. On a default install of Windows XP the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2\ParametersProtocol_Cat

alog9\Catalog_Entries - will have 11 sub-keys. When applying this method, the Catalog_Entries will only have three sub-keys. However, it works and there does not appear to be any side effects. The missing entries relate back to the:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces

key.

Also, third-party proxy software or firewalls may need to be reinstalled.

[alechiko]

  jester1983 said:

if it works in linux on the same computer, it's obviously a software problem.  try reinstalling winsock.

How to Recover from Winsock2 corruption:

==================================

Reinstall of the TCP/IP protocol to restore Winsock functionality

Step 1: Delete registry keys

A) Open Regedit

B) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ and delete winsock and winsock2

C) Restart the computer

NOTE: It is important to restart the computer after deleting the Winsock keys. 

Doing so causes the XP operating system to recreate shell entries for those two keys.  If this is not done, the next step does not work correctly.

Step 2: Install TCP/IP on top of itself

A) Open the properties window of the network connection

B) Click Install

C) Click Protocol, then Add

D) Click Have Disk

E) Type the path to the nettcpip.inf file, for example: c:\windows\inf, and click OK (if you try to click Browse, then browse to the \inf folder, it may not show up in the list).

F) You should now see "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" in the list of available protocols.  Select it and click OK.

G) Restart the computer

When the computer reboots you will have functional Winsock keys.

NOTE: If the network connection properties contained more than the following three items: Client for Microsoft Networks, File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, and TCP/IP, then the additional items may need to be removed in order to restore browsing.  If those items are needed they can be reinstalled.  The reason for removing them is due to those items placing entries into the Winsock keys and those entries will no longer be there.

Side effects and possible problems:

This method will restore basic functionality to the Winsock keys, but is not a complete rebuild. On a default install of Windows XP the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2\ParametersProtocol_Cat

alog9\Catalog_Entries - will have 11 sub-keys. When applying this method, the Catalog_Entries will only have three sub-keys.  However, it works and there does not appear to be any side effects.  The missing entries relate back to the:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces

key.

Also, third-party proxy software or firewalls may need to be reinstalled.

586664332[/snapback]

Thanks so much buddy, it totally worked :) Now if I could only figure out how I managed to mess it up in the first place. I take it youve seen this problem before. If so do you recall the cause of it?

Thanks

[Jesse Carlton]

usually it's caused by spyware or internet security software, too many things try and install registry keys for tcp connections, then something gets uninstalled and breaks it....it's really very random.

read the microsoft support document on "an operation was performed on something that is not a socket" for more information.

:EDIT: welcome to neowin.

[ltworf]

There is also an easier way to do the below from the command prompt, type:

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

  jester1983 said:

if it works in linux on the same computer, it's obviously a software problem.  try reinstalling winsock.

How to Recover from Winsock2 corruption:

==================================

Reinstall of the TCP/IP protocol to restore Winsock functionality

Step 1: Delete registry keys

A) Open Regedit

B) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ and delete winsock and winsock2

C) Restart the computer

NOTE: It is important to restart the computer after deleting the Winsock keys. 

Doing so causes the XP operating system to recreate shell entries for those two keys.  If this is not done, the next step does not work correctly.

Step 2: Install TCP/IP on top of itself

A) Open the properties window of the network connection

B) Click Install

C) Click Protocol, then Add

D) Click Have Disk

E) Type the path to the nettcpip.inf file, for example: c:\windows\inf, and click OK (if you try to click Browse, then browse to the \inf folder, it may not show up in the list).

F) You should now see "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" in the list of available protocols.  Select it and click OK.

G) Restart the computer

When the computer reboots you will have functional Winsock keys.

NOTE: If the network connection properties contained more than the following three items: Client for Microsoft Networks, File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, and TCP/IP, then the additional items may need to be removed in order to restore browsing.  If those items are needed they can be reinstalled.  The reason for removing them is due to those items placing entries into the Winsock keys and those entries will no longer be there.

Side effects and possible problems:

This method will restore basic functionality to the Winsock keys, but is not a complete rebuild. On a default install of Windows XP the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2\ParametersProtocol_Cat

alog9\Catalog_Entries - will have 11 sub-keys. When applying this method, the Catalog_Entries will only have three sub-keys.  However, it works and there does not appear to be any side effects.  The missing entries relate back to the:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces

key.

Also, third-party proxy software or firewalls may need to be reinstalled.

586664332[/snapback]

[Jesse Carlton]

that won't fix the registry problems and doesn't work in practical applications.

:EDIT: after checking some things on MS's site, netsh winsock reset may do the same thing in SP2, but if there are corrupt files or missing files, you have to do the full uninstall anyway...and honestly....it's very simple. In this case, the ip reset wouldn't fix it.

Edited October 13, 2005 by jester1983