DHCP Problem

TerryinMD · Jun 17, 2003

How about soft settings? If you disconnected the device, it may have gone back to some factory defaults. I have a NetGear hub and it has a manual switch. I've switched over to a Microsoft Base Hub using wireless and cabled connections and all of the settings are via software management.

Or, you may just have a flakey hub.

Terry

gws · Jun 17, 2003

I would leave all the machines set to DHCP, IN a home network there is little reason to set an addess.

Is your linkssys setup to be a DNS server. Normally your linksys will point to your DNS server of your ISP and your machine point to the linksys.

If your going to use fixed address make sure you excled them from the linksys's list of available addreses.

Mrwurm · Jun 17, 2003

( How about soft settings? If you disconnected the device, it may have gone back to some factory defaults.
)
I have tried unplugging the power and the cables for several hours. This did not help.

( Is your linkssys setup to be a DNS server. Normally your linksys will point to your DNS server of your ISP and your machine point to the linksys.

)
Don't quite know how to answer this. I don't use the hub as a router to distribute Internet. The hub is only used as a network hub. I have a USB two-way sattellite modem that feeds Internet to one of the machines and it is distributed to the network via ICS (internet connection sharing).
Is the linksys a DNS server? I don't know. I will have to get out the owners manual. This is all quite baffling to me as it took no specialized knowledge to get it to work for the last year. I basically plugged everything in and it just worked. Now that it does'nt work, I have to do some learning.

Hank · Jun 17, 2003

I have a USB two-way sattellite modem that feeds Internet to one of the machines and it is distributed to the network via ICS (internet connection sharing). 

ICS doles out IP addresses, and I'm not sure you can turn this off. When I had DirecWay I used WinRoutePro instead of ICS, but I've seen it mentioned on the satellite forums a lot about ICS being a DHCP server.

Hank · Jun 17, 2003

Hey Mike, referring to your picture, what should I do with the DNS options at the bottom of the menu? 

I'm not Mike /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif but now that I am reminded you are using DirecWay, your DNS servers would be theirs:

198.77.116.8
198.77.116.12

Anonymous Poster · Jun 17, 2003

( How do I know if a machine is running DHCP server? )

Any piece of equipment that is capable of DHCP serving will tell you so in its manual. The manual will also tell you how to turn it on or off. From what I can tell with a very brief net search, your hub/switch doesn't support DHCP.

Attacking from another angle. If something is serving DHCP (presumably one of your Windblows machines for ICS purposes), and it "forgets" it has handed out an IP to a particular client, it may hand out another IP. This will result in a machine having two IPs active at the same time. I know from experience that XP will choke on this.

There is a way to release the extra IP, but I can't remember offhand how to do it. We had such trouble with DHCP on our network that we disabled it on everything and assigned all our machines their own IPs. The router takes care of the translation.

What operating system(s) are you running?

Here's another question. Did you change any network adapters around? That can cause strange problems because each one has its own "address" straight from the factory. The DHCP server thinks it knows where each one is, and it doesn't like to be wrong.

SnowRidge

Mrwurm · Jun 17, 2003

I am using a linksys 10/100 5 port switch as my hub. I am running Windows 2000 on the machine that hosts the Direcway modem. I am also running Win2000 on one of the clients and Win98 on the other. None of the machines can ping themselves (127.0.0.1). I'm going to unplug the hub, disconnect all the cat5e cables and reboot. If the dhcp error goes away and the machines can ping themselves through the loopback ip (127.0.0.1) then that tells me the hub is bad. Right ? ? ? ?

Also, yes, The direcway software has been acting up and at the request of Direcway tech support, I uninstalled the software and reinstalled. This effectively removes and reinstalls the network connection for Direcway Sattellite Device.

TerryinMD · Jun 17, 2003

To release an IP address using Windows NT-based systems do the following:

Open up a command window.
key in the following IPCONFIG /RELEASE

This will release all current IP addresses. If you are using DHCP, a new address will be assigned.

For grins you may wish to type IPCONFIG and copy down the current IP information, just in case....

Terry

Anonymous Poster · Jun 17, 2003

You do not need to be connected to a network to ping 127.0.0.1. That is the address of the localhost. I suspect you have a configuration/corruption issue. Do a find for a file called hosts.sam. It should contain a line like this:

127.0.0.1 localhost

If it doesn't, or 127.0.0.1 points elsewhere, or something else points to localhost, then you have probably been corrupted somehow.

If rebooting cures all, it doesn't mean it was the hub. In fact, it kind of indicates it wasn't the hub.

Disclaimer: /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Long distance troubleshooting is fraught with danger. I have enough trouble keeping my own stuff going. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

SnowRidge

MikePA · Jun 17, 2003

The 169. address is the address that gets assigned as a default when Windows2000 is told to use DHCP but no DHCP server can be found on the network.

I'd imagine that the DNS addresses should be the ones DirectWay told you to use.

You should also specify a gateway address which is probably the IP address of the PC running the Direcway software.