weird wireless bug with win2k/netgear?

[Geshtar]

Hey guys, trying to fix the family computer on my christmas visit home, I've fixed most of the problems, but there is a weird bug I am encountering with the wireless access that this the computer in question uses.

For some reason it keeps picking up a really weird ip address when it boots up (169.254.57.109, subnet 255.255.0.0), it should be getting a 192.168.0.x address with subnet of 255.255.255.x. I have tested this network with my own laptop that has wireless and have no troubles connecting to it. I have also triple checked that it is using the correct WEP-key, ESSID, and on the correct channel. This computer uses win2k and has a netgear ma311 wireless nic. It doesn't seem like win2k has the same support for wireless that XP has, so I am using the included program from netgear to set all the settings. Also of note, if you go and run ipconfig from the command line, and try to release the funky IP, it says it was automatically configured and cannot be dropped by /release. If anyone has some good ideas on how to fix this problem it would be greatly appreciated as I am stumped at the moment.

Thanks in advance.

 

[amit77]

exact same problem here. my lappy works fine on the wirless network, but the PC won't. it all worked up until a few days ago?

anyhelp? bump..

 

[shaihulud]

merry christmas!

169.254.x.x means that you using windows and getting apipa: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q220874

this happens when it can not acquire an address through dhcp. this will also mean that it cannot communicate to the router. this address cannot be released for it was not really asigned. you would only renew (ipconfig /renew). now for the problem not sure. however check the router make sure that it is configured to assign more ip's. it is common for people to lower the scope of addresses available. perhaps, dhcp is disabled? i am not sure, but do not check one side, check both. router and os settings. good luck.

 

[kevinf]

try going to control panel>internet and network connections>network connection.>right click on ur wireless adapter> double click internet protocal> make sure obtain ip address automatically is selected

 

[Caffeinatedsoap]

I am having the same problem with windows xp and a linksys router. If I find out anything I'll let you know.

 

[Orinthical]

merry christmas!

169.254.x.x means that you using windows and getting apipa: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q220874

this happens when it can not acquire an address through dhcp. this will also mean that it cannot communicate to the router. this address cannot be released for it was not really asigned. you would only renew (ipconfig /renew). now for the problem not sure. however check the router make sure that it is configured to assign more ip's. it is common for people to lower the scope of addresses available. perhaps, dhcp is disabled? i am not sure, but do not check one side, check both. router and os settings. good luck.

The solution to your problem was posted by Shaihulud above, there's no other cause for this behavior however it may only be a symptom of a bigger problem.

To restate: If you are getting this 169.254.x.x address it means windows could not contact a DHCP server while it was starting up. Generally speaking this is normal activity as the wireless connection doesn't really activate until you log into the machine and tell it to log into your wireless network; at which point it will authenticate with the AP/Router, confirm the encryption method and obtain an address from the DHCP server on your network.

If your not getting an address even after an ipconfig /renew command (after connecting the your network via the NIC's drivers and/or the Wireless Zero Config utility) then there is something else wrong -- try dropping all of that security and run wide open -- do you get a signal/ip then? Try adding one layer of security at a time until you find a balance or security and performance.

 

[Geshtar]

Thanks for the info guys, this should give something to work with. Atleast now I know what is going on with it. I'll play around with it tomorrow morning and see if I can find a solution. I'll post back if I get anything solved incase it might be of help to the others who also said they have this problem.

 

[amit77]

merry christmas!

169.254.x.x means that you using windows and getting apipa: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q220874

this happens when it can not acquire an address through dhcp. this will also mean that it cannot communicate to the router. this address cannot be released for it was not really asigned. you would only renew (ipconfig /renew). now for the problem not sure. however check the router make sure that it is configured to assign more ip's. it is common for people to lower the scope of addresses available. perhaps, dhcp is disabled? i am not sure, but do not check one side, check both. router and os settings. good luck.

i did that, but now i get Invalid Ip Address on my status..it still won't get its own IP to connect to the router...

 

[LonerVamp]

Try putting in an IP your know is in the subnet you are on and is an available IP. See if you get access.

Check MAC address controls? WEP/WPA? SSID? Is it compatible, i.e. you're not using an 802.11g card on an 802.11b-only wireless router?

 

[Geshtar]

Well, I found my problem, I had misread my handwriting when I entered the MAC address into the router since we limit it to just registered MACs being able to use the router. So since I kept re-reading the piece of paper where I wrote it down, I kept messing it up but finally caught it after several hours when I re-looked up the MAC address on the comp. ~_~

 

[slyguy63]

The solution to your problem was posted by Shaihulud above, there's no other cause for this behavior however it may only be a symptom of a bigger problem.

To restate: If you are getting this 169.254.x.x address it means windows could not contact a DHCP server while it was starting up. Generally speaking this is normal activity as the wireless connection doesn't really activate until you log into the machine and tell it to log into your wireless network; at which point it will authenticate with the AP/Router, confirm the encryption method and obtain an address from the DHCP server on your network.

If your not getting an address even after an ipconfig /renew command (after connecting the your network via the NIC's drivers and/or the Wireless Zero Config utility) then there is something else wrong -- try dropping all of that security and run wide open -- do you get a signal/ip then? Try adding one layer of security at a time until you find a balance or security and performance.

This is incorrect. If this was the case how do domain uses log onto a domain with a wireless card if it is not configured until after user loggin? When a computer boots is send a broadcast packet for an ip address over the network ID.

Turn all your encryption off, make sure you have all firewalls off. It could be a corrupt protocol so you might have to reinstall TCP/IP on XP which is kinds tricky.

Make sure that your firewall is off cause if you are blocking port 53 the DHCP server will not talk to your computer.

The best way would be to manually input the IP address, subnet mask and gateway. Then see if you can ping the router. And then try to get on the internet. This will tell you if TCP/IP is not working correctly.

 

[Orinthical]

This is incorrect. If this was the case how do domain uses log onto a domain with a wireless card if it is not configured until after user loggin? When a computer boots is send a broadcast packet for an ip address over the network ID.

Alrighty, I'm willing to accept that and state that where I work we're not allowed to run anything wireless - including keyboards and mice - so frankly, I do not know what it is like in an enterprise environment.

I am only speaking from my experience here at home where I noticed that one of my 'guest' machines (the only one that is wireless) did not let me ping the machine let alone rdp into it unless it it was awake and logged in. And before you tell me how to design my network, yes the firewall was turned off on the machine. =)

I will however state that after I rebuilt that machine it seems to be on the network regardless of whether I am logged into it or not. Never the less, I wasn't the one with the problem - I just reiterated a solution and one that seems to have worked just fine.

Anyhow, glad to hear it's back up and working for you Geshtar; sometimes the eyes play tricks on ye -- and sometimes it's the simplest thing that eludes us.

 

[slyguy63]

Alrighty, I'm willing to accept that and state that where I work we're not allowed to run anything wireless - including keyboards and mice - so frankly, I do not know what it is like in an enterprise environment.

I am only speaking from my experience here at home where I noticed that one of my 'guest' machines (the only one that is wireless) did not let me ping the machine let alone rdp into it unless it it was awake and logged in. And before you tell me how to design my network, yes the firewall was turned off on the machine. =)

I will however state that after I rebuilt that machine it seems to be on the network regardless of whether I am logged into it or not. Never the less, I wasn't the one with the problem - I just reiterated a solution and one that seems to have worked just fine.

Anyhow, glad to hear it's back up and working for you Geshtar; sometimes the eyes play tricks on ye -- and sometimes it's the simplest thing that eludes us.

First -
No need to get all uptight geez. I just said you statement was incorrect,The way you replied you would think I cut you left testy off.

Where in my reply did I tell you how to design your network. I just gave a simple solution that might work. I did not reply in a way that cut you down.
If it seemed like that I am sorry.

Chill out!!

 

[Orinthical]

First -
No need to get all uptight geez. I just said you statement was incorrect,The way you replied you would think I cut you left testy off.

Where in my reply did I tell you how to design your network. I just gave a simple solution that might work. I did not reply in a way that cut you down.
If it seemed like that I am sorry.

Chill out!!

That's why I put the smiley face there, man. No worries. Guess I'll have to use the sarcasm smiley next time.

 

[slyguy63]

That's why I put the smiley face there, man. No worries. Guess I'll have to use the sarcasm smiley next time.

Ok man its all good

Have a good New Year

I live by

Worked hard
Party Harder

 

[Darkstar850]

Generally speaking this is normal activity as the wireless connection doesn't really activate until you log into the machine and tell it to log into your wireless network; at which point it will authenticate with the AP/Router, confirm the encryption method and obtain an address from the DHCP server on your network.

This is incorrect. If this was the case how do domain uses log onto a domain with a wireless card if it is not configured until after user loggin? When a computer boots is send a broadcast packet for an ip address over the network ID.

Actually, you are both right and wrong, although Orinthical is more correct in the context of this thread. It depends on the hardware and configuration being used. For netgear home/ home office equipment using the netgear drivers, the wireless connection does not initialize until you are logged into windows and the netgear wireless controll application loads. I have a netgear wireless network setup at my dad's business running on a SBS2k3 domain, and I can confirm that the wireless link does not come up until logged into windows, which is kind of a pain in a domain environment. Due to this, users on the wireless machines must have a local profile that has been created on the machine in order to log in, and it causes long initial login times due to the machine attempting to contact the domain controller before it has a connection. So far I haven't found a way around this, although it would sure be nice. I don't know if the XP wireless zero config utility would cause the wireless connection to come up pre-login screen, but due to the inability of netgear and xp zero config to play nice, it really hasn't been an option.

With higher end gear, such as our cisco APs and NICs at work, the connection comes up as the machine is loading up to the login screen, which is really nice. Wish I could of used better gear for my dad's company's network, but we needed to keep the cost down, and the small problems associated with the SOHO gear were not enough to override the cost factors.