Windows 7 Windows 7 and Networking

[Silverhazesurfer]

Interesting topic.

I have a Windows 7 Pro tablet. It has been shipped to a customer.

Static assigned built in NIC shows 169.254.XXX.XXX address.

Details:

The machine has been in two locations: my office and in customer possession. In the office, everything works fine. Network showed connected and functional. With the customer, on a different network with the same configurations, 169 address. The NIC registers the connection because when ipconfig is run, IP shows none when not connected and 169 it is connected.

I have checked some of the basics: firewall off on all profiles, network profile set to work. Tried to simulate the scenario but unsuccessful thus far.

Anyone have any ideas on what could be the cause of this?

 

[Ian]

I've had something very similar happen before, but couldn't figure out the cause. In the end I just had to remove the drivers for the network adaptor in Device Manager and let it get re-detected a few seconds later (then re-create the settings). After that, it seemed to work fine again

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

I have come up with a small list of things to check after a bit of research. I found something about DHCP, but I don't believe that this is the situation due to the static IP set. I have yet to R&R the static IP, but that is high on the list. Another may be the workgroup. I, again, doubt that this would play a role, but as my office has a domain and the user has a workgroup I should check it anyway.

Windows 7 loses network
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...comes-an/7b305de9-3793-4c32-b9da-a1f83d6a57b2

Windows Vista cannot obtain an IP address (suggested works for 7 but haven't tried yet)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

Go figure. Windows 7 network location issues.

I did not dabble in the registry, but focused more on the adapter and it's configuration. I checked the network location identification and forced it to the "home" network in hopes that the new identification would help. It did not. Local Area Connection details indicate TWO IP addresses, one the static address I assigned and an auto configuration address due to the physical network change. I believe it was looking for a certain piece of hardware on the network with which to identify the particular connection.

R&R the IP address. The static assigned address that was placed on the machine before shipping to the customer held the settings for my network here in the office. Once it got to its destination network, the machine would not communicate. I dropped the static IP and restarted the machine. There is no DHCP server on this network, so the 169.254.XXX.XXX address is assigned yet again. I have customer assign a static IP address within range of the network. I again check the connection details and this time, the IPv4 address is only the static assigned one. Restart and system works as expected.

I had never seen this type of behavior before.