WinXP Pro - DHCP Serious Errors

  • Thread starter Thread starter waldo
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waldo

Seeking assistance.

I have several machines running WinXP Pro connected to Linksys router and
DSL connection. At random intervals, three of these machines will loose
their DHCP connection and resort to the Automatic Private address
(169.254.54.162). Doing all the various and suggested repair procedures
defined will not restore the connection including remove - reinstall NIC.
In some case, the connection has returned if I just leave the machine alone
(the machine affected cannot access the net but can see other machines on my
network while in this state) but in most cases, I have had to re-install XP.

- Router has been changed (and in all cases continues to function with other
non-XP machines.)
- NIC's have been changed.
- happens on wireless and wired connections
- running XP Pro with SP1a.

Several hits on Microsoft site related to "sporadic DHCP connection
problems" and I have spent hours on the telephone with Microsoft, Linksys
and Dell support to no avail. Once after, three hours on telephone to
Microsoft, it corrected itself for no apparent reason.

Have reviewed Registry related to DHCP settings and it looks to me like some
of the settings are going out of wack but they are too numerous to try to
manually override.

Frustration level VERY high. Any assistance appreciated.

Tim
 
Did you do an RMA on the router? It could have been bad
equipment. Make sure your ethernet cable is in good shape,
a lot of time bad CAT5 can cause connection errors. It
sounds simple, but I've had it take me a week to figure
out at work. Also make sure you have the DSL modem going
into the WAN port, or that will cause problems. I don't
want to make you feel like you're missing something as
you've probably tried all of these solutions. I've done
several RMAs on my Linksys equipment and the refurbished
items always worked better than my original. That says
something about their quality control, or lack there of in
this case.
 
I am working on my sisters network that has experienced
the exact same behavior as described in the first message
on this thread. Her PC is the only one that has exhibited
the behavior. All 15 other PCs on the network are
behaving fine. Hers aquired a 169.254.x.x IP Address,
while she was surfing the web. I really hope we don't
have to install XP Pro. Frustration level also very
high. Any other ideas? Yes, we have swapped the cable,
swapped ports on her switch, and uninstalled and
reinstalled all networking components. Help......

Jeremy.
 
All components (router, cables, NICs) have been changed to no avail. Even
changed router manufacturer (D-LINK to LinkSys) and added wireless.

Only way to force correction that I have found so far is a complete
re-install of XP. (format / reinstall). As soon as that is done,
everything is fine...for a while. Can't fix it and haven't as yet figured
out what causes it to start.

This has affected three different machines at different times. Right
now...two are not working (one IBM, one Dell) but always XP-based machines.
No issues so far with one remaining Win 2K machine. Note that other than
these two machines, network is running fine...network printer, other
machines etc.

Any chance someone at Microsoft is listening???????

I can be reached outside this forum at (e-mail address removed)
 
This sort of thing often ends up being a corrupted 3-rd party firewall,
virus scanner, parental control, VPN client etc. Any chance of that?
 
The following procedure was sent to me yesterday via email. I followed it
to the letter and the DHCP-related errors that I was experiencing were
completely corrected. In my case, the problem was corrupted WINSOCK2
registry errors. The user that sent it to me indicated that it was
provided by Microsoft Technical support. I have pasted to process below.
Suggest anyone else that is experiencing this situation give it a shot. It
only took a couple of minutes so that sure beats re-installing XP!

Note...I still have no idea why the WINSOCK2 entries are being corrupted but
at least when it happens, I can now repair it.

1. Create a restore point using system restore and then open Regedit from
the
Run line.

2. click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to highlight it and export (File-->Export) it
to
the Desktop with the file name "OLDHKLM.REG"

3. Make sure the HKLM is still highlighted and import a new hive. Select
"Load
Hive" from the File Menu. and open %WINDOWS ROOT%\REPAIR\SYSTEM
EXAMPLE: The standard location would be C:\WINDOWS\REPAIR\SYSTEM

4. Give it the Key Name of "newsys" and click OK

5. Browse to the Key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\newsys\ControlSet001\Services\WinSock2
and export it to the Desktop with the file name "WS2FIX.REG"

6. Close the registry editor and right-click the WS2FIX.REG icon and select
"Open With" and then choose Notepad

7. Select "Replace" from the Edit menu and give the following information in
the
dialogue box <THIS IS CASE SENSITIVE>:
Find What: newsys\ControlSet001
Replace With: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet

8. Click on "Find Next" then click on the "Replace All" button.

9. Close the Replace box. Save your changes to WS2FIX.REG and close Notepad.

10. Double click the WS2FIX.REG icon on the desktop and click "Yes" to
confirm
adding the information to the registry

11. Reboot. The internet should be accessable!

Many thanks to those that made suggestions.

Waldo
 
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