Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

mattfearsatan · Apr 10, 2006, 10:00 PM

For some reason at my new apartment I am having trouble getting my eMac to connect to the internet. 99% of the time I'm given a 169 IP. Every so often it gives me a valid IP but thats only for a few seconds. The strange thing is that i can unplug the ethernet cable from my eMac and plug it into a Windows laptop and it works fine. I thought it may be something wrong with my eMac so i tried to plug it into an iBook, but I experienced the same issue...a 169 IP. I have also tried plugging the ethernet into my Airport Express and getting on wirelessly but no luck there either. I am, however, able to sometimes locate and connect to neighbor's unprotected wireless connections (as i am now). Any suggestions?

f1000 · Apr 11, 2006, 05:20 AM

What kind of broadband are you using (cable, DSL)? Do you have a router between the Mac and the modem?

mattfearsatan · Apr 11, 2006, 07:17 AM

i'm using a cable modem directly connected.

f1000 · Apr 11, 2006, 08:27 AM

Some ISPs register the MAC address of the ethernet card that is directly connected to the modem. You may need to call your ISP and have them register the MAC address of your eMac instead.

A better solution is for you to stick a Wi-Fi router between the modem and your computers.

mattfearsatan · Apr 11, 2006, 04:07 PM

even when i go through my airport express it doesn't work.

f1000 · Apr 11, 2006, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by adamlan

even when i go through my airport express it doesn't work.

You may have to call up the ISP and tell them the MAC address of the AP Express.

mattfearsatan · Apr 15, 2006, 03:38 PM

i talked to my isp and they don't record mac addresses. i think i'm just going to get them to swap out my ethernet modem again and if that doesn't work i'll just switch isp's. thanks for your help though.

ghporter · Apr 15, 2006, 07:16 PM

The ISP may not record the MAC of what's connected to the modem, but I bet the MODEM DOES. Turn off the modem. Connect the Express to it. With the Express ON, turn ON the modem. It should see the Express, connect to it, and record its MAC as "the correct" address to connect to.

aadfadsfa38 · Apr 16, 2006, 04:47 PM

I popped over here because I'm having the same problem: DHCP works for awhile, then OS X decides to use the 169.x.x.x automatically assigned IP. Restarting the router fixes the problem for a little while, but never more than a day.

My original thread is at http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebooks/292640/macbook-pro-wireless-no-dhcp/#post2952342 . Adam, maybe try some suggestions over there? Anyone else, any ideas?

Thanks,
-chowdere

Apfhex · Apr 17, 2006, 06:51 PM

If both Macs don't work but a Windows laptop does with the same setup, this leads me to think that it's a problem with OS X's Network settings. Using the Airport should work, if you do what ghporter said. Any DHCP issues could be handled in the Airport settings and then you could configure the Macs appropriately.