169.254.5.242 The Bane Of My Life

[Fatboy]

I am completely stumped how to get around this.

Originally I had my two pc's linked using a crossover cable. I'm fairly sure that after installing XP service pack 2 I couldn't link them.

I've just formatted both computers and reinstalled XP - no joy.
I've tried linking them with a crossover cable - no joy.
I've linked them into an ethernet hub - no joy.

Every time I am getting "An error occuurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection : unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out." When running ipconfig it gives me this 169.254. address.

PLEASE HELP ME BEFORE I COMMIT A CRIME AGAINST MY COMPUTERS!

Thanks.

[Tumble]

why not just assign the comps IP addresses? that way it ignores any DHCP gubbins. If they're only linking together that should be really really easy to do. And make sure they're both in the same workgroup/domain too.

[streetster]

try setting one IP to 192.168.0.1 (the one which connects to the net directly) and one to 192.168.0.2 (and gateway to 192.168.0.1) ...

[Fatboy]

Ok, just to clear a couple of things up!

Both computers also have wireless network cards, and can connect directly to the internet through this - all in all there are 7 pc's in the house that connect wirelessly.
I am just trying to get a connection between my two pc's through a cable (crossover or through a hub)

This is really in anticipation of when I'm going to be moving house shortly, and then I'll be putting in another wireless network. I need to be able to connect to the wireless modem/router through the ethernet Local Area Connection to be able to configure it.

I have tried giving both the computers static IP addresses, but even then they aren't able to communicate.

This is the reason behind much fiddling, and now reformatting both computers to no avail.

[daverobev]

Tried turning off firewall?
Tried disabling wireless while you do this?
Try setting one to 192.168.0.2 and one to .3, mask to 255.255.255.0, dhcp to 192.168.0.1 and ping 2 from 3 and 3 from 2?

*Edit* not sure how computer savvy you are so: by ping I mean Start>Run>type "cmd" to bring up a dos/command window
Then type ping 192.168.0.3 or ping 192.168.0.2
Try that with wireless disabled and firewall down...

[Fatboy]

Yep, tried a lot of different things. It is documented on the web that there have been a number of problems with "limited or no connectivity" after installing SP2, but their solutions haven't helped me solve it as yet - very frustrating!

[Fatboy]

Cheers all for your suggestions - I've managed to sort it now.

[Rabs]

Set one machine up as an internet connection sharing machine (with a fake dialup connection if needs be - if your not on broadband), that will sort out the DHCP addressing issues.

The sharing machine will become 192.168.0.1 and each machine that connects will get a different ip 192.168.0.x