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self-assigned IP address

My Macbook Pro is unable to connect to the Internet at my home and gives me the message, "AirPort has a self-assigned IP address and may not be able to connect to the Internet". Here is what's going on...

I got this refurbished MBP for Christmas and it hasn't connected to the internet at my home since. I have a cable modem (Cox Communications) and a D-Link wireless router (WBR-2310). My wife's iBook G4 has no problem connecting to our wireless network and neither did my previous iBook or my iPhone. In the "Network Preferences" Menu the AirPort status says "On" and below it it says "AirPort has a self-assigned IP address and may not be able to connect to the Internet".

My MBP has no trouble connecting wirelessly to other networks but for some reason I can't get it to work at home. I have tried everything I can think of to solve the problem (reseting the router and modem and trying a different modem). I have gotten no help from Apple Phone Support and both times I have talked with them been put on hold to talk with a specialist only to be hung up on after 45 minutes of waiting.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.2), Refurbished Macbook Pro

Posted on Feb 27, 2008 3:34 PM

21 replies

Sep 2, 2008 7:24 AM in response to wdrath

Here's some extra info. Maybe someone can find the solution.

1. It doesn't matter if it's a Apple router.
I use an apple Extreme Gigabit Ethernet router. I get the "not connected to internet" and self-assigned IP message on my PB G4/1.67 running 10.5.4

2. It doesn't matter if it's wireless or wired.
I fail to connect both when I try and use Airport, and when I transfer a perfectly good working ethernet cable from my desktop. Plug the cable back into the desktop (also running Leopard 10.5.4) and the desktop connects. This cable is a home run to the router, not going thru any switches/splitters.

3. The problem is Global
By that I mean it affects all users on the machine. If I startup/log into the guest account it also fails to connect.

4. Manually selecting an IP address one number higher in Network prefs>Airport produces a "Connected" status (versus "Manually assigned IP address") but still no throughput of data- Safari says not connected to the internet.

5. Security seems - seems - to make sense as problem source
I also am getting alot of firewall requests "do you want to let such-and-such-application accept incoming connections?"... and when I say always allow it still asks me every time it launches. In Firewall Prefs I have it set to allow specific apps, and itunes (for example) is set to Always Allow, but I still get the request.

6. Misc prefs trashed w/o success.
I have trashed, one at a time followed by restart, from Macintosh HD>Library>Prefs:
com.apple.airport.preferences.plist and
com.apple.security.systemidentities.plist

...no success.

Lets all keep plugging! Please!

Sep 4, 2008 7:51 AM in response to wdrath

One thing that would help is the possibility of preventing the Mac from ever assigning its own address. That way the symbol in the menu bar would not give the false impression that it has successfully connected. Maybe it'd keep trying. If it did keep trying automatically, that'd save some of us from having to sit there clicking manually to turn the Airport off and on over and over until it finally gets there.

So, is there a way to prevent the OS from presuming to allocate its own IP address instead of waiting more patiently or trying again? Maybe a timeout setting to tweak?

May 9, 2009 7:34 PM in response to wdrath

Hello, i hope you are still active on this discussion, I to am having the EXACT! problem as you...Others can connect to my internet, but my macbook gives a self-assinged IP adress...PLEASE HELP it has been bothering me forever! Oh once it does "self-assing and IP address" half hour later i will randomly connect to it

deengu

Level 1

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Jun 29, 2009 11:48 PM in response to wdrath

the solution might be to install the 10.5.7 combo updater (it has to be the combo updater version).

what happens is that the mac firewall blocks configd (which gets the ip address) and mDNSresponder due to some reason. you can see if you have this specific instance of the problem by "allowing all connections" in the firewall, and seeing if then you can get an ip address (temporary fix). if you open up the firewall log, you might see it blocking configd

if you do have this specific instance, then just install the 10.5.7 combo updater, which will re-verify configd and mDNSresponder.

Jul 16, 2009 5:17 AM in response to Tonyboy724

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9795728#9795728

blue

RyanN77

Level 1

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Jul 25, 2012 1:37 PM in response to wdrath

I have found the answer to all of this nonsense!!! I have been dealing with this for two days and it has been such a pain in the ***. Thank you to my girl at comcast she saved the day. Yes everyone here is right in one way or another about these answers as I found some of them work but only for a short time. What you must do is call your internet provider and has them check the TCP/IP info, the Proxies, and hardware/ethernet. They should see that the IP address is just not being recognized at the time. They should then reboot the system from their end while you TURNOFF YOUR AIRPORT AND THEN ALSO REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER....At this point you should find some major relief! I am not going to lie...I think apple should have a quick answer for this probem when you call them and ask for assistance. It's completely unnessecary to have to pay $50 for a service contract when in fact this is a simple fix from your provider. Keep in mind this all happened after a major storm and power was out so you all may have had the same experience. Rebooting the wifi box from your house will not help either. I just hope for your sake you have COMCAST and not VERIZON cause verizon customer service is awful and they are rude as ****. which is why i switched to comacast. something must be said for real customer support!! good luck all!!! i hope this helps!

self-assigned IP address