iPad getting wrong IP address from router?

I'm nit totally sure about this, but it seems to me that the range you're getting is a default, placeholder IP range that the device defaults to if it is unable to negotiate an address from the DHCP server. Usually if i'm having trouble getting a DHCP address, it's due to RF interference of some kind. Try changing channels on your router (instead of Auto, try 1, 6, or 11). Or the router may just require a power cycle (unplug it, count to 30, plug it back in). After the power cycle, tell the ipad to "forget this network", and then try reconnecting.

that 169...means its not getting a real IP address
bounce your router (reboot it)
for whatever reason the ipad can't connect to the router hence it gets 169

i would say its an issue with the router.

will ipad connect to another wifi? if yes, then its your router!

This is what you'll get (at least in Windows) when your client can't obtain an IP address from the DHCP server. If you are getting this address, I'm willing to bet that you have no internet connectivity. You could manually enter your newtork settings and give the device a static IP address outside of your router's DHCP range of addresses.

See if you have MAC address filtering on your router. Seems strange that your DHCP server is correctly giving out ip addresses to your other devices but not your iPad.

Also, VERY long shot but make sure you are connecting to the right SSID, neighbors router might not give out an ip to your device 🙂

It is NOT a problem with your router, folks. I had this with my iPad before taking it back, and I have always had this issue with my iPhone. There is some sort of incompatibilty issue if you set your router to something other than a single standard. My phone can either show it is connected, but with this weird ip address, or show connected with no ip address at all. In both instances, I have no Internet access. Resetting network settings in the phone, and a hard reset corrects all of the above until it happens again. With some routers, however, nothing I try allows me to get Internet access, in spite if the fact that my phone says I have wifi. When I saw the iPad having the same behavior, it went back to the store without hesitation. Yes, I could set my home network to single band, but I need dual band in my home... I'm not willing to put up with this, especially when I have zero issues with all of my non-Apple devices.

The MAC filtering tip worked for me. Turns out I saw a MAC address on my network which I didn't recognize and filtered it out of the network. Later when I came back to use this network about a week later I was getting connected to the network with the correct SSID but the wrong IP address ranges.

The iPad was reporting an IP address of 192.168.1.3 when the network was really running 192.168.0.xxx.

Checked the router, found the MAC filter and removed it, then renewed the lease on the iPad and got a valid IP address. Weird way for the iPad to behave - I would have expected that it wouldn't have connected in the first place.

Thanks for the thought.

This is definitely NOT your router.

I have two iPads in my hands. Both brand new. I also have two iPhone 3GSs in my hands. Both iPhones connect to my wireless without problem as does one of the iPads. The other iPad gets the 169...ip and will not connect.

The iPad that will not connect works fine at my house, as do the other devices. Riddle me this one Batman.

I rebooted the router and it works fine now. Isn't that the first thing I should have tried : )

One other thing I can suggest is to use a static IP. Its very easy to setup. I use MAC filtering and static IPS for all devices on my Airport Extreme. My iPad never has a problem connecting this way. Its very simple to turn off DHCP and go to each computer/device and set its IP address to a static one.

You should also triple check that your password is typed in correctly. The device will not give you an error message but appear to connect to the network and take on the fake 169 IP address. Once the correct password was entered connection was successful.

mminardo wrote:
You should also triple check that your password is typed in correctly. The device will not give you an error message but appear to connect to the network and take on the fake 169 IP address. Once the correct password was entered connection was successful.

This is incorrect. If an incorrect password is entered you will receive an error message indicating that a connection to the network could not be made. The 169.xxx IP address is a self-assigned IP address. This occurs when an IP address cannot be obtained from the router via DHCP. The purpose of the self-assigned unique IP address is to permit local networking of computers without requiring a DHCP server. This technique is used by the Windows and Mac operating systems.

Of course, as you suggest, a password should be carefully checked for correctness with the realization that these passwords are case-sensitive.

My problem was wrong password,I have no idea why it appears connected when it is not.

Looks like I figured it out why iPad is so unpredictably stubborn sometimes. And I have found a real solution (not such pseudo-solutions as "turn off autobright" or "autofill").

The reason of getting 169.x.x.x ip is that router's DHCP-server is too slow for the jumpy iPad, and the server cannot give the iPad a correct ip (something like 192.168.0.x) quickly. So the jumpy iPad makes decision to get itself a 169.x.x.x.

The reason why router can't manage to do it is: it's busy with other tasks.

*And that is why the full router-reset can help for a while.* When the router's RAM gets busy with junk tasks results in DHCP low performance, so it's too slow for iPad's DHCP client. And that's why getting new modern AirPort Extreme helps too.

*So, the real solution is:* speed-up the DHCP-server on your good old router (installing latest firmware), OR just set up another DHCP-server in your subnet.

For example, I have a NAS (DNS-323), and i just turned on its DHCP-server and the 169-problem was just gone. It (DHCP-server) runs so fast, even for the jumpy iPad.

The subnet config is: good old router D-Link DI-642 192.168.0.1 (with DHCP-server's range: 192.168.0.100-199), NAS D-Link DNS-323 192.168.0.100 (with DHCP-server's range: 192.168.0.200-254).

So, now iPad just gets its ip from the fastest (second) DHCP server: 192.168.0.200.

You can set up second DHCP-server on your macBook or somewhere/somewhat else.

Good advice, but the failure in the logic that it's purely the speed of the DHCP server is that the original poster already tried static ip addresses (which wouldn't require a response from a DHCP server) and he still couldn't connect.

So for some, maybe it is the speed, but for others it may also be the multi-mode.