Airport Self-assigned IP Address ?

It means that your wireless router and your Mac have not been able to negotiate an IP address. Is this a new problem on a previously working setup, or is it a new wireless router/Mac combination?

No problems. Let's hope that my response leads to a productive outcome.

Firstly, have you used the "Assist me.." option in Network preferences?

If you have, and have no satisfaction, then some trouble-shooting steps are in order:

1) Are there any other computers/devices that are able to wirelessly connect to your Time Capsule? If yes, then it suggests that the problem is on your Mac. If no, then it is on your router.

2). If it is your Mac, try turning Airport off (click on the Airport icon in the menu bar and select "Turn Airport Off"). Wait 5 seconds, tap your heels together, and then turn it on again. Does this work?

3) If it is your router, try turning the router off, wait 5 seconds, clap your hands, and then turn it on again. Does this work?

Cheers,

Rodney

p.s. the tapping of heels and clapping of hands is critical to successful troubleshooting.

Hello, had the same issue on two different Mac's the in the house. This fix worked:

- turn off Airport
- delete Airport as an 'interface' in System Pref / Network
- reboot
- **** your pants, because when your machine comes back up your Airport will be 'gone'
- go back into Network, re-add Airport
- reboot
- go back into Network and reconfigure as you originally did when you first set up your machine

This worked the first time on both the machine quoted below and a Mini running 10.4.11. Problem appeared the same way: Airport got locked on a self-assigned IP and wouldn't accept a DHCP renew nor would it accept a manual IP configuration.

I've sent the above to Apple and asked for a 'fix' as there is clearly a bug in the Airport code.

Thank you so much bas-ackwards..........I tried this and it worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got my first ever apple laptop at Christmas, and its been driving me mad, dropping internet connection 4-5 times an hour or more. I'd even taken it to the apple store and they said there's nothing wrong and they'd not heard of anyone else having this problem so I was very fed up with it.
I did what you said and now I can even shut the lid, leave it a while, open the lid and its still connected. I am very happy, thank you so much.

hi,
I have same this problem, too.
Normally, I share internet connection with my iphone via Airport has no problem. But today I can not do that. My iphone can connect and share files with my Macbook via wifi but it is unable to connect to internet?! I have checked my network and it also appear the notice that : "AirPort has the self-assigned IP address 169.254.xxx.xxx and will not be able to connect to the Internet".
What is my problem ? and how can i fix it ?
Thanks,

I have done follow bas_ackwards's instructions, but it didn't work.

I disconnected my DirectTV DVRs and issue went away.

Thanks, bas_akwards, your solution worked for me as well!

My Macbook was fine on our network but hubby's had that self-assigned IP Airport issue. You saved me a ton of time and probably money, too.

Never had this issue before the upgrade to 10.6.3 last week, don't know if it's connected. But I'm thrilled to have the solution if it drops out again.

richwt wrote:
I disconnected my DirectTV DVRs and issue went away.

Often this occurs when your router or cable/DSL modem can only assign a limited number of IP addresses, and adding more devices to the network exhausts the supply of available addresses.

You may want to check to see if that was the cause in your case.

I tried deleting my airport and it didn't work. I don't think I know how to reconfigure my network.
can someone explain how to do that?

Having a similar problem with a MacBook Pro and a Time Capsule(which is an Airport Extreme with an NAS hard drive in it):

My Setup:

Cable >>> Cable Modem >>> Time Capsule >>> Wireless and Wired Client Machines

Before I setup my new Time Capsule, my MBP was not able to connect to the previous router using Ethernet. I thought maybe my Ethernet port had fried, but it turned out that the DHCP settings on the MBP got messed up be because I had used a Verizon wireless broadband card and its Location settings under Network Preferences, were overriding the 'Automatic' settings. Once I put the Location back to Automatic, it seemed my Ethernet was working again.

I installed Time Capsule, which was amazingly able to connect to the Internet through the cable provider without using PPPoE, which I did not know it could do. My MBP was assigned an IP address of 10.0.1.2 via Ethernet, and Airport client automatically turned off. Great!

Then I tried to do a backup with Time Capsule. This part proved to be a nightmare, and I still haven't been able to complete a first backup of my machine.

Time Capsule (as a Network Access Storage device, NOT as Airport router) would dismount midway through backup - gone! - and it's because my Ethernet IP address settings suddenly switched to 'self-assigned' IP address, and with Airport turned off, unable to connect to my LAN (10.0.1.x range).

I tried Manually assigning a 10.0.1.5 address to my Ethernet settings, but it won't connect.

I rebooted the machine a few times, messed with the DHCP settings for both the Time Capsule and the MBP, and I was even able to get Ethernet working temporarily, but within an hour, BOOM, Ethernet back to 'self-assigned' IP address, and I'm only able to connect to the Internet via WiFi, because using Airport as my Network client, I am assigned a proper LAN IP address of 10.0.1.2.

So, now I'm backing up my MBP for the first time to Time Capsule and it has taken ALMOST 24 HOURS ALREADY!!!

NOTE TO APPLE: MAYBE YOU SHOULD ALLOW THE TIME CAPSULE TO CONNECT TO THE COMPUTER VIA USB OR FIREWIRE FOR FIRST BACKUP!!! This is ridiculous for how much I paid for the Time Capsule.

So, is the problem with Time Capsule/Airport base station technology, or is it with OS X and the client computer??? Considering I was having this kind of problem using a Linksys router, well before I installed Time Capsule, makes me think it is the latter.

In fact, I have a printer and a WinXP machine on the same LAN, and they have no problem receiving proper IP addresses from the Time Capsule. It is only the MBP and only the Ethernet connection. Connecting to the Internet via WiFi is great at the airport, but it is woefully inadequate when you have to upload and download files constantly for a living. Slllllooooowwwww.

Folks, if you are having trouble with self-assigned IP addresses, try some of these possible solutions: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1417058&tstart=0

I consider this a serious bug that Apple needs to address. Why doesn't DHCP work right in OSX?

@OVozeh
dear it is your macbook ...
A Macbook aluminium 5,1
I think it's a general bug, but nothing seems to work with me 😟 it just doesn't work!!!!!!!!!!
I have parallels installed, I don't know if that it's a problem I don't think so, but anyway. when i try to eliminate the airport of the parallell installations on the network setting when i reboot they come up again! how is that possible? I heard that If I reinstall the 10.6 OSX it continue with the same problem 😟 what else can I do? or what worked for you? thanks!

DHCP works fine under Mac OS X.

How do you have your Time Capsule configured? Which device is the DHCP server for you? Can you connect to other wired networks via Ethernet?

Apple also recommends you connect using wired Ethernet for the initial backup. Even though it's a gigabit Ethernet connection, the initial backup can still take several hours, depending on how full your MBP's hard drive is.