iPad wont get IP address from DHCP Server

We ran into a similar issue with various iPad and iPhones as well. It turns out there was a problem with the AP that we were connecting to at that time. When we moved to another AP, it pulled a DHCP address on all of the devices that failed previously.

We are still troubleshooting the AP to determine what the root cause is. The strange thing is we could connect to the AP with several laptops, an Android phone, and even 2 of the iPads. Not sure yet on whats different on the iPads.

My iPAD2 hung yesterday, I powered it down, did power it backup and everything seemed OK except that I discovered later that I could not access the Internet. I restored it to no avail, It seemed to connect to the WIFI but did not get an IP address (DHCP) I searched everywhere finally did find the ridiculous advice to change the brightness of the screen! In my desperation I was willing to give the most unlikely a try and… it actually worked! My iPAD2 got its IP address and the problem is solved,

i have had the same issue ( Ipad 2 / Cisco Access Point 1130 / MS 2008 as Raduis / EAP Authentication with self created Certificate / Username / Password authentication MS-CHAP )

I my case ( Authentication was successful reported on the IAS Server ) but did not receive the IP from the DHCP Server, the solutuion was to switch from TKIP to AES-CCMP on the Access Point. After that switch reboot the IPAD an voila we are in !!! 🙂

Hope this helps somebody !

Did you all ever find a solution? An IP address starting with 169. means an invalid connection--that address will never connect to anything. I hope you reset your network, in the Settings App - and did a hard Restart.

It sounds ridiculous, but that did it for me too. After fiddling with many options, the only way to get wifi seemed to be to disable DHCP and use static ip addressing. DHCP would always choose a 169 address (no Internet). But after changing the brightness, going back to the DHCP settings revealed a new ip address and Internet came back!

I'm so glad I found this thread it's saved me hours of fiddling about. I picked up my ipad2 this morning to find that overnight it too had assigned itself a 169 IP address, after 4 months of working flawlessly. I've had the same problem with a Macbook that will only ever connect with a static ip address now, despite initially working properly, so there is obviously something in OSX that causes this to happen.

Thinking I was going to have to spend the morning fiddling around trying to find the correct solution for the ipad (and cursing Apple and all its works) I decided to try the easiest thing first and set wireless to off, switched screen brightness from auto to off, switched brightness back on and moved the brightness bar a fraction, switched wireless back on and........

voila!

What a bizarre solution, but I hope it continues to work if it happens again!!

I had this same problem. My wifi network would show up on my iPad but when I touched the blue dot next to the network I could see it wasn't detecting an IP address. The solution I finally found (which I've seen mentioned nowhere) was to go to my routers settings online and under MAC Address Control I added my iPads Wi-Fi address (found under General > About on your iPad).

I was amazed that I could not find this solution anywhere. As soon as I did this the iPad immediately connected.

Hope this helps!

Hey Gyzzzz!!!
It can be simple problem...
I was also goin through this and searched a **** lot from 4 days for solution BUT

got it all fine when i entered the correct password for the chosen wifi network..so... make sure that
password you are entering is 100% correct..

even wrong password would make it show connected but it takes the wrong ip address...

Gud Luck

We are in the lucky position of having 2 iPads and 2 routers so this morning when my wife's iPad wouldn't connect I could test it on two routers neither of which would connect. No problem connecting my iPad though. Hers was shown as connected but whenever you tried to surf the net it said not connected. I then checked the ip settings on both iPads and found that hers had very different settings for both ip subnet router etc. I changed it to static ip using a number not available to dhcp (to avoid conflicts) and voila no problems. Hope this helps.

DEHARTJW: I know it's a year since your post, but I just had the same issue with one of my iphones and and a few other devices to connect properly to my router. AFTER READING 101 POST and finding absolutely no possible solution, I came to the conclusion that my router must be the problem. So I signed into my router and toured around for a few hours and found the the DHCP range that was allocated was 192.168.2.3 to 192.168.2.99.

You would think this wouldn't affect a device from connecting, but I further switched the range from 192.168.1.3 to 192.168.1.99 and all my devices started connecting immediately with thw WPA2 security.I know this may or may not be helpful but to me, it was like finding the holy grail!!

Good luck!!

I'm glad to see I have got your attention on the 169 problem, Apple--but deleting my post is not the right answer. You need to provide a solution to your customers which actually works (and which is written in terms which a person without a computer science degree can understand). Until you do, I will continue to advise people not to buy an iPad.

After making the post above, my iPad began to work again for no discernible reason until April 2014. It failed again, and nothing seemed to cure the problem. As a last resort, I upgraded my imac from Snow Leopard (10.6.8) to Mavericks (10.9.2). This allowed me to upgrade to a WPA2 password on the iMac's wifi (Snow Leopard only used insecure WEP passwords). My iPad then asked me for the new password, and the wifi began to work.

So in this case the 169 problem seemed to be caused by the wifi's old WEP security system (and yes, I was using the correct password).

I'm glad my iPad is now working again. I'm not glad that I had to waste three days of my time to get it working.

For the record, you can set a WPA2 password on your iMac (if you have upgraded to Mavericks) by going to System Preferences > Sharing. Untick 'internet sharing'; highlight wifi and click on wi-fi options.

It's 2014 and I have an iPad 3 that had this same issue...

=)

Setting the IP to a static address and connecting - it worked.

I set the IP back to DHCP and it started to work normally again (as it has for years now).

I know it's been 4 years since you posted this, but your gift is still giving...

My solution was to turn Mac filter on, on the router.