DHCP Will Not Configure

abradle2 wrote:
Today, my macbook stopped connecting to wireless networks via DHCP. Whenever I select DHCP for the AirPort connection, the computer automatically switches to "Using DHCP with Manual Address."

Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.

It might help to reset the connection settings on your Mac using these steps one at a time until the problem is resolved, recognizing that, depending on your problem, not all of these steps will make sense:

1) Use the AirPort menu bar item to turn AirPort off, then on again.

2) Try to select your Wi-Fi network from the AirPort menu.

3) In the Network panel of System Preferences delete the AirPort item from the left column, then add it back.

4) In the same panel as (3), define a new location and see if you can make that work.

5) In the same panel, select the AirPort connection item, click the "Advanced" button, select the "TCP/IP" tab, then click "Renew DHCP Lease".

6) In the folder /Library/Preferences ( not <yourhomefolder>/Library/Preferences), move the folder SystemConfiguration onto the Desktop, then restart your computer. See if you can now make your AirPort connection work.

They may not help, but they'll only take a couple of minutes to try. Before you try these, if you have any special network settings on your Mac for things like DSL credentials, note all your network settings, because the latter steps will destroy them. If you got all the way to the last step, if things don't work any worse than before, you can trash the saved SystemConfiguration folder.

Does anyone know if mac has the equivalent of a /etc/networks/interfaces?

There is a file called /etc/networks, but on my Mac it only contains a loopback entry. The files in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration may be the closest that you'll get on a Mac.