Self assigned IP address

Do this ...

Remove IPFW File to make sure WiFi works

1. Open the Terminal app located at /Application/Utilities/Terminal
2. Copy the following text and paste into the Terminal window and press enter: sudo rm /usr/local/etc/ipfw.conf
3. You should be prompted to enter your Mac password, please do so. Note that as you type your password nothing is shown on the screen
4. If the file was there you will receive no error or output. If the file was missing you will receive an error. Either way this file is no longer present which is good.

It happened to me and this works. You may need to tell the Mac not to remember the network ** this file needs to be removed.

I struggled with this for six hours and finally decided to call my router manufacturer (TP Link), and got a solution. It was a problem with the settings on my router. The combination of the signal width and security type on my wifi settings didn't seem to work with my iMac even though they worked with a MacBooks, iPad etc. I'm not sure if this was due to the age of my system or not but here's what I was told to do:

Reset the router to factory settings (you can probably try without doing this, but I'd recommend it to isolate this from any other issues)

Go to System Preferences - network - WiFi - advanced, click the minus next to your old network

Set the IPv4 option to DHCP

Try and sign into the router login page (usually 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1), to test if you can connect to it, if you can:

Change the router signal width from 40mhz to 20mhz

Change the wireless channel to 11.

Rename your network.

Change the wireless security type to WEP and set a password of ten numbers

On your mac:

Remove your network from network settings again, then reconnect with the password you just set

Try and connect to the internet

It should work now, but change back the security to WPA/PSK again and set a password, as this is much more secure than WEP.

I believe that random 169..... IP address is because for some reason there is a failure in connection between the router and mac, and it is essentially a 'wild guess' built into OS. So I think for many people this is likely to be a problem with your router settings rather than your Mac.

Hopefully this helps somebody, I felt like it would be looking for a needle in a hay stack otherwise.

Thanks to AbnoSpam for solution posted on 22/feb 2013, worked perfectly after nothing else would!!

Thank you for posting this! I've been sitting in a cafe troubleshooting this problem for close to an hour. Your solution worked for me!

Some people in these forums claim that the problem in 169 cases lies in router passwords. My question is: is this relevant in my case?

My iPad2 connects (or did until it started giving my a 169 address instead) directly to my iMac via wifi, which in turn is connected to the internet via a cable which goes through a modem (a SpeedStream 4200). I do not have a wireless router: all I have is the modem.

Since my iMac allows me to surf the web, I think the problem must be in the connection between the iPad and the iMac (and not the modem). Is this true?

By the way, I've tried all the usual things:

. resetting the iPad

. forgetting the network on the iPad

. inserting a static IP address on the iPad

. changing the password on the iMac's internet sharing network. (I upgraded to system 10.9.2, which allowed me to switch to WPA2 security. That fixed the problem for three days, before it reappeared.)

. changing the security mentioned above to 'none'

. changing the wireless channel

. lowering the brightness of the iPad's screen

. cursing Steve Jobs and threatening to desecrate his grave.

I'm reluctant to change settings in my modem because it is working perfectly well with my iMac, and I fear that I may just end up stuffing up things completely.

I suspect that the problem is a bug in the Mac OS wifi security software. Does anyone have any thoughts?

I have never posted on the Apple Support Community before, but I wanted to share what worked for me in when I ran into this situation.

Background:

I use a Belkin N+ Router that is probably 4 or 5 years old. I've never had any problems with it. I have multiple devices that are connected to the WiFi at any one time, including my MacBook Air (3 1/2 years old), my iMac (14 months old), my work PC, my iPhone, and my iPad.

Earlier this afternoon, I was watching a video on the iMac when it suddenly stopped working. I immediately reset the modem and the router which did nothing. I realized that every other device was connect to the router and had an active internet connection. For some reason, and with no warning, my newest computer (the iMac) just started self-assigning the IP address and acting like it couldn't see the router. The iMac would connect to other, open WiFi hotspots in my neighborhood with no problem.

I found this thread and started working my way through all the different solutions. Only one of them worked - the suggestion to manually set everything up and mimic the settings of a working connection on another machine. I still had a problem, though. I use my iMac to RDP into my work PC since I prefer to work on the Mac and use it as my primary computer during the day. Setting everything up manually, although it gave me an active internet connection again, did not allow me to RDP into my work laptop. So frustrated!

SOLUTION (that worked in my very specific case):

I logged into the router from my MacBook Air since it was connected with no problem. I poked around in the settings there a bit and finally decided to use the setting in the Navigation Panel to Reboot the Router. Now keep in mind that I had manually unplugged and rebooted the router that way at least 10 times over the course of the afternoon, and it never seemed to make a difference. Doing it this way, though, from within the router finally worked. I could immediately tell that something was different, and the iMac connected to the router and established a working IP address!

I hope this will help someone else!

I solved the problem, at least for the moment, by buying a new wi-fi router to replace my old no-wi-fi modem. Now my iPad talks directly to the new router. It still refuses to talk to my iMac's wi-fi, even after employing the services of techie for two hours. Essentially, because Apple hasn't fixed the 169 bug, I've had to spend several hundred dollars on a work-around. Thanks for that, Apple.

Long time listener, first time caller. I ran into the self-assigned IP issue a few days ago and have tried nearly everything in this post (and others) but still can’t get online. I also spent 2 hours on the phone with Apple tech support who, at the end of the call, suggested I get a network expert to look at my configuration. So frustrating.

Network Configuration: I’ve had this configuration set up for about 2 years with no issues. I have a Verizon FIOS router and a time capsule as well as several networked (via Ethernet) devices that connect via a 16-port Netgear switch. Current configuration is Ethernet cable from LAN port on FIOS router to the WAN port on the Time capsule. Separate Ethernet cable from one of the Ethernet ports on my time capsule to the switch in my basement. Separate Ethernet cable runs from the switch in the basement up to my iMac. Wifi is switched off on my FIOS router. I use my time capsule for backups and for wifi. I use Ethernet, not/not wifi to go online from my imac.

Current situation: The issue began when I clicked “renew DHCP lease” a few days ago. Ever since then I continually get a self-assigned IP on my iMac and I’m unable to connect to the internet via Ethernet. When I turn on wifi on my iMac it connects and I’m able to get online. This, to me, suggests the Fios router and the time capsule are communicating appropriately. (iphones and ipads also connect via wifi to the time capsule.) In addition, when I directly connect my iMac into the FIOS router (with time capsule and Ethernet switch disconnected) I get a normal IP and am able to connect to the internet via ethernet. Furthermore, when I connect my iMac directly to the Ethernet port on the time capsule, I am also able to connect to the internet via Ethernet.

I’ve power cycled the Fios router and tried resetting to factory defaults. I’ve also power cycled the switch and reset the time capsule. Nothing seems to be working. The only thing left that I can think of is to try a new Ethernet switch in case that is what’s preventing the iMac from getting a valid IP. I’d welcome any other thoughts/ideas to try.

Thank you! Thank you a lot! This is the second time this problem happend while I'm traveling (which is pretty critical) and the solution which has worked last time didnt so I was totally terrified. But thanks to you it solved!

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Thanks ericdy

Yes, I had the same annoying problem:

Quote:

"Wi-Fi has the self-assigned IP address …….. and will not be able to connect to the Internet."

The remedy by ericdy on page one sorted it out.

Thanks for that.

OK, so I hit this problem yesterday and I thought it was just one friend's mac. This morning I found that several macs were having the same problem on wifi. (Ethernet was OK, but not wifi.) I have SOLVED it for me - so here's the info in case it helps!

NB - I have tried most of the solutions on most of the help threads. (Once, years ago, I had the same problem, and one of the fixes I found back then did work. I think it was either deleting the wifi setting from Network Preferences or fixing the keychain or both. But this time, those fixes were achieving nothing.)

Anyway, the solution was simple! My modem-router included a setting for its DHCP server that was limited to 20 addresses. In other words, it was offering addresses from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.20. At first I dismissed that possibility, since you'd think 20 would be plenty for one house! However, I was very wrong. Here's why.

1. Yes, we do own several Macs, and some of these are connected by ethernet AND wifi, so those ones use two addresses each.

2. Yes, we own several iPhones, iPods, an AppleTV etc.

3. Yes, we had visitors in the house. My daughter's friend had brought her iPad; my parents had brought their laptops and their phones!

4. I have an Airport Extreme and a Time Capsule, both connected (in Bridge Mode) to the modem-router, so that's two more addresses.

5. Remember that DHCP leases last for 24 hours (or whatever your router is set to), so even when visitors are gone or machines are turned off, those addresses might not become free.

SOLUTION? I changed the router's setting to offer all addresses up to 192.168.1.40. (I might even go back and offer even more than 40 - no reason why not).

My wifi macs had no trouble from that point. Hope this helps! 🙂

[NB - The reason my ethernet was always OK was that those connections had been running a long time. But if an Ethernet connection had gone down, and I had reconnected it at a time when its address had been stolen by another device, then I likely would have hit the same "self-assigned IP" error. In other words, in my case I don't believe the issue made any real distinction between wireless and wired connections.]

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Thanks ericdy

I reported earlier that ericdy had solved my problem (page one). But it kept coming back again and again.

Ok, I think I have a solution now. Before you do ericdy's solution, delete all the multiple locations (I had six locations)

>>System preferences >>Network >>Location drop-down >>edit locations

Delete all the locations. Then do ericdy's reset. Then it might work.

Grrrrrr to Apple.

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Ok, back again. That fix lasted all of one day, then back to the normal "self-assigned IP address" routine.

Grrrrr.

I went through each fix, one by one. This one appears to be holding up for three days now.

By jcdill on page 5:

a. Open your >>Preferences >>network settings >>Advanced >>TCP/IP tab for your wifi connection. The bad IP address is on line two.

b. In the TCP/IP tab click "refresh DHCP" until it refreshes to empty (no IP address). (Try with new client ID or ID empty, wifi on or wifi off.) - I had to hit 'refresh' nearly 20 times before it was empty.

c. Eventually, you will get the IPv4 Address to be empty. Stick with that. Press 'OK' and 'Apply', and try to reconnect with the router in the normal manner.

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I hope this is a permanent fix, because this is B annoying. Especially as my two iPads have had no problem whatsoever with this router…. !!!

Cheers,

Ralph

Grrrrrrrr. Back to square one, and locked out of my router.

i have resorted to a 25m ethernet cable, to link to the router, which works fine. But why is technology going backwards, to cables??

Does Apple not have an answer to this problem yet? And this is not a router problem, it is an Apple problem.

I have two ipads that will talk to the router.

I have a signal booster that will connect to the router, and both ipads will happily talk to the booster.

I used to have an iMac that would talk to both for a year.

But it first stopped talking to the booster, and now it has stopped talking to the router too.

What is going on here, Apple??

Maybe clearing the keychain is the trick but what worked for me was "safe boot" the mac, connect to wifi. This should work. This would modify your wifi settings for the access point you are trying to access. Re-boot.

PS. To "safe boot" the MAC, press the "shift" key while the system is booting.