Self assigned IP address

I tried everything. Deleting files, resetting all kinds of stuff, making new locations in airport, etc.

If none of that worked for you either, the real problem is a combination of your router and your OS (I'm on 10.6.8)

So the problem is that your router has a WEP password to connect to it and it doesn't work well with your OS. I found this post that explained it well:

"What happened is that my Imac 27 (10.6.8) wasn't recognising the modem

security setting and therefore the DHCP could not properly assign a

valid IP (..a friend actually explained me that..). To know if that is

really your case, click in the airport icon on the top right of your

screen (the radar like icon) with the "Option" button pressed. Right

bellow the network you are trying to connect it will appear some further

settings like "PHY Mode", "BSSID", "Channel" and finally "Security".

In my case, even though there was a required password to log in the

network, "security" was being shown as "none". So I got in the modem

through a flatmate computer and changed the password system from WEP to

WPA2. As simple as that."

(source: http://forum.cultofmac.com/discussion/8792/how-to-fix-self-assigned-ip-addresses -in-mac-os-x-video-how-to/p3

So the solution is that you connect to your router and change the password to a WPA type password, but it is really enough just to remove the password protection, and then it works right away.

I hope this helps!

Here is what worked for me. I tried all the complex things people on this forum have suggested to no avail. It turns out it was a very simple fix. I simply unplugged the router from the back and left it unplugged for about 60 seconds. Then, I plugged it back it. Problem solved. It seems almost too simple but try it out. For an explanation of why, check out Tatiana's post here (http://forum.cultofmac.com/discussion/8792/how-to-fix-self-assigned-ip-addresses -in-mac-os-x-video-how-to/p3)

Ok, so I had the same problem, tried all of these things to no avail. Then i went to the airport utility, network. Found that the router was "Off - in Bridge Mode". I switched it back to "DHCP and Nat" and boom! Problem was instantly gone. Hope this works for you guys. . . . JC

Hi, all! I had the same problem too, and I had tried all the things, but it does't work. It is so unbelievable. I set up my phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, my mac connect it successfully, but try to connect my router, it get self-assigned IP problem~ what is the matter with my mac?

Hi, so I wanted to share because I had the same problem over the past coule of days wiht "the airport having a self-assigned IP address and cannot connect to the internet". I tried everything on this blog and nothing worked. Frustrated out of my mind, I did a factory reset on my router and set it up from scratch and Voila', the airport/wireless started working again with a correct IP address!!

I've tried all the above with no luck. Went into the apple store today and spoke to a 'genius'....he had no idea what i was talking about or how to fix it - after getting on google he suggested i call apple support! Just glad im not the only one out there with this problem but it is driving me insaaaaane!

So, I had this problem yesterday. I have other machines on this network, my partner's PC and my ipad and iphone, so I knew the problem was with my mac.Tried almost all the solutions here and still got "self assigned ip." I did have dropbox running, and since dropbox tries to connect to the internet to sync, I thought I'll see what happens if I quit it. Once I shut down dropbox, I followed the password oriented suggestions here: turned airport off, deleted the network (don't forget to "apply"; I forgot the first time), deleted key chain password, and after turning airport back on – voila! This solution did *not* work for me when dropbox was running. So if you have the same problem and none of the solutions work, check if you have this kind of silent, internet-dependent app running in the back – it might combine with whatever's wrong with the password settings (still don't understand how that went wrong) to make things worse.

Ive tried many solutions over the last couple of days with no luck. Tonight i seemed to have solved my problem just trying different things. The one that finally worked was:

1. Turn Wifi off

2. Go to Internet sharing

3. Turn sharing off

4. Turn sharing back on creating a new network

5. Turn wifi back on.

6. Reboot

7. Fixed!!

Not sure if the reboot was necessary. Fingers crossed this now solves the problem for good.

By the way... the WIFI settings on my mac still say "Wifi has the self-assinged IP address 169.254.203.163 and will not be able to connect ot the internet' but all devices are connecting fast and without problems. I dont plan on touching any other settings until i have to!

I have been having the same issue with my computer and the only time I could connect to the internet was when my Firewall was off. I was luckily still under warranty so I called apple care today and she told me these steps that fixed my problem. When you are at your desktop screen go to the tab labeled "GO" and click on Computer. Once you are there follow these steps:

1. Click on Macintosh HD

2. Click on the file labeled "Library"

3. Click on the file labeled "Preferences"

4. Click on the file labeled "SystemConfiguration"

5. Then move these three documents to the trash (don't delete them just in case but your computer should remake these documents on its own

1. com.apple.airport.preferences.plist

2. com.apple.network.identification.plist

3. NeworkInterfaces.plist

6. Then restart your computer and you should be good to go and if you are you can go ahead and delete those documents in your trash (that is what I did) because one of those documents was corrupted.

Hope this helps and let me know if it worked!

After 18 months of working every day at my office, my mac air suddenly has htis problem. I've tried everything in this entire thread. I've deleted key chain. I've reset DHCP by fooling it and renewing. I've gone into the system folder and deleted the three files referenced above. None are permanent solutions.

This is insane. Any other ideas from anyone?

I feel Iike I've gone back in a time machine and am using my old Windows laptop.

:-(

Hi

I take it your still aren't getting an IP address even after a reboot?

Is this via a cable or wifi?

Can you try something for me, as mine is working and I can't test this?

Reboot and log in as the guest user (you might need to enable the guest account).

When you log in as guest, try logging on to you network and then see if you can get on the internet. Does this account get network access?

Then reboot the machine and log into your normal account. Is it still broken?

Liam

I'm having the same problem with my macbook pro OS X 10.6.3

I've tried practically evrything that i could find over the internet but have yet to solve this problem.

SOOOO FRUSTRATED!!!

WOOOO finally got my mac working again after 6 hours.....

for those of you who have tried just about everything you could find just like i did this is what worked for me.

From what i've read from all kinds of sources the problem has something to do with the communication between the airport and modem/router. Try disconnecting your airport to whatever network that you are having problems with and search for an open one(one that does not require a password) to check if you can connect to it instead. This is to check if your airport works at all and if it does, well that's a good sign. Reset you modem/router (this isn't always easy as you'll have to set it all up again from scratch.) Then delete the network from your airport list, turn off airport and restart mac. From there turn on airport again and reconnect with your newly resetted network.

If this doesn't work right away you can try manually assigning an IP address and then hit renew DCHP. I was able to connect after that. I know this might not work for people having problems with connecting from offices and schools as it will be difficult to reset their modems, but i hope this might help others or at least give them an idea as to where the problem might be. 🙂

My friend asked if I could take a look at her laptop (macbook) because it would not connect to the internet. I went to her house and discovered the wifi was not working. She was getting the self assigned ip address and the internet would not connect. I took my own laptop (macbook pro) to her house and was able to connect to her wifi no problem. I connected her laptop via ethernet and that worked. Brought her laptop to my house and it connected to my wifi no problem.

I surfed the internet looking for a fix. I was afraid to mess someone else's computer up. I was desperate to find a solution that didn't require me to delete or move anything around.

I had already tried numerous things (including installing a new operating system), but none of them worked.

Here is what I did today that fixed the issue for her. I'm going to list it all, although I don't think it is all needed.

1. I unplugged the power cord and coaxial cable from the router. I turned the airport off on her laptop and turned the laptop off. I left everything off for about a minute.

2. I reconnected the power cord and coaxial cable and turned the computer back on.

3. When it all turned on and airport was turned back on, it still had the same results....no internet.

4. I went into system preferences, network, wifi, then clicked on "Assist me" at the bottom.

5. I chose Assistant and followed the prompts. I named her new location "home", then chose her network that I wanted to connect to and entered the password. Following all the prompts when the process was over, the laptop connected to the internet!

I really feel that only steps 4 and 5 need to be done, but I listed all steps I took just in case. I did tell my friend that I'm not sure if she leaves her house and connects to another network and then back to her house and connects to her network if it will continue to work. I showed her how to go into system preferences, network, wifi and assure that her location is set to "home".

Anyway, this is what I found to work and thought I would share since in all my searching, this wasn't a solution that I found.

I was having this issue at my public library, where you get a window that automatically pops up (when working) and asks you to agree to terms and connect. I tried renewing the lease and it didn't help. I tried setting the DHCP to manual, and changing the ip address and it didn't help. I tried adding a DNS server and it didn't help. I tried verifying keychain access and it didn't help. I tried adding an acception to the firewall (system-->library-->coreservices-->NetAuthorAgent.app) and it didn't help.

Then I clicked on "Assist Me..." in network preferences and it changed my manuaul DHCP back to automatic, allowed connection, etc. and now it works. At the moment...