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Wrong IP Address

I have an Airport Extreme and several Apple devices. Everything was working fine with no problems at all.

In the last month, my devices started to get wrong IP Addresses and couldn't connect to the Wifi Network. I have two iMacs, one Macbook Pro, three Apple Tvs (2nd and 3rd gen) and three iPads. The correct IP Address starts with 192.168 and when a device can't connect, I look at the IP Address and it is replaced with a one starting with 169. What should I do? I've tried reseting the router and configuring a new network but it didn't work. Sometimes the device gets the wright IP Address after a while, but sometimes it get stuck on the wrong one.

What should I do?

Thank you very much.


Goncalo Perez

Rio de Janeiro - Brasil

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), MacBook Pro 13" Mid 2012

Posted on Jun 27, 2015 10:38 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jun 27, 2015 3:54 PM

A 169.254 address is a special self generated IP.

The block 169.254.0.0/16 is reserved for this purpose, with the exception of the first and the last /24 subnets in the range. If a host on an IEEE 802 (ethernet) network cannot obtain a network address via DHCP, an address from 169.254.1.0 to 169.254.254.255 may be assigned pseudorandomly. The standard prescribes that address collisions must be handled gracefully.


See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network


What is happening is not the wrong dhcp server but no dhcp server at all.. no link is possible.


What should I do?

what model is the extreme?


What I would recommend is a factory reset.. and totally new configuration.


Please use the DHCP in the AE not from main router if you are bridged.


See here. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5981989?answerId=25135547022#25135547022&ac_cid=tw123456#


Also I recommend that you use all short names, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.


To find out if you have too much interference or too little signal do a wireless survey around your home.


Just google for it.. eg. http://accessagility.com/products/wifi-survey.html


There are a whole mix of free and paid for apps that will work on laptops, iphone/ipad or other brands.. whatever you have available.


Find out how much signal is getting into your home and on what channels.. basically to win the wifi war you need to


1. Move to 5ghz.


2. Exceed the power output of every other wireless signal coming into your home by 6db at least.


3. Use the best possible channel where the interference is least.


Apple wireless routers are NOT high power. They are average.. and it might just be a situation where you cannot get acceptable connections at average.


If the AE is old it can also be working poorly.


You do need to replace them around every 3years.

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jun 27, 2015 3:54 PM in response to Goncalo P

A 169.254 address is a special self generated IP.

The block 169.254.0.0/16 is reserved for this purpose, with the exception of the first and the last /24 subnets in the range. If a host on an IEEE 802 (ethernet) network cannot obtain a network address via DHCP, an address from 169.254.1.0 to 169.254.254.255 may be assigned pseudorandomly. The standard prescribes that address collisions must be handled gracefully.


See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network


What is happening is not the wrong dhcp server but no dhcp server at all.. no link is possible.


What should I do?

what model is the extreme?


What I would recommend is a factory reset.. and totally new configuration.


Please use the DHCP in the AE not from main router if you are bridged.


See here. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5981989?answerId=25135547022#25135547022&ac_cid=tw123456#


Also I recommend that you use all short names, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.


To find out if you have too much interference or too little signal do a wireless survey around your home.


Just google for it.. eg. http://accessagility.com/products/wifi-survey.html


There are a whole mix of free and paid for apps that will work on laptops, iphone/ipad or other brands.. whatever you have available.


Find out how much signal is getting into your home and on what channels.. basically to win the wifi war you need to


1. Move to 5ghz.


2. Exceed the power output of every other wireless signal coming into your home by 6db at least.


3. Use the best possible channel where the interference is least.


Apple wireless routers are NOT high power. They are average.. and it might just be a situation where you cannot get acceptable connections at average.


If the AE is old it can also be working poorly.


You do need to replace them around every 3years.

Wrong IP Address

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