DHCP and Windows 98 SE Not Working

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Hi Folks

This post is essentially about a Windows 98 SE PC that will NOT use DHCP to pick up it’s IP Address.

I’m looking at a ‘friends’ PC that has become unwell. I’ve virus scanned and removed the eight viruses it had. I’m now trying to attach the PC to the Internet to download relevent Windows updates, and this is where my problems started! The PC doesn’t have a network card, so I installed one – A Realtek RTL8139. Try as I may I cannot get this thing to pick up it’s IP address via DHCP.

Depending upon what else is switched on, I have Windows 98, XP and 2000 based PC’s on my network. All network/DHCP/access the internet without problems. It is JUST my friends PC that for some reason will not use DHCP. Things I’ve done/tried:

Another port on the switch that fronts my Netgear router.
Another LAN cable
Another network card (another Realtek RTL 8139)
Added the IPAutoConfigurationEnabled key to the DhcpInfo00 section of the Registry (Set to 0)
Deleted the Dial Up adaptor/associated TCP/IP binding.
Removed the LAN card, deleted the drivers, re-installed from scratch after re-boot/power cycling.
Turned every other machine off, and tried running my friends PC stand alone
Power cycled my Netgear Router
Found a link to a file ipac_off.inf – which turns off Automatic Private IP Addressing – allegedly…
Removed ALL entries from the Registry that refer to DHCP.. Yes, it put them back!
Removed ALL entries from the Registry that refer to DHCP.. EXCEPT the IPAutoConfigurationEnabled key (set to 0) Yes, it put them ALL back!
And probably a million other things..

I’m bored now! Any help/advice appreciated.

Cheers
Peter

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Have you checked the router configuration to make sure that you have not limited the IP range and run out of available addresses?

Joe

--Joe

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Hi Joe

Thanks.. yes, I should have said.. That’s one of the the things I’d also checked too.. Just checked again, to be certain!

Regards
Peter

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So you have a switch AND a router, Peter? I don’t have experience with that configuration, but just a question for you. What happens if you connect his PC directly to the router instead of the switch?

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Hi Al

Nope not tried that, so thanks for the suggestion… Have just tried it and it makes no difference/behaves the same as if it was going through the switch and then the router… Basically reverts to the internaly generated Automatic Private IP Addressing in the form of 169.254.x.x – And if I disable the Automatic Private IP Addressing by putting the IPAutoConfigurationEnabled key back in the DHCP section of the Registry, the IP address the card assumes is 0.0.0.0 – Ergo, so far as the configuration of this machine is concerned there is no DHCP server on my network – trust me there is…

Cheers
Peter

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It sounds to me like this PC will only be on your network until it has been sufficiently updated and patched. If that is the case, is there a reason that you can’t statically assign an IP address for now?

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OK… In desparation I took the hard disk out of the this PC and made it the boot volume in a spare PC I have. With a LOT of re-configuration the thing booted up first time, found it’s network card and assigned it’s IP address via DHCP. Applied about 5 years of software updates, virus scanning, adware/malware removal. Put hard disk back into original PC and back to not neing able to assign IP address again. Manually assigning IP address still has no useful impact, it can’t see the rest of my network.

Tried removing all other PCI cards, moving the LAN card through all available PCI slots, no joy. Also managed to boot from a DVD bootable copy of Suse Linux.. Much the same problem. It finds the NIC, but can’t obtain an IP address via DHCP. Manually assigning an IP address doesn’t work either.

I’m left with the conclusion that there is something about the Realtek RTL 8139 in this particular PC/Mobo combination and/or a BIOS issue. eSupport have offered, via there automated service, to sell me a BIOS upgrade, but the robot responses don’t appear capable of suggesting whether the upgrade will resolve my particular issue.

Anyways.. I’ve managed to restore my friends PC to some form of working state, sans network card, so I’m sort of happy for now.

Cheers for the suggestions received.

Peter

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