Question : DHCP Addresses have changed from 192.168.8.x addresses to 169.254.x.x help!

I have a CompUSA wireless router (with four port hub) and a Belking wireless PCI card in my computer.  For the last 5 months it has all worked well and then suddenly last month I found that although I was getting perfect signal strength the router wasn't let me get onto my home network.  It was then that I saw the IP address had changed from the DHCP set of the router (192.168.8.x) to a new address 169.254.245.204.  Now nothng works, I cannot even ping the router at 192.168.8.1 nor my other computers on the network.

The Belkin software shows you link information like link quality and signal strength and shows my router with correct SSID at 100% signal strength and 98% link quality.

Any ideas?   Here is my ipconfig /all output.  I even forced the gateway to 192.168.8.1 to see if this would help.

Windows IP Configuration


        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SIMON
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Belkin 11Mbps Wireless Desktop PCI Adapter (F5D6001 V.2)
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-30-BD-E0-3D-74
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.245.204
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SkyMedia-200D Ethernet Controller
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-90-BC-01-38-25
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.179.48
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

PPP adapter IHUG:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 203.173.244.37
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 203.173.244.37
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 203.109.252.42
                                            203.109.252.43

        NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled


Thanks

Simon Bunn

Answer : DHCP Addresses have changed from 192.168.8.x addresses to 169.254.x.x help!

Simon,

I do not know if you tried to place static IP address or not for your adapter.  I will assume you didn;t.
Here's what your output looks like to me.:
- you have DNS served by the router
- you have a default gateway probably served by the router
- your signal is okay
- your router does not offer an IP address lease and Windows creates the default one in the 169.254 range

I believe your router has the DHCP server turned OFF.

Fix
If you did not at this time reset your router to teh factory defaults, put a static IP address in your adapter to match the routers subnet (you indicated 192.168.8.* so use 192.168.8.2)
Test a ping to your router.  If the router responds use the browser to go to the status page and turn the DHCP Server function back ON.  Reverse your static IP to a dynamically obtained IP.





Fix No. 2