Sticky IP addresses

Do you know what causes the NIC card on an NT Workstation not to release an IP address? It's stuck at 169.254.210.75. I can input a static IP, but if I remove the static IP it goes back to the 169.254.210.75.

Kelvin

If you feel that the network address should be changing, you may want to take a look at the lease time specified on your network's DHCP server. You should be able to see a listing of currently assigned addresses in the DHCP server's database. Delete the entry for your workstation. If you have another workstation that hasn't been used on the network yet, boot it up and see if it captures the just-released address. You could also manually assign the IP address that keeps showing up at the workstation to a nonexistent workstation. Booting up the problem workstation should get it to capture a different IP address.

If this doesn't resolve the problem, there may be a problem with the NT Workstation registry. First, apply or reapply the latest NT service pack (currently at 6a). If, after rebooting, the problem still exists, remove the IP protocol stack from the workstation, reboot it, reinstall the IP protocol stack and then reapply the service pack.

If the situation still occurs, a more severe option may be in order. Remove the network card and all protocols for this workstation. Shut down the workstation and remove the network card. Then restart the workstation. If everything starts up without error, reverse the process you just carried out. Shut down the workstation, install the network card and then turn the workstation back on. Reinstall the network card driver and protocol stacks and verify for proper network operation.