Comments on: Mac Self Assigned IP Address

By: Jerald

Jerald — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:19:45 +0000

Hi David, just wanted to send a quick note that your solution to this worked for me. I started receiving the errors on both my macbooks after having unplugged my cable modem and router for 30 mins or so. Not really knowing what the problem was, I tried the following:

- sequential restart of modem, router, laptop
- connecting directly to the modem – this did not work until I called Comcast and had them flip some switch that had put my modem in standby mode…not sure why they do this
- I then reset my router and tried hooking everything up again – but this just frustrated me more as I was still getting the errors on my laptops
- finally I tried steps 1-3 as you described – still no luck
- Then finally I tossed away my old Netgear Wireless-G for a new Linksys e3000 (great router and setup by the way)

Replacing the router seems to have done the trick. It still seems weird to me that everything would have stopped working right after my 30 min. shutdown (to install a new tv) but thats how it played.

Thanks for gathering all this information in a single place – I’ve looked through so many forums – wish apple would publish some sort of official communication on this.

By: Guy

Guy — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:54:40 +0000

Mac OS X 10.5.8 MacBook Airport Linksys WRT300N Wireless-N Router
The MAC suddenly started the “self-assigned IP” thing, although 2 LAN PCs, a Sony Internet TV on LAN, and a Sony laptop running Ubuntu on the wireless were all fine.
I tried:
3) Check your keychain permissions for your Network login
a) open your keychain and look for your network log in password
b) open the password key and under the access control tab make sure the “Allow All Applications to Access This Item” is selected.
Instant success.

By: Lyn

Lyn — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:06:00 +0000

We’re having this same self-assigning 169…problem intermittently among our 60+ macbook users (most on 10.5, with a few on 10.6). We use 3 wap’s (2 HP ProCurve 420 and 1 older Airport). We switched dhcp to the X Server (from the SMS router from comcast). We can manually assign an IP address, but that seems like a quick fix that won’t be stable. There’s more details, but just seeing if anyone else out there is getting the same error with a large network…

We’re starting to log the problem users (OS version, etc.). Any ideas? We’ve tried all the 3 suggestions…

By: neal

neal — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 12:08:29 +0000

I’ve had the same symptoms trying to get my brand-new new laptop connected to my home network (Macbook Pro, D-Link DGL-4300 Wireless 108G Gaming Router). Thanks for the summary. While none of the steps above worked for me, they did point me toward passwords being at the root of the issue. As a last-ditch effort, I switched my router from WEP to MAC address filtering… allowing access to only certain machines, but not requiring a password. It worked immediately and buys me time to properly figure it out or get a new router.

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:06:00 +0000

It is still doing it, sometimes when I’m in the middle of using the Powerbook!?! Doesn’t seem to be a ‘waking from sleep’ thing. I’m not quite irritated enough to replace my router…. yet.

By: David Pierron

David Pierron — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:19:35 +0000

@Ben: Make no mistake, it’s not my solution, just one I reposted and linked to the original forum thread, yes? My solution was to replace my wireless router.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:57:19 +0000

Ooops, I should have mentioned that I did try your solution No.3 as well and that could also be the reason why I’ve not had this problem in a week!

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:55:56 +0000

Thanks for the tips David. I have a Netgear G router, Powerbook G4, Macbook Pro & Macbook. The problem seems to only be on my Powerbook (running 10.5.6), the others do not seem to be affected so far. I had previously tried deleting the various preference files for airport etc, which appeared to solve the problem but then it returned. I have my OSX firewall set to ‘specific services’ and have found that switching it to ‘allow all incoming connections’, restarting and then switching it back to ‘specific services’ and locking the firewall pref pane has held for a week or so now… fingers crossed.

By: David Pierron

David Pierron — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:08:12 +0000

I don’t know what to tell those still having problems, but remember, my problem was solved by changing my router from a D-Link to a Belkin … I didn’t change the MacBook Pro’s Hardware or software …

AppleCare told you to reinstall just today on this issue? Give me a break … You should NEVER have to reinstall … My problem happened on a fresh install …

My favorite comments are those that say “I have this problem, do you have any ideas?” I swear I wrote up a whole bunch of ideas … Again, my solution was replacing the router.

By: Geert

Geert — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:43:49 +0000

I have this problem too. Had it on ethernet & wireless… intermittently. Really frustrating. Called Applecare this morning they suggested a reinstall of Snow Leopard (I have 10.6.2); a bit drastic right? … am travelling a lot, so thanks for your suggestions. Will try this first next time I run into it.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:31:49 +0000

I am having this problem as well. My network is linksys cable modem to time capsule to macbook. I get the 169 with a direct connection from cable modem to macbook as well. I had Comcast out to fix things. They were there an hour and a half trying to fix it. The modem was spitting out a good IP from what their software could see but the Macbook wasn’t taking it. So, eventually after a million power cycles and modem resets he got it working. I’m sure it’ll happen again though. For what it’s worth, suggestion 1 hasn’t worked. I’ll have to try 2 and 3. Comcast even tried putting a new modem on. That didn’t work. the Macbook I have is a late ’08 model running 10.5.8 I believe. Intereseting though that I get 169. via direct wired ethernet. I’m sure it’s the OS, I just have no idea how to fix. Will try the suggestions…

By: Rams

Rams — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:39:15 +0000

I wrote too soon. The problem re-appeared a week later and I have all the 3 steps mentioned above taken care. Frustrating!. I have 10.5.8 MacbookPro 5.1 . The wireless card type is AirPort Extreme (01434, 0x8D) and firmware is Broadcom BCM43XX 1.0(5.10.91.21). Any more ideas?

By: Kieran

Kieran — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:41:00 +0000

My GF just got a brand new refurbished iMac, and she is having this problem. Both my Powerbook and her old iMac g4 had this problem, and I seem to remember that it was the keychain entries for older routers that caused it, but I don’t remember. We can’t figure out why this new computer is having this problem. Ideas????

By: Rams

Rams — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:38:23 +0000

I ran into this issue and surprisingly at my home in Cupertino (right next street to Apple ) I had no issues but at my office in Cisco I often observed this. After weeks of frustration and trying the usual M$ remedy of reboot/reset I decided to hit Google and came across this blog. Voila! After I tried number 3 Mac got connected!!!. Thanks for sharing this.

By: Arjay Q

Arjay Q — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:52:15 +0000

So im getting the Self assigned IP message for my ethernet connection. Do you have any idea how to fix that?