Without knowing what tech support advised, some of what I’m going to say might be repetition for you, so I apologize in advance. In researching the problems with this model, I have found some instances of similar issues for other users. I’m assuming the standard “It’s the router - take it back and get another one” answer isn’t an option for you. If it is, and you can still get it replaced you might be able to save yourself some time and frustration by replacing it with a new one.
Troubleshooting Steps
There are some basic things that you can try to get a working IP address every time. You’re right that when you get an IP address that starts with 169.254 that is basically the computer’s cry for help that it can’t see the DHCP server. You may have tried these things already, but they are worth mentioning:
- Have you checked all of your cables? The fact that it is working intermittently could be a cabling issue. Check your cable connections and try swapping some out and see if it will improve the connectivity.
- Did you check for conflicts? Assuming that you are using Windows, do you have any other firewalls installed that could be causing an issue? If you are running with more than one firewall, disable one and see if you can get on the web consistently.
- Have you tried configuring your IP address? Get into setup and configure it to treat the IP range 192.168.0.1 through 192.168.255.255 as “trusted” or local.
- Have you used “release” and “renew”? Go to Run and type in cmd. When you see the prompt, type in ipconfig /release and Enter. Then go back in and type ipconfig /renew. See if that has reset the router so that you have Internet access.
“Trick” the System
We had a similar problem here on our small network and simply setting the IP address as static for a few minutes and then resetting it to automatic worked to “trick” the computer into resetting it to a good address consistently. Get the correct static IP address for your computer either by using it directly with the modem and getting the address from the display or by getting a working address from the Internet provider.
In My Network Places go to View Network Connection and right click the connection you’re working with. Choose Properties and then find Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) under the General tab. Rather than having it choose the IP address automatically, choose Use the Following IP Address. Type in the static IP address you want to use and then see if that will allow you access. If you aren’t going to use the computer anywhere but in this location, there is no harm in using a static address. When we had this issue, we set it to static for a few minutes, then went back in and reset it to Automatic which seems to have solved our issue for good.
DLink Firmware
Although I haven’t tried to download this firmware, I did find a SendSpace link for 3.01 firmware on the web. You can try to use this firmware to eliminate the DHCP issue. For an in depth discussion of openwrt for this particular router, follow the link to the Openwrt forum where you should be able to get all of the information you need on stock firmware hacking.
Given the fact that these routers regularly run under $40, if you’ve tried everything you can to get the router working to no avail, it may be time to look for another model.
Kat Delong | April 9th, 2009
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