Internet Sharing - DHCP problem

Hi to all members. I have the following problem.
My WinXP computer which is connected to the Internet via ADSL connection suddenly stopped sharing the connection with other computers in my network. Here is the configuration: Main computer is WinXP pro (SP1), connected to internet via ADSL USB modem, using a PPPoA connection. Connected to a switch via a normal network ethernet card 100 MB. The switch has also an Wifi AP which works fine. Second computer is Notebook running Win2000, connected to the network via a Wifi card. Third computer is a WinME connected via a Wifi card. 4th is a WinXP home connected to the switch (physical ethernet cable). All was working fine until suddenly it stopped. I tried to run the wizard again on the main computer but no results. The Internet bridge is linked to the ethernet card, and has the IP direction 192.168.0.1. All computers can communicate (using NetBeui protocol). But no internet. All computers now have internal IP address (169.xxx.xxx.xxx) instead of 192.168.xxx.xxx which would be assigned by the DHCP. I dont know what to do. Can someone help Pleeeeeease?

If you're getting IP addresses like 169.xxx.xxx.xxx, then there's some communication problem in the network. Check that all the computers are plugged in / within range. Also, check that on the XP computer with the Internet connection, Internet Connection Sharing is enabled.

If it doesn't still work, or ICS is still enabled, try setting a static IP address on one of the computers, like 192.168.0.10. Then try accessing the Internet and the other computer. If you can, then you know that there is something wrong with the DHCP server on the other computer. If you can't, then you know that there is a communication problem between the computers.

Hi Edwin and thanks for the quick answer. Alas, it does not work. I don't have communication problems because all computers can see each other (using NETBeui Protocol, not TCP/IP). I never was able to configure a TCP/IP network at home (don't know why)... Ping to 192.168.0.1 does not work. ON the XP computer the NIC that is bound to the Internet Bridge has no protocols nor properties (I suppose that it gave them to the bridge). So I need some more details - how do I enable internet sharing on the XP machine (if not by the bridge) and what else do I have to check? I am really desperate... Thanks for your help.

On the XP machine you should have two connections - a local network and the Internet. You don't want to create a bridge between them. Remove the bridge and start again.

Open up the Control Panel and select Network Connections. Remove any bridge that is there. Then, right-click your Internet connection and select Properties. On the Advanced tab, make sure that Internet Connection Sharing is enabled. Click OK. Then, right-click your local network connection and select Properties. Make sure that it is assigned a static IP address of 192.168.0.1 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

On the other computers, check that they have been assigned an IP address in the 192.168.0.x subnet (either by DHCP or statically) and that the default gateway is set to 192.168.0.1,

Dear Edwin,
Thanks again for you reply.
The point is that I know the theory and all this should work. Alas, it does not. Somehow my ehternet connection became a DHCP service provider and sends an IP address to the other machines on the network in the correct range. But there is no ping to 192.168.0.1 from the other machines and the worst problem is that when I try to acces the "advanced" tab in my internet connection (which is PPPoA) I get an error message:
It is possible that the information provided by the Instrument administrator service of Windows (WMI) is corrupted. In order to solve the problem use the "System Restore" which will allow you to go back to a previos Windows configuration (bla. bla. bla)... endquote (my system is in spanish so maybe the translation is not accurate)... Now trying to restore the system configuration gives me the message that there is no restore points (I never used that feature before).
Before I am throwing away everything and re-format the system - please see if there is any solution.
I uninstalled and re-installed the communication software but no success there.
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllppppppppppp please

I've never seen that error before and can't find much about it either

What you could do is repair Windows. Perhaps try removing all the network cards. Reboot the computer and check that they've gone. Then, boot from the Windows XP disc into the blue text-based screen. From there, follow the instructions to repair Windows - all settings/data should be kept. Once the repair is done, add the network cards back and try again. See if that helps

i am just as stuck as you are and woudl really appreciate any assistance... i have 3 xp machines all with latest updates. all of a sudden my network with ics enabled dropped. my computer has a usb dsl modem on pppoe and 2 network cards connected to the other pc's via crossover cables. once it had rebooted it would not reconnect reconnect to the network or the internet. the ip had been changed to 169.* from 192.* and the subnet changed from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.0.0. i have rebooted it a few times but to no avail. i uninstalled the norton firewall on that pc to test it out and for some reason it connected as per usual again. after 3 more reboots it reverted back to the same manor of using subnet 255.255.0.0. the other pc seems to be connecting to the internet fine, but the network is faulty. if i go to network neighbourhood it takes an age to show refreshed screen and takes about 20 seconds for it to show the other pc. if i reboot my pc nothing changes. i have the network bidge option checked to show the icon when connected, but that never appears even after rebooting. i tried running the network setup wizard again but it didn't help. what is strange is that one pc has alwas managed to connect to the internet via my pc even when the network goes down. i woudl appreciate any advice on getting my network to function again.

Firstly, remove the network bridge that you've got. I don't think you should need that.

Then, set all the IP addresses manually and see if the network works.

I had a computer last year with the same symptoms. I got around by manually setting my IP address and subnet.
However, this year I went to wireless and installed a new wireless network card. Again I had the same problems with DHCP... the whole 169.x.x.x and 255.255.0.0 issue. I tried to set the connection up manually again and wasted a whole evening trying to get this to work. Eventually I identified in the Win registry something fishy. I had had the URL spyware go raping and pillaging my net settings which I had sort of cured last year by deleting all files I could find attached with it. Unfortunately, the scummy dregs of it kept stuffing my registry settings and creating the whole 169.x.x.x mess. I finally got around this by reformatting the HDD and re-installing XP Pro. Please note, a repair of the OS did not work.
The wireless card connected beautifully to the wireless AP router once I could get DHCP to work on a nice fresh OS.

The final chapter in this story is I have now reactivated my old LAN card still in the computer, set the DHCP to on and connected it to a switch and now I'm getting the same old problem again. Weird!

I suspect some malicious software hijacking the homepage and IP, etc is to blame for everybodies problems with this.

Cheers and good luck.

Hi zohar,
here is a possible solution (it worked with me!!).
You must download this utility, called WinsockXPFix, and execute it, so that it fixes your TCP/IP problem.
Download it from here:
URL

Best wishes!!
MasterU