What Does A Bad IP Mean? SOLVED

Are you ready to pull your hair out?

If you’re having trouble with your internet and you set aside the time to call your Internet Service Provider or ISP, waited on hold, and got one of your previous bills out so you can talk to the agent to verify your account, so that they can then transfer you to another person who is more tech savvy that also asks for you to verify your information before they can help you. Then once they finally “helped” they told you to do a series of commands that took all of 5 seconds, asked you to try things that you’ve already tried and then tell you that your IP is bad. You might be thinking you need an IT guy to look at your computer. While we’re always here  to help, there’s a few things you can try on your own.

A bad IP means you’re getting a 169.x.x.x address from your modem internet.

Which means that your computer knows that internet is connected but for whatever reason it’s not resolving a valid IP. In other words it can’t get out to the world and the world can’t come in.

To verify the 169 address, go to your start menu and either type in CMD into the empty text box, or simply type in CMD if you’re running windows 8 and hit the return/enter key. Once the black window comes up you can type in the letters “IPCONFIG /all” (without quotes) and hit the enter/return key. A lot white numbers and letters will come up but you’re looking for the IPv4 address which should be a series of 4 numbers separated by periods. If it starts with a 169, you’re in the right place.

Here’s what to do

• Restart your computer. It sounds obvious but sometimes the last thing tried and it normally solves 90% of most computer issues.
• Check to make sure your IP is programed or obtained automatically. If you’re in a business or have some reason for a static IP to be programmed in to your network stack, then that may be the cause of the 169 error and will have to be reset to obtain automatically before it can be re-programmed. To do this navigate to your control panel/network settings/ manage adapters/ (right click on your adapter) go to properties, and in the window that pops up find the “TCP/IPv4 Connection” and go to properties. In the Internet Protocol Version 4 Properties windows that pops up  make sure both selections for obtain a DNS server automatically are checked. If not, make a note of the static IPs numbers that have been programmed in and then tic the  box that says obtain an IP automatically.
• Next Go back to your command prompt window (Start/run/cmd) and type in “IPCONFIG /Release” (without quotes) and hit the Enter/Return key. Then Type in “IPConfig /Renew” (without quotes) and hit the enter/return key. If you still can’t resolve an IP Address that doesn’t start with 169 move onto the next step.
• Power Cycling would be the next move. Simply unplug your modem and wireless router if applicable (even if your computer is hard wired to the wireless router). Then plug in the modem, and then the wireless router (in that order).  Once all of the lights come back on your modem and router, go back to your computer. Go to the command prompt window and type in “IPCONFIG /all” (without quotes). You should have a valid IP Address. You can program that static IP back in (if applicable) and you’re good to go.

If not please call the ITGuys to fix your computer problems today!

Do you have a valid IP but still can’t get to the internet check out the next article!