AirPort has a self-assigned IP address and....

[Mac1337]

Has anyone figured out what this error means and how to get around it?

AirPort has a self-assigned IP address and may not be able to connect to the Internet.

[DRR]

You are not getting an IP from dhcp. Restart machine.

If problem persists, restart your modem and your router also. If everything is set up correctly it should self-right itself.

[wowzer]

Turn your airport off and on. Turn your DSL modem/Cable modem off and on.

That should fix it.

GL.

[jardster]

I get this on my TiBook about once a week. If I restart my modem, things usually clear up. I think it might be my router going south.

[Mac1337]

I get this at school so I can't turn the modem on or off. It is a crapshoot. I have tried to turn the Airport on and off but doesn't generally work. I have noticed that if I go wired I can't get back on the wireless again.

[Robert M]

Dakota,

It sounds like a wireless network provided by the school itself. If that's the case, rebooting the cable modem is as you said out of the question and it's likely the same for the wireless router, too. You can also try going to System Preferences:Network:Airport:TCP/IP and try renewing the DHCP lease. If you usually leave the Client ID blank, try plugging someone into it. I usually use the four letter that best expresses my frustration when my computer gets a self-assigned IP address.

Robert

[Mac1337]

Thanks RM. My other pet peeve is with that so called Network Diagnostics. Has anyone got their networking problem solved that way?

[Gutenberg]

Do you use wireless at home?

If so make yourself another location in the network preference pane and make sure it is as vanilla as you can make it. Use the new location at school and your old location at home. Make sure that "connect using PPPoE" is not checked.

And no, I do not think that anyone in history has ever solved their networking problem using Network Diagnostics. I think it is a pacifier supplied by Apple to make the user think he is doing something useful.

Good luck--

[Mac1337]

Thanks Gute. I don't think I have ever fooled with locations but I will give it a try.

[jbmac]

I have had this problem on & off for the past month and have felt like smashing my mac against the wall!!
Airport would say that I had a "self-assigned IP and may or may not be able to connect to the internet."
I followed all of these steps which would work intermittently and might help any of you suffering this horror out there:
Reset DHCP
Re-enter WEP password with a $ sign in front or
putting the password in double quotes "sjfjkasa"
Restart, restart, restart.
Yelling at it.
Creating a new network profile connecting to same network.
Deleting this file Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/Airportprefs & restart in safe mode...

But...my Golden solution came in that I was using a router that had 8 others wirelessly connecting to it..
I made number 9, but the router was only set up to give out 8 connections, thus bumping me and my IP off whenever I was the 9th person to come online.
So in short, check that the router is set up for as many computers as you have connecting wirelessly to it, otherwise you will keep losing your DHCP lease

Hope this helps you and your sanity!