Mac OS 9 Lives

General => HELP BOARD ! Installing & Troubleshooting the Classic Mac OS => Topic started by: A Noob and His Macintosh on November 09, 2019, 08:13:07 PM

Title: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: A Noob and His Macintosh on November 09, 2019, 08:13:07 PM
Hey all, the title pretty much says it. So far, my experience with Mac OS 9.2.2 has been nothing short of fantastic save for the severe issue of networking through Ethernet (wireless isn't compatible on this model). Under TCP/IP settings (Yes, Appletalk is disabled along with all the other hints given), it's clear the device is getting everything allocated to it with no troubles through DHCP but when I attempt to launch my browser, I'm stopped by the dreaded "website could not be found, please check the name and try again" error after a few seconds trying to resolve the host.

I'm sure it's something silly but I feel like I've tried everything I can and am at a total loss here. If someone could help me with this I would absolutely appreciate it. I'd love to take this device on the go with me, but without network connectivity I just can't see a good reason to.

EDIT: Upon further inspection, it would appear it's self assigning an address with the following details
IP Address: 169.254.15.xxx
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Router Address: 169.254.14.xxx
Name server addr: 224.0.0.xxx

Manually configuring TCP/IP settings doesn't seem to help either.
OSX has no issues connecting via ethernet which cements my belief of this not being a hardware issue.
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: macStuff on November 09, 2019, 10:42:27 PM
https://packetlife.net/blog/2008/sep/24/169-254-0-0-addresses-explained/

"host fails to dynamically acquire an address"
your host is failing to dynamically grab an ip;
ie: its not talking to your DHCP server properly;

do u have any other computers on your network?
do u know the address of your router?

is it 192.168.0.x? or is it 192.168.2.x?
or it might be 10.x.x.x?

the fact that OSX can connect fine; shows u that its really software failing to interact with your dhcp server properly.
you can try to assign a proper ip address manually and circumvent the problem;
or you can experiment with your router configuration;
i would set your dns (name serve addr) to the same as your gateway (router)

notice that it put your ip on a diff subnet then the router
that might be your problem to begin with;
u might need to supply the proper address for your router/nameserver

Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: A Noob and His Macintosh on November 10, 2019, 09:19:10 AM
To respond to your other post in the former thread:
Quote
for what its worth ive run into the same problem myself;
i just cant really remember what i did to fix it;)
i honestly have vague memory of fixing it by changing the ethernet cable?

I really wish it was that simple, I pretty much pulled out everything in my Ethernet cable box and nothing really worked. If you do remember though, please do tell me!
If you still have the device that had that issue, is there any possibility you could send me the pref files or maybe even a restore image?


As for your response:

Quote
"host fails to dynamically acquire an address"
your host is failing to dynamically grab an ip;
ie: its not talking to your DHCP server properly;

do u have any other computers on your network?
do u know the address of your router?

is it 192.168.0.x? or is it 192.168.2.x?
or it might be 10.x.x.x?

the fact that OSX can connect fine; shows u that its really software failing to interact with your dhcp server properly.
you can try to assign a proper ip address manually and circumvent the problem;
or you can experiment with your router configuration;
i would set your dns (name serve addr) to the same as your gateway (router)

notice that it put your ip on a diff subnet then the router
that might be your problem to begin with;
u might need to supply the proper address for your router/nameserver

I have quite a few other computers on my network - from my Desktop to my FTP server and even my BeBox, this Powerbook is sadly the first system to have given me this issue
My iMac G3 has no issues with connecting which has to make me discount an address allocation trouble.

I should note that the automatically allocated address comes up even when nothing is plugged into the RJ45 port.

Just in case I've royally messed up here, I used the "Mac OS 9.2.2 For Previously Unsupported G4s (G4s that shipped OS X Boot Only)" for this installation, if there is another image that I was supposed to use please do tell me.
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: GaryN on November 10, 2019, 03:21:45 PM
This is a known problem.

There was a partial solution for "no internet" posted here: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,3912.msg26672.html#msg26672

If you haven't read that entire thread, you should.
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: A Noob and His Macintosh on November 10, 2019, 06:00:55 PM
This is a known problem.

There was a partial solution for "no internet" posted here: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,3912.msg26672.html#msg26672

If you haven't read that entire thread, you should.

I unfortunately have and followed everything I could on it.
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: Greystash on November 10, 2019, 11:36:53 PM
I had this problem with my PB1400 which will only communicate with the router if it's plugged into an Ethernet over power/'Powerline Adapter'. I don't have a great understanding of networking but for some reason it can't communicate with my modern Fibre router, and only works through this older tech which then handles the modern Ethernet standards?

I also set a static IP address and it works great, haven't had a problem since.
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: A Noob and His Macintosh on November 11, 2019, 03:39:23 AM
I had this problem with my PB1400 which will only communicate with the router if it's plugged into an Ethernet over power/'Powerline Adapter'. I don't have a great understanding of networking but for some reason it can't communicate with my modern Fibre router, and only works through this older tech which then handles the modern Ethernet standards?

I also set a static IP address and it works great, haven't had a problem since.

The Fibre router conundrum might be the possible cause, save for the fact I'm running everything in a closed network that then bridges over to the main Router. I'll definitely try the Ethernet Over Power solution when I have time to buy one - even though I may have my doubts, I've got nothing to lose giving it a shot. Setting the static I.P address didn't really do anything...
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: macStuff on November 11, 2019, 06:26:06 PM
u dont need to go out and buy a ethernet over power system; 
the takeaway point greystash makes is that some routers DHCP servers dont work 100% correctly;

u should be able to just circumvent this by specifiying the proper ip address settings yourself;
if it didnt work then you must have set something incorrectly,

what is your router/gateway private ip?
subnet?
what brand/model is your router?
are u using any network switches?
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: A Noob and His Macintosh on November 11, 2019, 08:59:20 PM
u dont need to go out and buy a ethernet over power system; 
the takeaway point greystash makes is that some routers DHCP servers dont work 100% correctly;

u should be able to just circumvent this by specifiying the proper ip address settings yourself;
if it didnt work then you must have set something incorrectly,

what is your router/gateway private ip?
subnet?
what brand/model is your router?
are u using any network switches?

192.168.0.1
255.255.255.0
Netgear
No switches

I've manually assigned that same router/subnet address in my iMac G3 and a whole host of other different computers in the past with no issue, so I'm not convinced that is the case.
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: macStuff on November 11, 2019, 11:13:28 PM
netgear; what model?
help us help u
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: A Noob and His Macintosh on November 12, 2019, 04:36:25 AM
netgear; what model?
help us help u

Sorry  ^_^;;

It's the Nighthawk D7000
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: macStuff on November 12, 2019, 09:41:18 AM
https://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/dsl-modems-routers/D7000.aspx#tab-techspecs

not sure what to tell you
i think honestly the last time i had this problem i figured out it was one of my network switches that was causing the problem
and i switched the location of the switches.. ie traded places  and it magically solved my problem.
if i were u i would keep experimenting

maybe this could help? not sure what u did with your file sharing setup? or with your extensions config
https://www.cnet.com/news/how-to-network-between-the-classic-mac-os-and-os-x-for-file-transfer/

in a situation such as this, when your trying to debug something, i find you need to give more intelligible information if u want intelligible responses
but im not certain the level of detail that would be neccessary to solve this. i mean, if we had a video of you narrating what you were doing as you were setting everything up that would be the highest level of detail but i dont see that happening anytime soon :0

in lieu of the video tho, photos are always helpful;

Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: A Noob and His Macintosh on November 12, 2019, 09:55:53 AM
https://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/dsl-modems-routers/D7000.aspx#tab-techspecs

not sure what to tell you
i think honestly the last time i had this problem i figured out it was one of my network switches that was causing the problem
and i switched the location of the switches.. ie traded places  and it magically solved my problem.
if i were u i would keep experimenting

good luck

It really is a confusing one, nothing like anything I've handled before :(

Thank you so much for your time MacStuff and everyone, you were absolutely helpful and I'm sorry we couldn't find an answer to this issue.

If I eventually find the solution, I promise I'll be sure to make a detailed guide on it -
I'm sure there's a fair few of us who've faced this issue and it's a shame to see such good hardware go to waste over a networking issue.
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: macStuff on November 12, 2019, 09:59:38 AM
dont be so quick to blame the powerbook as defective
obviously its not if it works in x
its a networking compatibility issue; or as your name suggests;
your inexperience with macos9 might be a contributing factor

snapping some photos with your celly will help illustrate

Title: there is no networking specific area of the site
Post by: macStuff on November 12, 2019, 11:02:51 AM
i do notice that theres no section on the site dealing specifically with troubleshooting networking
might make sense to have any help materials +guides more easily locatable ???
just a thought

only trouble is for most people its not a challenge
Title: Re: Powerbook a1013 self assigning IP address, manual assignment not working either
Post by: IIO on November 12, 2019, 12:41:55 PM

Name server addr: 224.0.0.xxx


that sounds fishy.

a nameserver is never a multicast adress.

it should be either your router or switch or an internet located server of your hosting company.

check what your network controlpanel in OSX says about it - or try a random public DNS adress. https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Alternative_DNS
Title: that is not his nameserver address, genius
Post by: macStuff on November 12, 2019, 02:25:29 PM
Quote
IP Address: 169.254.15.xxx
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Router Address: 169.254.14.xxx
Name server addr: 224.0.0.xxx

all of the above settings are not *his settings*
but rather the settings that get set when the dhcp fails to work properly

he didnt tell us *His* name server address;
169.x.x.x isnt his address; it just means theres been an error

Quote
https://windowsreport.com/computer-stuck-169-ip-address/
Whenever you find your computer stuck on 169 IP address, this could generally mean either of the following:

The DHCP server is temporarily unavailable
The computer is not connected properly to the network
The computer was not authorized to connect to the network
The computer itself was unable to communicate with a DHCP server
Your router is wedged or jammed, and thus needs a reboot
WiFi or internet connection isn’t working

in this case i would bet on :
The computer itself was unable to communicate with a DHCP server

if it was my machine i would be booting into my routers config to see if thers any further configuration options for the dhcp server itself


http://www.applefool.com/se30/
you might find some relevant info here
Title: use working auto settings from osx manually in os9
Post by: macStuff on November 13, 2019, 10:56:12 AM
can u not boot into macosX and copy down the settings that the DHCP server provides OSX?
and then simply use those settings as the manual settings for os9?

that should work. if that doesnt work then i would think its a software config issue within your install.