DHCP Subnet Mask Error

In my network on some computers running Win 98 and XP Pro, when the computer goes to get a DHCP address it gets the wrong subnet mask but the right IP address, what they’re getting is 255.0.0.0 but what it should be is 255.255.0.0. I can then do a release renew and it works? The only common thing between all of them is they’re running Office XP