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"DHCP Server Unavailable"

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by spring 1 view

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What's the best way to get around "DHCP Server Unavailable" message when Win9x/Me is the client and you're sure that the server is up and running, TCP/IP, nic and all connection are correct, IP_A_Off (the file that stops IP adress automation) is installed? This ivolves a Relay Agent across WAN to route DHCP broadcasts beyond routers. There must be some way I can obtain an IP. The irony is that sometimes it succeeds randomly without me making any changes on either client or server. Any advice would be appreciated!

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by curlergirl

My guess is that because of the WAN link you are getting only intermittent connectivity to your DHCP server. To put it bluntly, Microsoft always recommends having a local DHCP server if at all possible. Given that's not possible, you're going to get these messages because of the nature of leasing IP addresses from a DHCP server - there's a bit of "conversation" traffic that happens frequently between server and workstations. You could try getting your admin at the DHCP site to increase the lease time period for your address scope so that your workstations don't try to renew as often. Are you actually getting situations where the workstation loses its IP address because it can't renew? If that's the case, and you can't get a local DHCPserver put in, then I'd say go with static IP addresses if at all possible. Also, can't you turn off the pop-up messages? I know you can in NT, but I'm not that familiar with 98/Me workstations. Hope this helps!

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