220-802 · Question #609
A small office has two routers, one wired and one wireless. Joe, a laptop user, experiences no issues while at his desk, but when he unplugs his laptop to go to a conference room, Joe is no longer…
The correct answer is C. Refresh the network connection. The IP address 169.254.x.x is an APIPA (Automatic Private IP Addressing) address, indicating the laptop's wireless adapter failed to obtain a lease from a DHCP server, and refreshing the connection is the correct first step.
Question
A small office has two routers, one wired and one wireless. Joe, a laptop user, experiences no issues while at his desk, but when he unplugs his laptop to go to a conference room, Joe is no longer able to access the Internet. Other users do not have this issue. A technician checks the laptop and sees an IP address of 169.254.13.142. Which of the following actions should the technician take FIRST so that Joe can access the Internet?
Options
- ADisable the wired connection.
- BReinstall DHCP on the server.
- CRefresh the network connection.
- DPower cycle the wireless router.
How the community answered
(27 responses)- A4% (1)
- B7% (2)
- C70% (19)
- D19% (5)
Why each option
The IP address 169.254.x.x is an APIPA (Automatic Private IP Addressing) address, indicating the laptop's wireless adapter failed to obtain a lease from a DHCP server, and refreshing the connection is the correct first step.
Disabling the wired connection would not resolve the failure to obtain a wireless DHCP lease, as the wireless adapter is a separate interface.
Reinstalling DHCP on the server is a drastic, service-impacting action and is unwarranted when no other wireless users are experiencing problems.
A 169.254.x.x APIPA address confirms the laptop's wireless NIC could not reach the DHCP server to obtain a valid IP. Refreshing the network connection (via 'ipconfig /release' and 'ipconfig /renew', or by disabling and re-enabling the wireless adapter) forces a new DHCP discovery broadcast, which is the least invasive and most targeted first action before escalating to infrastructure changes.
Power cycling the wireless router would disrupt all wireless clients on the network and is not justified when only one user has the issue.
Concept tested: APIPA address diagnosis and DHCP lease renewal
Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/networking/technologies/dhcp/dhcp-top
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