Having trouble connecting a unit

I'm having trouble connecting a receiver to the generic server software that comes with them. I have two units working on my network but my third has stopped working and it can't connect to the server. I deleted it from the menu of the server in the hopes that it would refind it but no go. All I get on the unit is a "info net:pna ip:169.254.100.23" message - but I'm using Ethernet so I expected it to appear as 192.168.254.something ... I'm tired and confused. I even moved the unit and put it on the same hub the server is on (and another working unit) plus switched the Ethernet cable for another I know is good...... What am I missing? It should be so simple!!!

The only place I've seen a 169.254.x.x ip address is on ms products when they fail to get an IP from a DHCP server.

Could it be a problem with DHCP - are you using the software to allocate IP's or using a Windows Server?

No idea otherwise...;(

Paul.

The only place I've seen a 169.254.x.x ip address is on ms products when they fail to get an IP from a DHCP server.

The range of IP addresses is that specified in the UPnP (universal plug and play) spec, to be used when other methods to find the IP address have failed.

In this case the unit is clearly failing to get it's IP address via DHCP for some reason. Answering "why" is much more difficult.

What am I missing? It should be so simple!!!

Have you tried looking at things with a network sniffer like Ethereal? I'd look to see #1 if the DHCP request is going out (although I don't see why it wouldn't be) and #2 what the actual DHCP response (if any) is from the server.

I tried Ethereal and I don't see any activity. I see both other Rios playing very nicely on the network. Just to possibly complicate things I am using a router to manage DHCP and it was set to "forever" on assigned IP address leases. I've reset that to expire the leases after half an hour to see if that would cause a new IP to be assigned but no change on the player. I notice the light for activity on the Rio is faint and only flickering a little when searching for the music server - symptomatic of anything? Is the Ethernet card 'fried' maybe?