An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection : unable to cotact your DHCP server. Request has timed out

[Soren Mikkelsen]

Dear reader,

not sure this is the right forum for my question, so I in total have posted
it in the forums:
microsoft.public.win2000.dns
microsoft.public.win2000.networking
microsoft.public.windows.server.dns
microsoft.public.windows.server.networking
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Oper..._21444473.html

Any solution or directions to what to do much appreciated.

The environment:
In our (single) domain we have +50 XP PCs and 4 Windows Server 2003 DCs (3
in-house being "maria", "tina" and "robert" and 1 being "oscar" in remote
location).
One DC (robert) run the DHCP Server service (and DHCP Client service for
registering and updateing IP addresses and DNS records for this computer).
All 4 DCs run DNS (two zones).

The following server roles/functions apply:
erik: dhcp (running but not defined nor used by any PC). 192.168.65.80
maria: dns, secondary wins. 192.168.65.76
oscar: dns (though no PC currently point to this). 192.168.65.25
robert: dhcp, dns, primary wins. 192.168.65.3
tina: dhcp (running but not defined nor used by any PC), dns, secondary
wins. 192.168.65.4

No changes implemented(! as certain as I can be) in regards of any of these
servers within the last week.

a. The problem:
a.1. XP PCs runs fine and can renew (re-obtain) IP leases from our DHCP
server. However a PC which has not got an IP fails to get such from the DHCP
server. The PC is for sure "on the network" (e.g. manually assigning an IP
and it runs "fine").
a.2. "ipconfig -renew" show a new Lease was obtained (updated time also for
when the lease expires).
a.3. "ipconfig -release" followed by "ipconfig -renew" result in the error
message "An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection :
unable to cotact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.".
a.4. Restart of a PC and it get's (unknown how/from where) IP 169.254.5.70
(or any other within the subnet range 169.254.x.x.) , netmask 255.255.0.0
and no default gateway.
a.5. Same as a.4. when an IP has expired (e.g. a PC was powered off last
night and this morning had the problem).

b. Other problems/symptoms:

c. On robert Windows Server 2003 (Version 5.2 (Build
3790.srv03_rtm.030324-2048)" - role DC, dhcp, dns, primary wins:
c.1. In dhcp managment console see erik as running (no DHCP is defined on
this though), "Cannot find the DHCP Server" on tina nor oscar. robert self
has DHCP defined and I can see all of this.
c.2. In dns management console see oscar and maria fine, but get error
"Unable to connect to the computer "tina". The error was: The network path
was not found." and "Cannot Contact the DNS Server" from tina.
c.3. DHCP Server plus Client and DNS Server plus Client services running.
c.4. Ping erik, maria and oscar but not tina ("Request timed out").
c.5 Map a network drive to erik, maria and oscar but not tina (get error:
"The drive could not be mapped because no network was found")
c.6 +50 available IP's in DHCP scope.

Restarting robert result in the following error entry in the SystemLog:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: NetBT
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4321
Date: 02/06/2005
Time: 12:03:58
User: N/A
Computer: ROBERT
Description:
The name "OURDOMAIN :1d" could not be registered on the Interface with
IP address 192.168.65.3. The machine with the IP address 192.168.65.76 did
not allow the name to be claimed by this machine.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00 00 00 00 04 00 56 00 ......V.
0008: 00 00 00 00 e1 10 00 c0 ....á..À
0010: 01 01 00 00 01 00 00 c0 .......À
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

Followed by:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: W32Time
Event Category: None
Event ID: 29
Date: 02/06/2005
Time: 12:06:42
User: N/A
Computer: ROBERT
Description:
The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or more
time sources, however none of the sources are currently accessible. No
attempt to contact a source will be made for 15 minutes. NtpClient has no
source of accurate time.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


And later:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: DhcpServer
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1059
Date: 02/06/2005
Time: 12:07:26
User: N/A
Computer: ROBERT
Description:
The DHCP service failed to see a directory server for authorization.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 3a 20 00 00 : ..

However, this is followed immeditately by the entry:
Event Type: Information
Event Source: DhcpServer
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1044
Date: 02/06/2005
Time: 12:07:26
User: N/A
Computer: ROBERT
Description:
The DHCP/BINL service on the local machine, belonging to the Windows
Administrative domain ourdomain.local, has determined that it is authorized
to start. It is servicing clients now.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00 00 00 00 ....

Some minutes later another error entry is seen:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: NETLOGON
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5719
Date: 02/06/2005
Time: 12:18:54
User: N/A
Computer: ROBERT
Description:
This computer was not able to set up a secure session with a domain
controller in domain OURDOMAIN due to the following:
There are currently no logon servers available to service the logon request.
This may lead to authentication problems. Make sure that this computer is
connected to the network. If the problem persists, please contact your
domain administrator.

ADDITIONAL INFO
If this computer is a domain controller for the specified domain, it sets up
the secure session to the primary domain controller emulator in the
specified domain. Otherwise, this computer sets up the secure session to any
domain controller in the specified domain.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 5e 00 00 c0 ^..À

d. On tina Windows Server 2003 (Version 5.2 (Build
3790.srv03_rtm.030324-2048)" - role PDC, dns, secondary wins:
d.1. In dhcp managment console see erik as running (no DHCP is defined on
this though), "Cannot find the DHCP Server" on robert nor oscar. tina self
have no DHCP defined.
d.2. In dns management console see oscar and maria fine, but get error
"Unable to connect to the computer "robert". The error was: The network path
was not found." and "Cannot Contact the DNS Server" from robert.
d.3. DHCP Server plus Client and DNS Server plus Client services running.
d.4. Ping erik, maria and oscar, but not robert ("Request timed out").
d.5 Map a network drive to erik, maria and oscar but not robert (get error:
"The drive could not be mapped because no network was found")

e. On erik Windows Server 2003 (Version 5.2 (Build
3790.srv03_rtm.030324-2048)" - role member server:
e.1. In dhcp managment console see erik and tina as running (no DHCP is
defined on these though), "Cannot find the DHCP Server" on oscar, and robert
can be seen having DHCP defined and I can see all of this.
e.2. In dns management console see all: oscar, maria, robert and tina. No
dns defined for erik self.
e.3. DHCP Server plus Client and DNS Server plus Client services running.
e.4. Ping all: maria, oscar, robert and tina.
e.5 Map a network drive to all: maria, oscar, robert and tina

f. On maria Windows Server 2003 (Version 5.2 (Build
3790.srv03_gdr.040410-1234)" - role DC, dns, secondary wins:
f.1. dhcp managment not installed.
f.2. In dns management console see all: erik, maria (self) oscar, robert and
tina. No dns defined for erik.
f.3. DHCP Client and DNS Server plus Client services running.
f.4. Ping all: maria, oscar, robert and tina.
f.5 Map a network drive to all: erik, oscar, robert and tina.

g. On oscar Windows Server 2003 (Version 5.2 (Build
3790.srv03_gdr.040410-1234)" - role DC:
g.1. dhcp managment not installed.
g.2. In dns management console see all: erik, maria, oscar, robert and tina.
No dns defined for erik.
g.3. DHCP Client and DNS Server plus Client services running.
g.4. Ping all: maria, oscar, robert and tina.
g.5 Map a network drive to all: erik, maria, robert and tina.

Kind regards,
Soren Mikkelsen
Switzerland

[iliketo.sh@gmail.com]

Lol, you've got one big headache there...i would suggest removing DHCP and
DNS from all but 'robert'. You could then test this out and it would be far
easier to investigate if you come across problems, once it's working, add a
server at a time to DNS/DHCP or whatever is needed. Also from your
description your running WINS but all XP machines, i would advise removing it
unless your specifically need it.

*quote*. Restart of a PC and it get's (unknown how/from where) IP
169.254.5.70
(or any other within the subnet range 169.254.x.x.) , netmask 255.255.0.0
and no default gateway.*quote*

It is getting that 169.254.*.* address as this is the APIPA (private
addressing) range when a PC can't contact a DHCP server.

[Soren Mikkelsen]

Dear guys,

please accept my deep apologies for closing the original posting by mistake.
Many thanks for your comments/suggestions.
Please find here my findings so far:

*** Summary at this point ***
Please let me start with a summary at this point.
I guess the problem seen with DHCP from PC's is a symptom of another
problem(s), which can be boiled down to:
tina is the PDC and robert a DC.
Note that both robert and tina are blade servers within the save blade
center.
robert can not ping tina (as it could yesterday).
tina can not ping robert.
robert has problems because it can not see the PDC.
NETLOGON from robert fails because it can not find a PDC for the domain.

1. "ipconfig -all" from the servers should clear out the misunderstanding I
have caused that any of our server should obtain an IP from DHCP (we use
static IP's of our servers, from a

dedicated range 192.168.65.2-192.168.65.139):


"Healthy PC" get's both WINS, have correct domain suffix and the
DhcpNodeType is a h-Node.
You will also note that the lease renewal (obtained) works fine.

2. Summary of ipconfig
All DC's are confirmed to have static IPs.
I.e. DNS servers has their own IP as the first DNS server and another as
secondary, except for "oscar".
In regards of WINS, all have itself as the primary (except "erik" and
"oscar").
I have shut down "oscar" to exclude this from being potential cause of the
problem.
Sorry for misinforming - "oscar" is running in-house (hence no router/bridge
in between).
Erik is not a WINS Server itself.

3. I restarted the NETLOGON service on robert and got the following error entry in the SytemLog:

4. WINS replication.
I try replicate now on "maria" (towards "tina" and "robert"), and find the following error entry in the SystemLog:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Wins
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4243
Date: 02/06/2005
Time: 17:39:32
User: N/A
Computer: MARIA
Description:
WINS Pull thread encountered an error during the process of sending a push
notification to another WINS. The error code is given in the data section.

For more information, see

Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: f3 09 00 00 08 00 00 e0 ó......Ã*

I try replicate now on "tina" (towards "maria" and "robert"), and find the
following error entry in the SystemLog:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Wins
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4243
Date: 02/06/2005
Time: 17:41:49
User: N/A
Computer: TINA
Description:
WINS Pull thread encountered an error during the process of sending a push
notification to another WINS. The error code is given in the data section.

For more information, see

Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: f2 09 00 00 08 00 00 e0 ò......Ã*

I try replicate now on "robert" (towards "maria" and "tina"), and find the
following error entry in the SystemLog:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Wins
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4243
Date: 02/06/2005
Time: 17:41:14
User: N/A
Computer: ROBERT
Description:
WINS Pull thread encountered an error during the process of sending a push
notification to another WINS. The error code is given in the data section.

For more information, see

Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: f2 09 00 00 08 00 00 e0 ò......Ã*

5. "ipconfig -flushdns" on a PC with a 169.254.x.x followed by
"ipconfig -renew" (or even a "ipconfig -release") does not result in the PC
getting a 192.168.65.x address from one of our

DHCP servers.
The PC still has a 169.254.x.x IP.

*** I WILL NOW (next steps) ***
N.1. Obtain and run dhcploc.exe to see how many (and which..) DHCP servers
are running in my network.

N.2. Stop the DHCP servers on all other servers but robert.

N.3. I'd like (at least while the problem persist) to change the lease time
to more than 48 hours to limit the potential number of PC's which may end up
"faulty" in case they are not

running and henceforth not able to renew the IP lease. Do you think this is
a good idea (we're not running out of available IP's as I can see it)?

N.4. Prepare for assigning static IPs to the PCs which has the fault (as a
temporary work-around) using available IPs from our "big" server range in
case we run into more problems.