From: John Beckett 

Chris G  wrote in message
news::
> I have recently implemented a DHCP server on Windows 2000 at a job site
> ...,
>  I've found the Win 9x clients frequently will not obtain an IP address

An outbreak of your problem occurred maybe a year ago. The problem was a
Cisco (and otheres??) switch. Something like this:

The W98 machine has been off. The switch has noticed no traffic on the
port. W98 starts up and broadcasts for a DHCP server. The switch notices
the traffic but does a spanning-tree check of some kind, before passing the
workstation traffic. Meanwhile, W98 times out the DHCP and generates the
169.254.x.x APIPA address.

Solution (I have never done this): Turn on the portfast option on the
switch. A Google search is sure to find more info.

I think another solution was to drink a cup of coffee after switching W98
on and before trying to log on.

John

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