ip address 169.0....

Okay for starters the 169.254.X.X LINKLOCAL network addresses are meant to a helpful tool for PC's on a network when no DHCP server is present (or users don't know anything about networking TCP/IP).
So its been inbuilt into Microsoft operating systems since win 98 and is sometimes known as AutoDHCP...and to repeat it is actually a good thing, helping to network small numbers of home computers or back-back computers.
There's no point in trying to delete it or delete/re-install drivers.....its like Taxes.....a fact of life 

How to work with Auto DHCP
So if you keep getting AutoDHCP assigned addresses on your PC (169.254.x.x) then this is actually telling you the following
(1) Your PC requested multiple times an IP address via a DHCP Discover message
(2) There was no response to that request from a router or DHCP server
(3) So your PC (to be helpful) went ahead and assigned itself an IP address automatically from the 169.254.x.x range - so that some Ip networking may be able to occur.

So if this keeps happening - and your expecting a different IP address from an ISP router (wireless AP etc) then try looking at your Ethernet duplex/speeds settings, wireless associations (in case of wireless card) and then check your router or wireless access point to make sure they have valid IP address scopes (i.e a range of IP addresses to offer).

So in summary your problem is not with your IP stack , but with you device that should be offering you IP addresses.....or your network connectivity to that said device
 
(i) Does your computer get allocated an IP address ok ? - check by Start - Run - ipconfig/all (win2k/XP)... or winipcfg (Win98)......this is a part of windows "Windows IP Configuration" and will tell you if its communicating okay with the router. You should have the IP address, Subnet mask and default gateway fields all populated.

(ii) Assuming all the above are okay can you ping the router "Start - Run - command"....this will open a DOS shell window for your - white on black.......just issue the command "ping ip_address" where Ip_address is the default-gateway (router) IP address - dotted decimal series of numbers. You should get a "Reply in X ms" if all is well
(iii) If you keep getting 169.254.x.x then you PC is doing AutoDHCP as a last ditch effort. Try Start -> Run ->cmd

ipconfig/release
ipconfig/renew

This should force a new attempt for a new IP address

I encountered the very same problem but the resulotion suggested above didn't work. Until yesterday everything worked fine and the PC correctly picked up the IP address from the DSL router. Suddenly, it didn't anymore and came up with this 169.something address.

I have checked the router and the internet connection - everything ist fine - it works with other PCs and they correctly pick up the IP address.

Also, the network cable is fine (works with other PC) and the PC notices when I pull the cable from the router.

I tried to find the root couse of the problem with my Dell dimension but could not find any trace of what is wrong. The ethernet card is enabled and the system status is fine. Activating/deactivating doesn't fix the problem. ping does not run through. ipconfig /renew results in an error message (translated): "the process referenced to an object, which is not a socket".

Any suggestions what to do?

Thank you very much!

chk this out  

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1088678&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19 

I'm getting this problem as well; I thought it was a router issue until I read this. However, the link above just takes me to a general support site rather than the specific topic. Is it possible to post something the will direct me to that, please?