DHCP Issue - could not get ip.

[Greg Barniskis]

Ovidiu Ene wrote:
> Hello.
> 
> I have a problem with DHCP, i've tried to solve googling, reading post 
> on forums.
> 
> I have a DHCP cable modem connection.
> in rc.conf i have ifconfig_vr0="DHCP"
> 
> when i launch dhclient -d vr0 i get:
> 
> I've tried differend things, like setting the nic for 10 mbps, 
> half-dupplex, reseting the cable modem.

Starting to sound familiar...

> (I've talk also with isp, they said does not support FreeBSD or linux)

I got that lame excuse too. My response was that I was really not 
asking them to support my BSD box, but merely to tell me what their 
DHCP server required. That is, I really needed them to provide 
support information for *their* network components, not mine. Taking 
this attitude got me escalated to a supervisor who was surprising 
helpful and knew what the basic problem was (see below).

> I've tried almost any parameter in dhclient.conf.
> 
> If i boot on windoze (same box, same nic) DHCP works. I've taken ip and 
> gateway from windoze put with ifconfig in freebsd and internet works.
> 
> Have you any ideea what should I do?

My cable ISP used to require that the client submit a host name with 
its request, which if I recall correctly (this was a long time ago), 
Windows does and FreeBSD doesn't do by default. I fixed it by adding 
an option to dhclient.conf. Like:

interface "fxp0" {
    send host-name "NOWINDRZ";
    prepend domain-name-servers 127.0.0.1;
    [other standard request stuff here];
}

Hope that helps. You might have tried sending a name before, but if 
I recall, sending a FQDN did not work while sending a simple host 
name did (using the same name my Windows box had previously 
successfully used to get an address, BTW. Not sure that was needed 
but it worked).

Also, after your Windows installation successfully got an IP, did 
you release it before shutting down and trying FreeBSD? If I recall, 
that was also required in my situation.

-- 
Greg Barniskis, Computer Systems Integrator
South Central Library System (SCLS)
Library Interchange Network (LINK)
<gregb at scls.lib.wi.us>, (608) 266-6348