As an electronic device owner who uses smartphones or computers, you must have encountered a common network error named “IP Configuration Failure.” Moreover, this troublesome problem can happen quite frequently in the public areas like workplaces or coffee lounges during rush hour.
This informative article will help you understand the grassroots problem and fix it with our detailed instructions from different reliable sources. Now, let’s dive into the numbers and figures.
All about “IP Configuration Failure”
IP Address
To connect to a standard network – wired or wireless internet – you need a specific IP address for your electronic device. On the other hand, you can understand that your device has to obtain the particular IP address that has been assigned by the router.
Therefore, without this correct formation, we can say that your device is completely isolated from any other kind of connection.
See also: Router IP Addresses
IP Configuration Failure
To be specific, “IP Configuration Failure” is a standard technical error that puts the network connector and signal receiver into misalignment.
Since there are various problems to consider, we have listed them out in distinguished categories below.
Common Causes
There are several common causes of this failure on electronic devices like smartphones and computers in these situations:
- The router can not assign a specific IP address for your device.
- Low router’s bandwidth, which considerably prolongs the IP process. Consequently, the “connection timeout” failure comes up with no IP address obtained.
- The maximum router’s capacity for hosting a network has reached; thus, your device can not receive another IP address.
- Technical issues with the router like mismatching configuration, obsolete codeset, overheating device, etc.
- Blacklisted or blocked by the network’s host.
- The MAC filter’s activation on your device might disqualify your whitelisted IP address.
- Malfunction in your device’s operating system hinders the system from proceeding properly with the preset encryption method.
- Defective signal transmission due to insufficient network’s source supplier – the entire area’s internet breakdown.
- Other complex software configuration issues.
Specific Causes For Wireless Connection
Wireless connection can be detected on smartphones with the well-known operating systems like Android or iOS; and laptops with regular Windows operating systems or Macbook.
Furthermore, the IP configuration failure may appear as “Failed to obtain an IP address” or “Can not connect to this network.”
The possible causes can be:
- Poor Wi-fi signal due to the lousy positioning of the router’s antenna or large physical distance between your phone and the router.
- IP refusion from the router or the network’s host due to untrusted guest devices.
- The Wi-Fi provider or the router is still operating, but there is no data during the transmission progress.
- The Wi-Fi doesn’t hold a valid IP configuration for the unidentified network. Hence, there is neither Internet access nor Internet secured.
- Incapability of acquiring the IP address on these devices – Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, Surface Pro 4, Windows 10 Toshiba, HP– is usually resulted from the outdated drivers.
See more: How To Identify A Wireless Access Point Ip Information
Specific Causes For Wired Connection
On computers with popular operating systems like Windows, it is slightly more complex with higher technical issues. The causes could be one of the following reasons:
- Invalid configuration on Windows 10 operating system occurs due to default antivirus software or security settings for the firewalls.
- Loosened internet cable’s plug or optical fiber’s connector.
- Malfunctioned drivers for network adapter.
The diverse listed causes above must have helped you to understand the grassroots problem of this failure. Now, let’s see how we can fix the situation in the next part.
How To Fix An IP Configuration Failure?
In general, there are several ways to resolve the issue; thus, you can choose one of the methods below according to your device’s nature.
For Smart Phones
Reconnect To A Network
This is the most simple method you should try first. Once you retry connecting, the router will cancel the previous attempt’s temporary memory before initiating a new process to assign your device another IP address.
There are four steps to complete:
- Open the “Settings” board – the icon of a cogwheel or a screwdriver and a wrench.
- Tap on the “Connections” line.
- Select the “Wi-Fi” session to browse all of the available networks.
- Tap and hold on the Wi-Fi you previously connected to. Once the smaller option board pops up, select “Forget Network.” Then you can reconnect to this network for a new IP address.
Restart Your Device
This straightforward method sounds weird, but it often works out quite surprisingly, especially when your device encounters an internal conflict or software glitch.
To restart your phone, you need to press and hold the “Power” button, swipe the power-off icon on the iPhone surface to turn it off; or choose the restart icon on Android-based phones to restart.
Once your device has restarted, check for the network connection again.
Turn Flight Mode On And Off
This is another simple yet helpful ON-OFF method you should try since the flight mode will restart the device’s connection default setting. To toggle flight mode, swipe down from the phone’s screen top to activate the convenient menu.
Then, tap on the “Airplane mode” symbol, wait for a couple of seconds before tapping on it again to disable flight mode, and return to the regular setting. Check for the Wi-Fi network to see if there is any progress.
Manually Assign A Static IP To Your Phone
In case your device can not automatically obtain an IP address, you may input it by yourself. Nevertheless, this solution is temporary because you will need to proceed with the network manual configuration, turn off Wi-Fi, and restart your device each time connecting to a new network.
To manually input IP, you can go through 6 steps to follow:
- Open the “Settings” board and go to the Wi-Fi session.
- Tap on the network you have not connected, or you have chosen “Forget Network.”
- Select the “Advanced” line under the password field.
- Tap on the “IP Setting” drop-down menu and switch “DHCP” mode to “Static” mode.
- In the “IP Address” field, you can see a numeral series. You need to change the last digits in that series into any number between 1 to 225. Ensure you have the correct IP address of the router, which can be shown on the router or found in the gateway session on your phone.
- Save the latest modification, and your phone will connect to the network.
Read more: How To Fix Wifi Failed To Obtain Ip Address
For PCs
A PC is a monitor and a case often used for wired connections like internet cable made from optical fiber in the latest technology. Although a PC can have different sources of problem, we have summarized the easiest methods below.
Uninstall The Drivers For The Network Adapter
Windows computers can join a network thanks to specific drivers installed to recognize the network adapter. Therefore, if there is a malfunction with the driver, it will cause the error – “Window can’t connect to this network.”
One of the most convenient methods to resolve driver-relevant issues is to uninstall it; thus, the machine will automatically install and update your device’s proper drivers. There are four steps to follow:
- Search for “Device Manager” in Windows search or Cortana search to launch it.
- Click on the “Network Adapter” menu to expand, select the wired connection adapter on the list, right-click, and select “uninstall device.”
- There will be a pop-up message with a tick box that says “Delete this driver software for this device.” Tick on the box and click on “Uninstall.”
- Reboot your computer immediately. Once it has finished restarted, the driver for your network adapter will be installed and updated automatically.
Disable The IPv6
Most PCs work fine with the IP version 4; you should not have any problem with it unless your PC works on something different that requires IPv6. In the case of a network error, you may try disabling it in the following steps.
- Use Windows to search for “Network” and go to “Settings” or right-click on the network icon to access to “Open Network & Internet Settings.”
- Click on “Change adapter options” to see the Network icon. Right-click on it and choose “Property” at the end of the option list.
- You should see a check-list with several options. Find and untick the box of “Internet Protocol version 6” and click “OK” to disable it.
- Check for your network status after doing the last step. You should be able to connect to other networks now.
For Laptops
Laptops are portable computers with flexible wired or wireless connections. Since wireless connection is more convenient, we will show you two particular methods to fix the laptop’s IP configuration failure.
Reset The Network Settings
Sometimes, an incorrect configuration in the device’s network settings may happen due to a system’s glitch. Hence, the fastest solution without too much detail is to reset the default network settings in 3 steps.
- Use Windows search to find and launch “Settings.”
- Click on “Network and Internet.”
- Select the “Status” line on the left sidebar.
- Choose the option “Network reset” at the bottom of the right panel.
- Click on the “Reset now” button and reboot the laptop.
Use Trouble Shooter
When you have not been able to figure out the problem, try the default “Network Troubleshooter” – a helpful tool to tackle the underlying issues in your device. To activate it, you can follow these steps below.
- For the Windows 10 operating system, launch the “Settings” application.
- Go to “Update & Security”
- Select the “Troubleshoot” line in the left sidebar.
- Click on “Network adapter” in the list before choosing “Run the troubleshooter.”
- The troubleshooter will take a short time to initiate a quick scan for the network connection before analyzing the causes and proposing the solution.
Conclusion
“IP Configuration Failure” is a common troublesome error that anyone can encounter on any electronic device like smartphones, PCs. Although the problem varies greatly, we hope that our mentioned methods above have helped you understand how to solve the problem.
Have you determined the method for fixing the issue? – Let’s reconfigure your network. Good luck!