The problem I’m having specifically is that on plugging in an ethernet cable to my MacBook, I get the error message “Ethernet has self-assigned IP address, cannot connect to the internet.” Googling this error phrase yields thousands of hits ranging from 5 years old to the present. None of the solutions I’ve come across have worked for me. (If I hadn’t lost my fricking Huawei modem I probably wouldn’t be having this problem now.)

The best way to give a full description of the problem would be for me to repost the message I just posted at MacOSXHints Forums.

Hi, I’ve seen some similar threads here but nothing that’s 100% the equivalent of what I’m getting, so hoping by starting a new thread it might yield a few clues.

My hardware – 15″ MacBook dual-booting Snow Leopard and Windows 7 (via Bootcamp).

I’ve had no problems networking the MacBook under either OS until I arrived in NYC last night to visit my mother. Now I’m getting the “Ethernet has self-assigned IP address” error that others have reported under various circumstances.

In this case, my mother uses Optimum Online as her ISP. I have checked her networking configuration (she uses WinXP) and everything is automatic – DHCP, DNS, etc, no user ID or password required for internet access.

I took the ethernet cable from her PC, plugged it into my MacBook, and I get the error with both Snow Leopard and Win7.

I have tried deleting the airport preferences file from the library, I have tried setting TCP/IP preferences manually and then going back to DHCP again, I have the firewall turned off, allow all connections. I have turned off Airport since there is no WiFi. There is no router, wired or wireless.

Because there’s no router, trying to fix this is especially frustrating – I connect the cable to her PC, google around a bit for some possible answers, connect to my MacBook, apply the answers, reboot the MacBook, still doesn’t work, reconnect the ethernet cable to her PC, google some more, repeat and repeat and repeat!

None of this is working. If I have to spend the next 7 days on her PC it will drive me crazy! (Because it’s old and slow, because my files are all on my MacBook, etc.)

I’m almost ready to go out and buy a pocket WiFi travel router (except there are no guarantees that would solve the issue, right?)

Any thoughts, tips, ideas, jokes or lines from obscure movies (except “frankly my dear I don’t give a damn!”) would be most appreciated!

As it says, any thoughts, tips, etc. most appreciated!

In the meantime waiting to hear from the driver if he’s found my Huawei thing or if I’m screwed on that too.

This day is not ending well.

I was using my Huawei pocket WiFi in the back of the cab from the airport to my mom’s. Got to my mom’s but the modem didn’t. It’s probably sitting on the back seat of the cab. Fortunately this is a private car service and a driver my mother has been using for years and I was his last ride of the night. Hopefully it’s sitting on the back seat (I went back down to the street with a flashlight but couldn’t find it) and he’ll find it and return it at some point tomorrow.

So in the meantime, my mother is on Optimum for cable TV, IP phone and Internet. She has standard internet settings, DHCP, etc, you plug the ethernet cable into the back of her PC and she’s good to go. And last time, I’d simply pop that cable into my laptop and also be good to go. I’ve looked at the network set-up properties on her computer and there’s nothing special there, no login name or password, all the usual stuff.

But my MacBook is being finicky. It shows an ethernet connection, shows that it’s set for DHCP, but giving me some error message about the connection and not connecting to the internet. I’m tired, didn’t write the message down, got some Snow Leopard books on my Kindle, take a look tomorrow I guess. Until then …. sigh.

Hey, what can I say, VirginAtlanticAmerica has inflight WiFi, I hadda try it out, even if it costs freaking US$13 per flight. Well, it’s new, and us early adopters have to pay for all the r&d I guess.

Web sites are coming up fast. Web speed tests are giving unreliable results because they are trying to guess my physical location – speedtest.net thinks I’m in Dallas and gave my download speed at 0.7Mbps. Over on pingtest.net, they also think I’m in Dallas and a ping to AT&T Worldnet in Houston is 202ms, giving me a rating of “D” – “most online applications will not perform well but should function in some capacity.”

Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic’sAmerica’s vaunted seatback entertainment system, Red, has touch screens. What a fucking bad idea. Why? Because the neanderthal sitting behind me doesn’t get the concept of a touch screen, he thinks it’s a poke screen or a jab screen or something. This could end up being a long flight.