Troubleshooting DHCP

The following error conditions can appear to indicate potential problems with the DHCP server:

• The administrator can't connect for a DHCP server using DHCP Manager. The message that appears might be "The RPC server is unavailable."
• DHCP clients cannot renew the leases for their IP addresses. The message that appears on the client computer is "The DHCP client could not renew the IP address lease."
• The DHCP Client service or Microsoft DHCP Server service might be down and cannot be restarted.

The first task is to make sure the DHCP services are running.

To ensure the DHCP services are running

1. Use the Services option in Control Panel to verify that the DHCP services are running.

In the Services dialog box for the client computer, Started should appear in the Status column for the DHCP Client service. For the DHCP server itself, the Started should appear in the Status column for the Microsoft DHCP Server service.

2. If a necessary service is not started on either computer, start the service.

In rare circumstances, the DHCP server cannot boot or a STOP error might occur. If the DHCP server is down, complete the following procedure to restart it.

To restart a DHCP server that is down

1. Turn off the power to the server, and then wait about one minute.
2. Turn on the power, start Windows NT Server, and then log on under an account with Administrator rights.
3. At the command prompt, type the net start dhcpserver command, and then press Enter.

Note Use Event Viewer to find the possible source of problems with DHCP services.