Problem with DHCP Decline Feature in Service Pack 2

ID: Q162396

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 Service Pack 2
Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 4.0 Service Pack 2

SYMPTOMS

A Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 2 DHCP client may fail to obtain a DHCP lease if a duplicate IP address exists on the network. DHCP logs an error in the event log with event ID 1008.

CAUSE

Windows NT Service Pack 2 includes an update to the DHCP client that improves the ability of a workstation to handle duplicate IP addresses. Upon receiving a DHCP lease, it ARPs for the IP address that was assigned. If a response is received (indicating that the address is already in use by another device on the network) it issues a DHCP decline to the server. The server then marks the address as "bad" and does not attempt to assign that IP address to any device. The client re-issues a DHCP DISCOVER packet and starts the lease process over again.

For more information on this, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: Q161430
TITLE : DHCP: Detecting and Flagging Duplicate IP Addresses

DHCP clients that also have RAS installed on them do not perform this DHCP decline operation successfully.

RESOLUTION

A new version of Rasarp.sys is available that corrects this problem.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 4.0 Service Pack 2. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

Additional query words: 4.00 prodnt event 1008 sp2

Keywords : kbnetwork ntras kbbug4.00 kbfix4.00 nttcp kbfix4.00.sp3 NTSrvWkst
Version : 4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug