In message <3D4EA00B.1090904@mindspring.com>, Steve Bell writes:
>Howdy,
>
>Just looking for more information if possible. I am running into some 
>problems with my cable modem, it's not picking up an IP from my service 
>provider via DHCP. I have tried both empty/non exsiting and configured 
>dhcp.conf files, but after running dhclient ex0  I get six attempts, and 
>a final message saying that no DHCPOFFERS were received.  Any general 
>tips about getting the modem to drop it's current lease, and actively 
>look for a new one?
>

There are a lot of possible problems.  Some ISPs require a magic host
name or a registered MAC address.  (I just bought a commercial NAT box 
to replace an ancient NetBSD laptop whose disk died the real death -- 
it has a MAC address cloning feature, for precisely that reason.)  As 
noted, sometimes one has to power-cycle the cable modem.  You may want 
to up the retry count -- over the weekend, my ISP was in a bad mood, 
and it took a couple of hours to get a lease.

		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb (me)
		http://www.wilyhacker.com ("Firewalls" book)