220-1101 Practice Question: APIPA addresses are in the 169.254.0.0/16 range.
A technician is troubleshooting a workstation that cannot connect to the network. The link light on the network interface card (NIC) is solid, and the technician can successfully ping the loopback address (127.0.0.1). Running ipconfig shows an IP address of 169.254.15.200 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. Which of the following is the most likely cause of the connectivity issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates see a successful loopback ping and a solid link light and assume the NIC is fully operational, overlooking that APIPA is the definitive symptom of DHCP failure, not a driver or gateway problem.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The DHCP server is unavailable or not responding
The IP address 169.254.15.200 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 is an Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address, which Windows assigns when a DHCP discovery broadcast fails to receive a response. Since the link light is solid and loopback ping succeeds, the NIC and TCP/IP stack are functional, pointing to a DHCP server that is unavailable or not responding as the root cause.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The DHCP server is unavailable or not responding
Why this is correct
In the DHCPv4 DORA process, a client sends DHCPDISCOVER broadcasts; when the DHCP server fails to respond with DHCPOFFER, the client cannot obtain a valid IP configuration. Windows then falls back to automatic private IP addressing (APIPA), assigning itself a 169.254.x.x/16 address after a timeout. This self-assigned address strongly indicates that the DHCP server is unreachable, either because it is down, misconfigured, or blocked by a firewall. A client with an APIPA address cannot communicate outside its local subnet because link-local addresses are not routable.
- ✗
The default gateway is misconfigured
Why it's wrong here
A misconfigured default gateway would not prevent the workstation from obtaining a lease; DHCP would still assign a valid IP, subnet mask, and DNS server addresses. The symptom would be an inability to reach devices on other subnets, while local network communication and name resolution would likely still work. Since the workstation's IP address is 169.254.x.x (APIPA), that means DHCP itself failed, not just the gateway. Therefore, the troubleshooting focus should be on DHCP connectivity rather than the gateway configuration.
- ✗
The DNS server is not resolving domain names
Why it's wrong here
DNS is used for resolving hostnames to IP addresses and plays no role in the DHCP lease process. If the DNS server were unavailable or misconfigured, the workstation would still receive a valid IP address from DHCP and could ping devices by IP address. The reported APIPA address (169.254.x.x) indicates that the workstation never received a DHCP lease, so DNS resolution never even becomes a factor. Name lookup issues produce errors like "server not found," not an invalid IP configuration.
- ✗
The NIC driver is faulty
Why it's wrong here
A faulty NIC driver would cause the network interface to fail at a more fundamental level—typically resulting in no link light and an inability to ping the loopback address (127.0.0.1). Since the link light is solid and the loopback ping succeeds, the driver is loading and the interface is operational at layer 2. A defective driver would not selectively prevent DHCP responses; it would break all network communication. Thus, the NIC driver is working correctly, and the cause must be higher up in the configuration stack.
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Metered Network Connections
Key term
TCP
TCP is a connection-oriented transport layer protocol that ensures reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of data between applications over IP networks.
Key term
Network Interface Card
A Network Interface Card (NIC) is a hardware component that allows a computer or device to connect to a network and communicate with other devices.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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