Implementing Physical Layer Solutions
Solving common problems – Windows, UNIX/Mac OS end-system commands

On Windows 2000 and XP systems the ipconfig command can be used to establish if a NIC has successfully bound to the required IP address.  Sometimes a NIC will not release an old IP address. Using the ipconfig /release command option forces the NIC to release the currently held address. Following with the ipconfig /renew command causes the NIC to attempt to bind to an address supplied by a DHCP server, or to a manually configured IP address.

For UNIX and Mac OS X end-systems the ifconfig –a command can be used to establish if a NIC has bound to the correct IP address.