HH4 - can't connect to it via ethernet or wireless

Question

I'm struggling with intermittent fault - it happened on a HH3, but same problem is now beginning to repeat on a replacement HH4 I was sent.
When fault manifests itself (lets call it "faulty mode") I cannot connect wired or wirelessly to HH - I cannot raise the Homehub Admin page either via "bthomehub.home" or "192.168.1.254" and that is true for all It devices in the house (Win xp box, Win7 laptop and a rasp pi).  When this fault is apparent there is no internet access, and pure wifi devices (kindles and android phones) all are unable to access internet, and an ethernet connected youview box also loses connectivity to internet.
However - HH is obviously still working to an extent, because a both wireless and ethernet connected devices can all interact on the network, files on the NAS remain streamable and browsable by everything that needs to connect.
I have FON, and that still operates correctly when the HH is in "Faulty mode" - ie my wireless devices can all connect through it to the internet, and that FON connection is definitely coming from my HH not from a neighbours - if I power down the Hub I have no FON connections showing up in any of my devices.
HH has all the lights showing properly...when in faulty mode the devices I can browse to on the network have 169.type Ip addressess rather than 192. addresses.
Reseting the Hub and or powering it on and off sometimes makes the fault go away, but often it doesn't.  Factory reset sometimes cures it, but again often it doesn't.  System has sometimes gone into faulty mode whilst just working away sweetly, with no It equipment being powered up/down/connected/disconnected. I've tried tricks like clearing caches  used different browsers chrome/FF/IE but no avail.
I noticed this initially with a HH3 - that got gradually worse (more faulty mode incidents until it remained in faulty mode) BT sent me a HH4 about 1 month ago as a replacement, now the same symptoms are appearing on my HH4 (twice in 3 days)...so what's the problem, is it my settings/something I should be doing, or is it a duff HH4 as well.
Solved!
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Answer 1

I think a clue to what is happenning is the 169.xxx.xxx.xxx IP addresses.
These show a failure of the connecting device to obtain a valid DHCP IP address from the router, and the 169.... gets auto-assigned by the device itself. On a network, devices all with 169-type addresses can communicate with each other, as you've found out.
So the problem that needs fixing is with the DHCP server in the router, which is not serving valid IP addresses when requested.
Here are two things you can try, maybe do the first with your PC and the second with another device, see which works better for you:
- Assign a static IP to the device by setting it in Windows. Set it outside the router's DHCP range but with the same first three parts to the IP. eg 192.168.1.201. There's a guide here.
- In the HH DHCP admin pages, reserve a fixed IP for another of your devices, using its MAC address, again outside the DHCP range. While you're at it, set the lease renewal time to its maximum.
If those don't work, send the blooming thing back!