# Dhcp fails with: inet prefix is expected rather than "10.1.8.136/255.253.0.0" **URL:** \ **Category:** Troubleshooting\ **Tags:** wifi\ **Created:** [14 March 2023 18:27 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/dhcp-fails-with-inet-prefix-is-expected-rather-than-10-1-8-136-255-253-0-0/16234 "2023-03-14T18:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bram](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/bram/32/3710_2.png) [@bram](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/bram)\ **Post date:** [14 March 2023 18:27 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/dhcp-fails-with-inet-prefix-is-expected-rather-than-10-1-8-136-255-253-0-0/16234/1 "2023-03-14T18:27:45Z")
So, this is an issue with the install procedure. Even though the device gets an address acknowledged from DHCP server, the ping fails, and the first time setup stops. The error in question: dhcp fails with: inet prefix is expected rather than “10.1.8.136/255.253.0.0” Because I can’t have network, I can’t capture the full logs, but I took a photo of when trying to get networking in a helper shell. ![IMG-9982](https://dietpi.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c1a5c571d28e88049604729bb40485292dbeee30.jpeg) I can’t provide all the requested info on my system, because it failed to install. But, it is the latest download for pinebook pro. 8.15.2 master MichaIng ---
**Author:** ![bram](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/bram/32/3710_2.png) [@bram](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/bram)\ **Post date:** [14 March 2023 18:47 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/dhcp-fails-with-inet-prefix-is-expected-rather-than-10-1-8-136-255-253-0-0/16234/2 "2023-03-14T18:47:51Z")
Is this an issue with the installer script? Should the argument have been 10.1.8.136/14 instead? I have dozens of devices that work fine with my dhcp-server. Why can’t dietpi use the IP address, as acknowledged by the dhcp-server? ---
**Author:** ![bram](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/bram/32/3710_2.png) [@bram](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/bram)\ **Post date:** [14 March 2023 19:27 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/dhcp-fails-with-inet-prefix-is-expected-rather-than-10-1-8-136-255-253-0-0/16234/3 "2023-03-14T19:27:44Z")
I fixed this by doing the following: **Changed my x.x.x.x/14 LAN to a x.x.x.x/16 LAN.** The 18-bit address space appeared to overwhelm dietpi. And since it was larger than I needed for a home network, I changed my router to a smaller LAN address space. ---
**Author:** ![Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/joulinar/32/57_2.png) [@Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Joulinar)\ **Post date:** [14 March 2023 19:54 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/dhcp-fails-with-inet-prefix-is-expected-rather-than-10-1-8-136-255-253-0-0/16234/4 "2023-03-14T19:54:34Z")
not sure if this is related to DietPi. Because we don’t do any special on network configuration. We use Debian standard `ifupdown` to manage the network. Maybe @MichaIng could have a look. ---
**Author:** ![MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/michaing/32/7_2.png) [@MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/MichaIng)\ **Post date:** [16 March 2023 19:06 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/dhcp-fails-with-inet-prefix-is-expected-rather-than-10-1-8-136-255-253-0-0/16234/5 "2023-03-16T19:06:36Z")
I’ve never really seen or dealt with an address space larger than 8 bits. And indeed 16 bits seem would be the next I’d think of, instead of starting in the middle of an octal, for very large networks where 254 addresses are not sufficient. To me it seems like the router is passing the address space in an uncommon way, using the network mask behind tha backslash, instead of the CIDR bits notation, at least based on the output. However, ifupdown seems to indeed handle this somehow strange. It throws an error message, but then says it bound to the address, while nothing was bound to. I’ll test this when I find time. Generally I think any network size is supported, as long as the format is correct. While other network managers/OSes may handle things more graceful, at least Debian/ifupdown does the way your DHCP server provides the info.