what's that 169.x.x.x address?

Called automatic private IP address(APIPA), when your computer is unable to find a DHCP server,
the APIPA service will assign itself a 169.x.x.x IP address.

Symptom: Limited Access message, can't get your browser to access even Google.com

Networking requirements:
When you connect to a router, several things have to occur, but first
we need to understand what we are attempting to achieve.
A good connection (to the router) is shown by ipconfig /all and the output looks like this:

[w]Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : your system name
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
{a} Node Type . . . . . . . . . .. . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : your isp

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : your isp
Description . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . .. . : aa-bb-cc-dd-ee-dd
{b} Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
{c1} IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.4
{c2} Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . .. . . : 255.255.255.0
{d} Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
{e} DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
{f} DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 216.116.96.2
216.52.254.1
209.18.47.61
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, December 31, 2011 4:43:50PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, January 18, 2038 7:14:07 PM

The above is related to a router which has its address at 192.168.0.1 (the default for Netgear).
Lines C1,D,E will be different depending upon you router and or if you have manually set the routers address.
For home users, the VALID addresses and mask values for your router are

192.168.x.1 255.255.255.0
172.y.x.1 255.255.0.0
10.x.x.1 255.0.0.0

X may be 0 thru 255
Y may be 16 thru 31
but PLEASE don't change the default until you can get a reliable connection and access to the Internet.

What's wrong and why:
A sure sign that you are malconfigured is line {c1} starting with 169.x.x.x.
This is an indicator that the DHCP server was not found when your system attempted to configure
the network adaptor (or even the WiFi). To find the DHCP server, your system does a broadcast
on port 67 and if it is seen by the router, then the rest of the configuration arrives as the reply.

Line {a} as Hybrid allows the broadcast on port 67.
If you see undefined or even broadcast, FIXIT.
Yea, broadcast ought to really work, but that's a different discussion.
The fix is at the bottom to allow the other settings to be adjusted and to
then reboot just once [z].

Secondly, don't try to be too cute or jump off into custom settings - - make the simple work first and then
you can always tweek it later. So get rid of any manual settings on the adaptor.
Just set both Obtain IP address & Obtain DNS to automatic.
Line {b} must show Enabled = Yes. and if not, the go back and read this paragraph again.

Notice that accessing the router's DHCP server was performed with a broadcast on port 67!
That should work, but sometimes a firewall can be too picky and needs to be told to allow it.
The firewall needs to: allow input udp port 67+68 from any ip address.
While you are there, might as well ensure the DNS will work too;
allow input udp/tcp port 53 from any ip address

[z] To set the NodeType:
using an admin login, run->regedit

find this key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters\]
add as necessary:
DhcpNodeType  DWORD = 1
NodeType DWORD = 8

save and reboot

When the system is available again, run the ipconfig /all once more and compare to [w] above.
Lines {F1,2,3} will be from your ISP. Those shown at [w] are my manual settings and
you can find good DNS settings for you here.