Vista - ICS and DHCP server not working

I use a Verizon USB broadband modem attached to my Vista Home Premium desktop using ICS thru a wireless network for internet access and a home network. The desktop is linked to the wireless by CAT5 cable to a regular port on the router. We can then connect my wife's XP and my Linux laptops wirelessly. The router has DHCP disabled and all networked machines get their ip thru ICS from the desktop. This has worked well for 2 years. Suddenly I get limited connectivity from my NIC and a private ip (169.xxx.xx.xx). I looked at the services and found the DHCP server had been stopped. When I tried to restart it as a network service I got an error stating "the account specified for this service is different from other services running in the same process." If I change the logon to Local Service I can restart the service but it still will not give the NIC a valid ip. I have tried to use the diagnose repair option from network and sharing center but it fails as well. Anyone have a suggestion on how to fix this?

May or may not work but a winsock reset can be helpful in these sort of issues.

1)Click on the Start Button
2)Type "cmd" in the start search area
3)At the top of the menu you see cmd icon, right click it and left click "run as administrator".
4)DOS window, in this window type this minus the quotes " netsh winsock reset "
5)Hit enter key on your keyboard.
6)Restart the computer.


Give this a shot and see if it helps.

Thanks for the reply unfortunately it didn't help. When I start the machine it hangs at boot for 30 seconds or so as it tries to start the server but then fails and opens up with an "unidentified network" and a private IP. Begining to think I might have to format and reinstall.