Cannot get IPV4 via DHCP

I have a Netgear cable modem. When I plug it a laptop directly to the cable modem I get an invalid 169.x.x.x address and no gateway via DHCP. If I hardcode an appropriate 192.x.x.x address in and the cable modem IP as the router IP it works and Internet connection is fine. Modem gets a public IPv4 address. When I plug in a pfsense, I get an IPv6 public IP but no IPv4 public IP. How do I fix this so I can get an IPv4 address from Comcast on PFSense for gateway. Also wondering if something is wrong with the netgear modem since not getting private IPv4 DHCP address, or is that a Comcast issue?

Thanks