It does if you have a 'retry' value assigned in /etc/dhclient.conf, however this file doesn't exist by default. I'm not sure what it does without this file, but I'd gather from your experience, it's nothing good.
I've read through dhclient.conf and I haven't found anything which would appear to govern what I think is happening - 'retry' value included. But maybe my interpretation is incorrect.
Here's what happened again:
a) client boot b) get DHCP - success c) a lot of time (days) passes with DHCP renews d) --- DHCP server is broken --- e) DHCP renewals fail (?) f) DHCP lease times out (?) g) IP address is deconfigured (?) h) --- DHCP server is repaired --- i) nothing happens... while I would expect: i) after sometime the 'n'th periodic DHCP retry finally reacquires an IP address...
[the retry statement has a default of 5 min, and even 24 hours haven't helped...]
Cheers, MaZe.