'puter problem

chiller · February 7, 2006, 3:44am

IP address conflict on wireless home?

chiller · February 7, 2006, 3:44am

Thought maybe some of youse computer guys might have an idea what just happened to me. Been using a cheapo Linksys wireless on the home computer hardwired to it, have two laptops, one with an external card insert I bought (no problem with it), but the new laptop last week (internal wireless card, connects great) now keeps coming up with error popups that there is a “IP device conflict on the network”…

Why would this happen? What the heck started it, how do I stop it? Linksys is no help here.

Wihan_Stemmet · February 7, 2006, 7:15am

Is the conflict only there when both machines are on ?

What else do you have on the network ?

You need to find out what the current IP address’ are.

On all the PC’s click Start-> run and then type in cmd (and enter)

(sorry for talking too simple if you know something already)

Then in the command prompt type ipconfig /all

It should list the addresses of all the adapters (along with some other info).
What you are looking for is an address like 192.168.0.1.
(Not necesarily that number, but something like it xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)

Do that on all the PC’s on the network. (If it’s win98 you get there by clicking start -> run and then typing in winipcfg and hitting enter)

If there are two that are the same, then that’s your problem.
If not, post the result of ipconfig here and we’ll take it from there.

W.

Mark_A · February 7, 2006, 8:50am

Yes, what Wihan said.

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but the new laptop last week

So is this new to your network?

I guess it’s possible that it has a fixed IP address that happens to be the same as your other PC.

Also, I expect that your router is set as a DHCP server (to give out IP addresses to machines that ask for one). Check that the new laptop “obtains IP address automatically”. The exact process depends on the O/S but basically it’s in the IP properties for the network connection (control panel).

A quick check would be “ipconfig /renew” (adding to Wihan’s instructions above). Either the command will get a new IP address from the router, fail to get one from the router (if it’s not a setup to be a DHCP server), or tell you that none of the network adaptors on the PC are configured for DHCP.

HTH

Mark

Wihan_Stemmet · February 7, 2006, 8:57am

Oh yes - I forgot about home router’s being DHCP servers nowadays (don’t worry about the acromyms…)

Mark add some valid points.

Post a ipconfig result anyway if you can ?

That’ll make it (hopefully) clear 1st glance.

W.

system · February 7, 2006, 3:13pm

Most all of the wireless routers I have fooled with are DHCP servers. Configure your PC’s to get an IP address automatically and your problem will probably disappear. One caveat, anybody else within range of your wireless router can ALSO get an IP address automatically and cruise your network. You should investigate wireless security. Hide the SSID, turn on WEP, configure an access table using MAC addresses and so on… If you are in the sticks don’t worry about it. If you are in a highly populated area and there are a lot of wireless networks in the neighborhood, Google this stuff up and get some security going.

D

g8torcliff · February 7, 2006, 3:41pm

I had a Linksys router…still have it-brand new in the box. I found out that you don’t really need it if you are using XP SP2. After getting absolutely no help from Linksys when I was having problems with IP addresses (they won’t take a return-just give you a replacemant which acts the same way) I bought a hub. Now I net 3 computers (one XP, 2 win98’s) whcih can all access the internet through the same connection.

cliff
:cool:

chiller · February 11, 2006, 4:13am

Hey Dio,
Sounds like this may be a security problem? I turned off all the security because the old laptop with external card would not work.
Then came up with the problems on using the new laptop with internal wireless card last month ( after months of error-free operation).

So, security-wise, it could be someone else in the neighborhood being assigned the same address? Cross-conflicts or what?

I can try to re-configure the security, but last time I could not get it to work with the old laptop and it’s card.

Thanks for your reply

Chiller

system · February 11, 2006, 5:10pm

Hey Chiller,
I use this linksys WirelessB 2.4 G.
I will tell you it took a while to figure it out, but it does work!

As a matter of fact I was able to go on two of my neighbors systems while my DSL was down.

Go to,
Site Survey, on the Linksys WAN monitor.
See how many SSID’s you have listed there.
Chances are there are other people with wireless routers/modems near you.
You need to identify which one is yours. In my case it’s the one with the strongest signal, it says 100% since it is directly next to the router.
Tell it to refresh, then connect to the one with the strongest signal.
A pop- up should come up that says…
Your computer is currently using a “something or other” do you want to switch to "obtain automatic IP adress"
you click "yes"
In profiles you should have,
Default,…linksys
Network mode-Infrastructure
Transfer rate, auto
Channel, auto
WEP- disabled.
Don’t worry you can always enable it later, just need to establish an association with the router/modem for now.
Now, your router/modem has a username and password stored within it. It was either set by your service provider, or yourself.
It would help to know who you have DSL service from.
But you may need to reset that user/password.
'cause if you don’t the adapter will keep telling you you are connected with the router but no internet can be found.
You also may have to set up your PPP address and user name password,.
But if you have another computer already linked to your provider that probably isn’t the case.
What is the name on the router? was it suplied by the service provideer or did you get it with the linksys adapter?
If it is Westell ( a common on used by the major providers), you can go to a http://192.168.1.1 type adress, and configer it from there.

Note:
your IP user name and password may not be the same as your modem password. In Verizons case, the modem’s user name & password is admin, admin.

hope that helped.

jerm

:cool:

Mark_A · February 13, 2006, 7:36am

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Sounds like this may be a security problem? I turned off all the security because the old laptop with external card would not work.

Unlikely. The IP address is the PC’s unique address on the network. A bit like a cell phone number or zipcode/post code. All machines on the network must have a unique IP address to work (there are a whole load of other “musts” too but that’s not the problem here).

Security settings may stop a PC from obtaining an IP address “automatically” (from the router’s DHCP server), but then Windows usually makes up an IP address starting with 169.xxx.xxx.xxx. Then I expect nothing would work… You are getting IP address duplication so I don’t think that is your problem.

This really should be an easy-peasy fix. I think we still need to see the results of the “ipconfig /all” for the PCs before we can go any further.

HTH

Mark