IP Address conflict

RockinX

Our internet has been very slow lately (it even goes as far as not working at all) and a call to our ISP determined that the reason was because the phone filters allow us to have ADSL connection are apparently old. Since we'd have to wait for tomorrow to come in order to go to our ISP's offices to buy a new one, my brother changed the cable that connects the phone line to the modem for another one that was lying around to see if it helped.

The internet connection seems to work somewhat better now, but both my computer (connected directly to the router) and our laptop (connected via wi-fi) said there was an IP address conflict because "another computer in the network has the same IP address as this computer". Should we be worried about this message? I'm not even sure that it's related to the cable swap.

Ego

It shouldn't be related to the cable swap, but it could certainly be the source of your connection problems (though unlikely if it's been an ongoing problem as opposed to, say, something that's happened in the last day --a laptop coming back on from sleep mode can use a previously assigned IP that the router has already doled out to a connected system.)

This is assuming you don't get assigned static IP addresses on purpose, which is pretty uncommon these days in a home setup.

Anyhow, try opening up the command prompt (winkey+r, type 'cmd', hit enter) and type 'ipconfig' and hit enter (do this on both machines.)

Look for 'IPv4 address,' which'll probably be something like 192.168.0.xxx (with most routers.) See if the numbers are the same on both computers. If they are, that's the problem. On one of the machines, then type (in the command prompt) 'ipconfig /release' and then 'ipconfig /renew'.

If you get an error about permissions, you'll have to run the command prompt in administrator mode (hit winkey, type 'cmd', right click on the 'cmd' icon, click run as administrator.

Hope this helps.

RockinX

Ego wrote:

It shouldn't be related to the cable swap, but it could certainly be the source of your connection problems (though unlikely if it's been an ongoing problem as opposed to, say, something that's happened in the last day --a laptop coming back on from sleep mode can use a previously assigned IP that the router has already doled out to a connected system.)

This is assuming you don't get assigned static IP addresses on purpose, which is pretty uncommon these days in a home setup.

Anyhow, try opening up the command prompt (winkey+r, type 'cmd', hit enter) and type 'ipconfig' and hit enter (do this on both machines.)

Look for 'IPv4 address,' which'll probably be something like 192.168.0.xxx (with most routers.) See if the numbers are the same on both computers. If they are, that's the problem. On one of the machines, then type (in the command prompt) 'ipconfig /release' and then 'ipconfig /renew'.

If you get an error about permissions, you'll have to run the command prompt in administrator mode (hit winkey, type 'cmd', right click on the 'cmd' icon, click run as administrator.

Hope this helps.

They're different now, so I guess they were assigned different IPs again. My brother says that the laptop was probably not in sleep mode.

Though I'd like to ask, even if it's a stupid question but I'm OCD and I need the answer even if I'm sure it's negative, what are the chances that someone is snooping and got a hold of one or more of our IP addresses to steal information like credit card numbers and stuff? This didn't sound that bad in my head, lol. I'm aware that websites need to have strong enough encryption to take care of that, so it's unlikely, but a simple no with an explanation will be enough for me.

Foomy

RockinX wrote:

Ego wrote:

It shouldn't be related to the cable swap, but it could certainly be the source of your connection problems (though unlikely if it's been an ongoing problem as opposed to, say, something that's happened in the last day --a laptop coming back on from sleep mode can use a previously assigned IP that the router has already doled out to a connected system.)

This is assuming you don't get assigned static IP addresses on purpose, which is pretty uncommon these days in a home setup.

Anyhow, try opening up the command prompt (winkey+r, type 'cmd', hit enter) and type 'ipconfig' and hit enter (do this on both machines.)

Look for 'IPv4 address,' which'll probably be something like 192.168.0.xxx (with most routers.) See if the numbers are the same on both computers. If they are, that's the problem. On one of the machines, then type (in the command prompt) 'ipconfig /release' and then 'ipconfig /renew'.

If you get an error about permissions, you'll have to run the command prompt in administrator mode (hit winkey, type 'cmd', right click on the 'cmd' icon, click run as administrator.

Hope this helps.

They're different now, so I guess they were assigned different IPs again. My brother says that the laptop was probably not in sleep mode.

Though I'd like to ask, even if it's a stupid question but I'm OCD and I need the answer even if I'm sure it's negative, what are the chances that someone is snooping and got a hold of one or more of our IP addresses to steal information like credit card numbers and stuff? This didn't sound that bad in my head, lol. I'm aware that websites need to have strong enough encryption to take care of that, so it's unlikely, but a simple no with an explanation will be enough for me.

Ip addresses don't really work like that, someone knowing what it is won't let them get any information at all. the error message you were getting was because your IP's on the internal network (thats the 192.168.0.xxx ones) somehow got assigned to 2 devices, it's not an uncommon error and reseting one of your computers will almost always fix it when it re-connects and asks for a new IP from the router. Your external IP from the ISP can be changed anywhere from daily to monthly among the pool of IP's that the ISP owns, so you won't always have the same one, and no websites use it as a way to identify users for login.

RockinX

Foomy wrote:

RockinX wrote:

Ego wrote:

It shouldn't be related to the cable swap, but it could certainly be the source of your connection problems (though unlikely if it's been an ongoing problem as opposed to, say, something that's happened in the last day --a laptop coming back on from sleep mode can use a previously assigned IP that the router has already doled out to a connected system.)

This is assuming you don't get assigned static IP addresses on purpose, which is pretty uncommon these days in a home setup.

Anyhow, try opening up the command prompt (winkey+r, type 'cmd', hit enter) and type 'ipconfig' and hit enter (do this on both machines.)

Look for 'IPv4 address,' which'll probably be something like 192.168.0.xxx (with most routers.) See if the numbers are the same on both computers. If they are, that's the problem. On one of the machines, then type (in the command prompt) 'ipconfig /release' and then 'ipconfig /renew'.

If you get an error about permissions, you'll have to run the command prompt in administrator mode (hit winkey, type 'cmd', right click on the 'cmd' icon, click run as administrator.

Hope this helps.

They're different now, so I guess they were assigned different IPs again. My brother says that the laptop was probably not in sleep mode.

Though I'd like to ask, even if it's a stupid question but I'm OCD and I need the answer even if I'm sure it's negative, what are the chances that someone is snooping and got a hold of one or more of our IP addresses to steal information like credit card numbers and stuff? This didn't sound that bad in my head, lol. I'm aware that websites need to have strong enough encryption to take care of that, so it's unlikely, but a simple no with an explanation will be enough for me.

Ip addresses don't really work like that, someone knowing what it is won't let them get any information at all. the error message you were getting was because your IP's on the internal network (thats the 192.168.0.xxx ones) somehow got assigned to 2 devices, it's not an uncommon error and reseting one of your computers will almost always fix it when it re-connects and asks for a new IP from the router. Your external IP from the ISP can be changed anywhere from daily to monthly among the pool of IP's that the ISP owns, so you won't always have the same one, and no websites use it as a way to identify users for login.

Thank you very much! It was the first time it happened to us, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Thank you as well, Ego.