Expert: Kevin Watkins - 3/21/2007

Question
I have 1 HP desktop on windows millennium cabled thru a netgear ethernet adapter to a netgear WGT624 router which is cabled to a cable modem. Also cabled to the modem thru ethernet cable is an HP C5180 printer. added to his network is a Compaq/HP wireless Presario Laptop on Windows XP.

I am getting this message: "Conflict for IP address 192.168.1.3 with system having address 00:14:A5:E8:9E:4D, the interface has been disabled."

My home is close enough to my neighbor that I can also pick up her router which is a netgear 614.  I never sure which router I'm on. I've purchased the Network Magic program but I've deinstalled it.  I must have installed something wrong.  I cant get support from Netgear.

Answer
Usually DHCP servers do not assign the same IP address to two different computers at once.  Their could be a couple things going on.  I will address the one you brought up as it is the most likly

If you leave all your computers on all the time the best thing to do is on a computer that is connected to the network by Ethernet (Network Cable).  Change your network SSID (Server Side Identifier) this is the name of your network.  You can name it any thing you would like.  I recommend not using your last name or anything else that could identify it as your network to the general public.  You should secure the network WPA PSK (Pre Shared Key) or WPA2 PSK are your best bet.

This should elimante any duplicate IP address conflicts as you will always know you are connecting to your own network

You can get to your Routers configuration pages by entering your routers IP address into any Web Browser.

If you need anything else please let me know.