System Error: Conflicting IP Address

[mattbiernat]

"System Error: Conflicting IP Address"
how do i fix this?
basically i moved into an old dormitory. they provide cable internet for 400 students without a server. people are hacking the network, the technicians in here are clueless and/or lazy/incompetent. My internet works fine so far (although skype hasn't been working for a month). I get this stupid pop message once a day. Any ideas here?

[jdhurst]

Check your own machine first that it is properly releasing and acquiring IP addresses. If it happens while you are running, it could be someone else's machine causing the issue. If it happens only when you start up, it may well be your machine causing the issue.
... JDH

[mattbiernat]

i put my laptop to hibernate. most of the time i get this massage few minutes after i start my computer. its not really an issue, more like an annoyance that i would like to fix.

Check your own machine first that it is properly releasing and acquiring IP addresses.

how do i go about doing this?

[ryengineer]

Applies to Windows 95 but will work with later versions of Windows too:

The system has detected a conflict for IP address

[steveg47]

Somebody is probably using the same ip address you have. Either the dhcp server is messed up or someone has assigned a fixed ip address in a range normally assigned automatically by dhcp. I would not hibernate next time but do a full shutdown overnight. Before you shutdown for the night open a dos box and type in the following command: ipconfig /release . This will release your ip address and hopefully you will get a different address assigned when you startup the following morning.

The other possibility is that the network techs have assigned a very short ip address lease time which expires while your system is hibernating. When you come out of hibernation you are still using the same ip address which has been given to another pc while you were hibernating. To check the ip lease time do an ipconfig /all at the dos prompt.

[carbon_unit]

After you do ipconfig /release you can do ipconfig /renew to get a new address.

[jdhurst]

The other thing that occurs to me is that is bad practice (in my opinion) to leave network drives connected and network connections connected during a suspend or a hibernate. You never know where you are going to wake up (at least I don't), so I disconnect network drives and I disconnect the network itself with Access Connections before suspending or hibernating. ... JDH

[steveg47]

After you do ipconfig /release you can do ipconfig /renew to get a new address.

Unfortunately, doing a release followed by an immediate renew will almost always get you the same ip address.

[carbon_unit]

Not in my experience if you are getting the duplicate IP message.

[schen]

After you do ipconfig /release you can do ipconfig /renew to get a new address.

Unfortunately, doing a release followed by an immediate renew will almost always get you the same ip address.

He might get better result by doing a release all so the machine can purge everything before it reaquires.

[steveg47]

Not in my experience if you are getting the duplicate IP message.

It really depends on the cause of the conflict. If the ip address lease has expired while the workstation is in hibernation then definitely a release/renew will get a new ip address. However, in environments where resources are poorly monitored and/or maintained the ip addresses in ranges managed by dhcp are oftened used incorrectly as fixed ip addresses by technically challenged individuals, in which case the dhcp server will keep reassigning the same ip unaware that it is being used.

[mattbiernat]

yes you guys are right... somebody did come in and assigned me a pernament IP address but this was because my computer could not retrive IP address from their network. And the reason why my computer could not retrive correct IP address was becasue some people on the network were reassigning IP addresses so that nobody else could use the internet BUT them.

but now... are there any serious consequances of somebody else sharing my IP address? and can this annyoing massage be turned off every time i start my computer?

[jdhurst]

There are some inconsistencies here.

1. If you are using a permanent (static) IP, then you are not using DHCP (by definition) and your computer should have DHCP turned off, IP inserted, subnet mask inserted, gateway inserted and DNS inserted.

Now such an address is in a different range than DHCP addresses served out. So no one should be able to get at it except the administrator and you.

2. If people are mucking around with the IP system, why doesn't the administrator lock out their computers. A cable company wouldn't think twice about disconnecting errant users fooling around. I don't understand this part at all.
... JDH

[mattbiernat]

There are some inconsistencies here.

1. If you are using a permanent (static) IP, then you are not using DHCP (by definition) and your computer should have DHCP turned off, IP inserted, subnet mask inserted, gateway inserted and DNS inserted.

no idea what it means - im kinda dump in anything that has to do with internet configuratoin.

2. If people are mucking around with the IP system, why doesn't the administrator lock out their computers. A cable company wouldn't think twice about disconnecting errant users fooling around. I don't understand this part at all.
... JDH

supposedly the technicians cannot trace the person or people who do that.
the short answer is: this is Poland and the [censored] technicians won't do anything until you go to the school administration and complaint about every little thing that you want them to do. and if you speak Polish, the administration won't take you seriously until you establish that you are american student and that in the agreement it was said that we get a working cable internet.
another example of Polish stupidity is that we had one dryer and one washing machine for 400 students... but this is another topic.

[steveg47]

There are some inconsistencies here.

1. If you are using a permanent (static) IP, then you are not using DHCP (by definition) and your computer should have DHCP turned off, IP inserted, subnet mask inserted, gateway inserted and DNS inserted.

Now such an address is in a different range than DHCP addresses served out. So no one should be able to get at it except the administrator and you.

2. If people are mucking around with the IP system, why doesn't the administrator lock out their computers. A cable company wouldn't think twice about disconnecting errant users fooling around. I don't understand this part at all.
... JDH

Actually I don't find this unusual at all. Many networks are mismanaged particularly in educational institutions where every compsci major thinks he or she's a super hacker and it's relatively easy to ping the ip addresses in a subnet range and find out which IPs are being used. Then again if fixed ip addresses are being used it's fairly common to keep poor records and accidently use an already assigned ip. Happens all the time in large corporate networks.

[jdhurst]

<snip>
Actually I don't find this unusual at all. Many networks are mismanaged particularly in educational institutions .....<snip>

What a damming indictment against stupidity



... JDH

[steveg47]

<snip>
Actually I don't find this unusual at all. Many networks are mismanaged particularly in educational institutions .....<snip>

What a damming indictment against stupidity



... JDH

Not an indictment....an observation.

[RealBlackStuff]

Follow these instructions to automatically obtain an IP address:
http://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/computers/ ... owsxp.html

[mattbiernat]

Follow these instructions to automatically obtain an IP address:
http://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/computers/ ... owsxp.html

yeah i did that - not helpful cause my computer obtains the wrong address. however i found a solution by forcing my computer a bunch of times to obtain a new address. i guess im gonna have to live with this until they fix the network (which is never unless somebody is gonna scream at them).