IP address changing after rebooting

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Good day all,
I have a little network with 5 computers hooked up to it, I am running Win XP Pro on everything.
If I want to access the laptop (A31) from my main machine I have to put in an IP address into the laptop.
As soon as I reboot the laptop goes back to the obtain IP address automatically mode.
Is there a way to stop this from happening?
I have ran the network configuration wizard and that is of no use for this issue.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

While I'm not a network guru, I know enough to get me into trouble . I would say that the first thing you need to do is turn off DHCP for the A31. This will prevent the laptop from automatically asking for (or receiving) a dynamic IP address. You should be able to access this setting by the following:

Double click the My Network icon
Click the View Network connections link
Right-click the appropriate network connection that the laptop is using and select Properties
Click the Internet Protocol line (not the checkbox on the left) and then the Properties button
You should now see Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window. "Obtain an IP address automatically" should already be checked. Uncheck it by clicking on the "Use the following IP address". Enter the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway information in the provided boxes. When done, click ok. You may also have to click okay a couple of more times and/or re-boot the system.

When you complete this, the laptop should no longer obtain a dynamic IP address. However, there may be an easier way to access your computer. What is your network setup like? What and how do all of your computers "plug into" the network? And exactly what kind of "access" are you trying to achieve?

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Thank you for the welcome rkawakami and the idea.
What you have suggested I have done repeatedly to no avail. The only thing I have not done is the default gateway, I always leave that blank. But lower in that box the preferred DNS server and I put my router/hub address in there. (192.168.0.3)
"Network use", games, file transfer, printer sharing, internet access, "how is it connected", I have a Dlink DI-604 broadband router that I am using as a hub. I live in the Boonies and the ONLY available internet is dial up, my main machine is 192.168.0.1, it is the only machine that has a Ip address and subnet ,mask all the time. the other machines I run the Network wizard and they all have obtain IP address automatically, that way I can control who has internet access and everyone can use the printer and play games with each other. I quite often load the laptop with programs and head out to work, then I have to type in the IP address and that is what I am trying to avoid having to do all the time.
Does any of this make sense to you?
Enough that you can make a recommendation to me? javascript:emoticon(':lol:')
Laughing
Thanks again

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Addendum
Remembered something, when I manually configure all the machines everything works the best, but as soon as the laptop reboots then all the other machines flip around to obtain ip automatically to try to communicate with it, except the main one.
the laptop flipping back to auto IP screws up the whole network

[rkawakami]

Ah, I think I understand what you are trying to do. You want to be able to plug into two different wired networks seamlessly. I had the same problem when I tried to take my laptops into work and plug into the company LAN. My home setup is like yours (192.168.0.xxx) but the company's network is totally different. The only way that I found to get around this issue is to use a wireless connection at work. There's a WAP that I connect to, which in turn is connected to the LAN. I don't know if there's an easy way to do this with a single ethernet connection in your laptop and with two (or more) different network systems that you want to connect to. I would think that there's some way to do it so maybe somebody else here can help out.

For my home setup, I use both wired and wireless setups. The DSL modem is connected to an 8 port switch, which in turn has a WAP plugged into it, as well as a Netgear print server. Two printers are plugged into that box. All of the laptops have wireless cards, as well as my wife's Gateway box in another room (too lazy to run CAT5 ). One other Gateway desktop is plugged into the switch, along with my Gateway laptop. An A/T/R/X port replicator is also connected to the switch so I can put whatever Thinkpad I'm using into the port rep and have a wired connection. All of the systems have had the Netgear print server software installed so any one of them can print to either HP printer (laser and inkjet). I simply use Windows networking and file sharing features to assign shareable folders on each system. Every computer on my network can see whatever shared folders are currently connected. I don't do any gaming so this all works for my usage.

I don't know what to suggest for your system other than to try fixed IP addresses all of the way around. It may help, or it may make things worse ! Let's hope someone with networking skills floats by.

BTW, I will be moving this thread into the Windows OS conference in the next day or so as this discussion seems to be headed into the area that deals with Windows' networking magic.

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Well thanks Ray, maybe I should just move over to wireless altogether, I will check windoze OS the next time I check,
Thanks again
Chad

[jdhurst]

If your router is a reasonably standard router with a built-in DHCP server, then use it for assigning addresses. Then all the machines really should be vanilla DHCP systems with no setup. They will easily talk to the router that way.

When you want to have machines talk to each other, make sure you have turned off simple file sharing on any XP machine, and then map the drives you want (\\othermachine\c$ and authenticate with "different user").

You can use Simple File sharing, and mapping can be fairly easy, but the files you want to share must be in the Shared Folders. In the way I described above, you can get to any file in any folder on the other machine.
... JD Hurst

[gibblr]

If your router is a reasonably standard router with a built-in DHCP server, then use it for assigning addresses. Then all the machines really should be vanilla DHCP systems with no setup. They will easily talk to the router that way.

When you want to have machines talk to each other, make sure you have turned off simple file sharing on any XP machine, and then map the drives you want (\\othermachine\c$ and authenticate with "different user").

You can use Simple File sharing, and mapping can be fairly easy, but the files you want to share must be in the Shared Folders. In the way I described above, you can get to any file in any folder on the other machine.
... JD Hurst

Thanks for the tip JD Hurst
I logged onto the router to enable the dhcp server, setup the network like you said and everything crashed, when I tried to get onto one of the machines I was asked for a password, I had not set up any passwords so I was majorly confused.
I then tried to log onto the router to change everything back and I could not log onto the router. I was incredibly annoyed so I left it alone for a couple days.
Today I ran the network wizard and everything works now. I can see everyone and share files. I still can't log onto the router but I don't care so long as everything works!
I don't know what I did wrong but it is all good now
mmm mmm vanilla!
Thanks again
Chad