IP error--2 machines same address

[markg2]

There was a dialogue box saying something like 'another computer has the same IP address on the network check event viewer'.

I did so and this is the statement: "A duplicate name has been detected on the TCP network. The IP address of the computer that sent the message is in the data. Use nbtstat -n in a command window to see which name is in the Conflict state"

I attempted the command at the default directory and then the root and received the following result.

C:\Users\Connie>nbstat-n
'nbstat-n' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Users\Connie>cd\

C:\>nbstat -n
'nbstat' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

So the question is--do I need to concern myself with the problem (or is it most likely just a random thing) and if I should correct a problem is there an easy correction?

Mark

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Did you in your network settings assign the IP addresses manually. Usually unless you have a very good reason for doing so you should enable DHCP in the router and let the router assign IP addresses.

If you must assign manually take extra care that things you might casually use such as Mobile phones, tablets, media streamers don't "grab" the IP address you've manually assigned to your computers.

What I tend to do -- I have two machines that I NEED specific addresses for so I assign these manually and then in my router set DHCP to assign IP addresses at say 10 higher than the two computers I've assigned a fixed lan address to -- for example I have two computers at say 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.2 and I've told the router to start assigning addresses at 192.168.0.10 which fixes the "double IP address" problem.

(I use the fixed IP addresses on these machines since if I want to use things like RDP they require the correct ports to be forwarded to the correct machine - so I can connect to the proper machine from outside my Lan).

I don't have the experience, time or inclination to set up proper Domain and DNS servers so this simple manual fix is to me an acceptable solution especially for essentially a home network.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[markg2]

IP addresses are not fixed.

I'll reboot the router and, for now, chalk it up to random nonsense.