Windows System Error - IP address conflict with another system on the network

@rocky777 (353)
India
February 18, 2008 2:59am CST
Has anyone got this message from your computer? I get it a lot on some days and not at all on some. It stays on for a while and then goes away. I am not able to figure out where the conflict is, my firewall does not show any conflict and neither does my device manager. I am almost at my wits end, I think I must have picked up some spyware or a virus.
2 people like this
2 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
18 Feb 08
That message is a network message suggesting that you have a home (or work) network with other computers on it. One of them is trying to use the IP address assigned to your machine. If you don't have a home network (and router), then the network you are connected to is your ISP's network. It's just possible that the address you are connecting at has been assigned by your ISP to another machine. The message definitely doesn't come from your firewall and device manager won't help. The place you need to look is Network Connections but, without knowing just what network situation you have, I can't say what you should do about it.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
18 Feb 08
If you do have a router, then the first place to look would be in the router configuration to see what IP addresses are assigned to what devices.
2 people like this
@rocky777 (353)
• India
18 Feb 08
I did have a network, but I've disabled it as my other computer is on the blink and it is not used regularly. My IP addresses are configured automatically, so I guess that is not the problem.
@rocky777 (353)
• India
18 Feb 08
Thanks for your help, but I do not currently have a network and my IP addresses are configured automatically, so I still do not know where to look. My local network adaptor is disabled, so I guess that is not the problem. So what now?
@tala91285 (1074)
• Philippines
18 Feb 08
Just change the last three digits of your IP address into something that won't exceed 255.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
19 Feb 08
I'd always recommend following the error tracing steps I outlined above before messing with settings like this. What is suggested here is one of the possible sources of the error - that someone else on the network has done exactly that! It is bad network practice because it doesn't allow the DHCP to operate correctly. I *have* used this method on an in house LAN when I had a problem with a rogue machine but I would certainly never consider doing it on an ISP's network unless the Network Manager actually suggested it!
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@rocky777 (353)
• India
18 Feb 08
Thanks for your help, but I use automatically assigned IP addresses, so is there need for me to go to manually assigned IP addresses?
1 person likes this
• Romania
18 Feb 08
IP addresses have 4 main classes. they can't exceed 255 each and they have the form of a.b.c.d where a,b,c,d vary from 0 to 255. In your case, i`d probably suggest to try and change the last part of your IP, (as specified earlier - d) and try to connect that way. if the server supports it, you can always go by with dhcp. automatic settings.
1 person likes this