Issues connecting to home network/ wireless router

[Scuba951]

Hey guys. Wanted to get a couple opinions on the issue that I am having. I'll try to explain it to the best of my abilities.

We have a wireless DSL modem. It has been here and in use by my roommates for months before I moved here. Typically there is 1 other laptop running on the network. If the 1 other laptop is not on or connected to the network, I NEVER have this issue.

The issue I am having is if I turn on my laptop at some point during the day while the 1st laptop is already connected, my laptop has issues connecting.
It will connect to the network but give me a yellow exclamation over the network status on the toolbar. It says "connected but no internet access." Sometimes it will give me an error saying something along the lines of "windows has identified an IP address conflict with another computer on the network."
I enter the network troubleshooting window and it resets my network adapter. Sometimes that will get it to work, sometimes I have to try that another time or two for it to resolve the issue.
I try to use command prompt and use "ipconfig /release and /renew" so that I can get a new IP address but typically get the error saying "this operation cannot be preformed while you are not connected" (uh, I thought I was connected to the network).

What I'm assuming is that the modem is giving computer 1 a default IP address that it would normally give me if I am computer 1.

Are there any settings I need to change on the modem/ router to allow it to automatically hand out more IP's? What do I need to do to fix this issue?


TL;DR version: my laptop will connect to our network just fine if I am computer 1 but if I am computer 2 it will not connect well (I am assuming the network isn't giving me a distinct IP address).

[nathan4610]

Log into the DSL router and check the DHCP pool settings, make sure it is set to give out at least 2 addresses, probably more like 10.

Make sure your computers tcp/ip v4 settings are set to "obtain ip address automatically"

[Scuba951]

Log into the DSL router and check the DHCP pool settings, make sure it is set to give out at least 2 addresses, probably more like 10.

Make sure your computers tcp/ip v4 settings are set to "obtain ip address automatically"

Okay. There are currently 7 devices on the network. I see my phone (which never has an issue), the printer, the other computer, direct TV, my computer, and the other computer. There is also one other device that is un-named.
However, under the DHCP settings, I don't see where I can change the number of possible users. It basically just lists what is connected now.

It will allow me to add a fixed DHCP client. Maybe I could set the new fixed client at what my computers IP address is now so that I won't have any more conflicts?

[NytWolf]

Are you sure your laptop doesn't have a static IP address?

[bluedsteel]

Sounds like they r getting assigned the same ip

[nathan4610]

Okay. There are currently 7 devices on the network. I see my phone (which never has an issue), the printer, the other computer, direct TV, my computer, and the other computer. There is also one other device that is un-named.
However, under the DHCP settings, I don't see where I can change the number of possible users. It basically just lists what is connected now.

It will allow me to add a fixed DHCP client. Maybe I could set the new fixed client at what my computers IP address is now so that I won't have any more conflicts?

The DHCP settings are usually in the advanced setting menu in your router. it will more than likely say something along the lines of, DHCP start 192.168.0.100 and DHCP end 192.168.0.110. Which would give you 100 to 110, or 11 leases.

If you have that many other devices that work fine, im going to have to agree with nytwolf, sounds like your laptop may be on a static ip.

[Scuba951]

Both IPV4 and IPV6 have IP address and DNS settings set to obtain automatically.

[diveRN]

Both IPV4 and IPV6 have IP address and DNS settings set to obtain automatically.

Go to the command prompt and type (no quotes): "ipconfig > c:\dnsinfo.txt" Browse your local drive for dnsinfo.txt, open it, copy and paste contents here.

It should look something like this:

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gateway.pace.com
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . :
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . :
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . :
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::

Tunnel adapter isatap.gateway.pace.com:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gateway.pace.com

A device with a static IP in the same subnet should still connect to a DHCP server and ultimately to the gateway.

A problem will arise if the same IP is being shared by two devices and in this case, windows should go bats**t and display a message saying, "two or more devices are allocated the same resources, blah, blah"

[Ninety]

What about another device set statically?
Could change the IP range for DHCP

[Scuba951]

Go to the command prompt and type (no quotes): "ipconfig > c:\dnsinfo.txt" Browse your local drive for dnsinfo.txt, open it, copy and paste contents here.

It should look something like this:

A device with a static IP in the same subnet should still connect to a DHCP server and ultimately to the gateway.

A problem will arise if the same IP is being shared by two devices and in this case, windows should go bats**t and display a message saying, "two or more devices are allocated the same resources, blah, blah"

When I type that function in command prompt, it says access is denied.
I am the only "user" of this computer, so I should be the admin and have full control.

I have no idea where to even start looking for DNS.txt on my drive. A search doesn't bring it up.

[diveRN]

Just try "ipconfig" (no quotes). If it still doesn't let you run it, then you need to figure out the permissions issue first. Prntscrn it, edit in paint and then post the photo here.

If you were getting an "access denied," then the file DNSinfo.txt wasn't created. The command I gave you just outputs the results of ipconfig to a file with that name.

Should look like:

[catmman]

Upgrade nic firmware on PC having problems. If using wpa you might have to go back to wep for security. You can also pull off encryption on router as test to see if it will connect without problems for a few hours.

[Scuba951]

[diveRN]

Heh. What's the IPV4 address and gateway? Should be something like 192.168.1.xxx or 192.168.0.xxx.

And I take it because you are here now, the problem is not happening right at this moment? Or are you on another PC?

Another test you can do is connect you machine FIRST and then see if the first machine that causes the problem has trouble connecting... thinking about it, it COULD be an IP address issue or, if your friend is a tech/geek/programmer/etc, he could be running something that's jamming you up.

[Scuba951]

Heh. What's the IPV4 address and gateway? Should be something like 192.168.1.xxx or 192.168.0.xxx.

And I take it because you are here now, the problem is not happening right at this moment? Or are you on another PC?

Another test you can do is connect you machine FIRST and then see if the first machine that causes the problem has trouble connecting... thinking about it, it COULD be an IP address issue or, if your friend is a tech/geek/programmer/etc, he could be running something that's jamming you up.

ip address is 192.168.0.10 and gateway is 192.168.0.1.
I'm on the machine now. Normally after I run the troubleshooter once or twice and cycle power on the computer once or twice it ends up working.

My roommate is not a geek/ nerd so I doubt they've got any program running that's causing this issue.