Ip address changes rapidly

[cousinschar]

Hi,

I have encountered something that I have never seen before. I am setting up a friend's new computer with PC Anywhere for remote access. It is a Dell Inspiron 531 that was purchased with Vista. After some horrible months trying to get s/w to run on it, we decided to take off Vista and install XP. Everything is working perfectly now, except the PC Anywhere.

While troubleshooting, I have found that this computer does not reflect the router's IP address when we go to www.whatismyip.com. For instance, the router's IP is 173.158.128.211, but www.whatismyip.com is 173.158.128.36. Then, when you refresh the screen it changes 173.158.128.59, then refresh and change again!

He has 2 other computers on the network and they both show the router IP when you type in www.whatismyip.com.

Why is this Dell computer not reflecting the correct ip and looping or changing so quickly?

I hope you can help...Dell, Dish network, and several other computer wizards have no idea.

Charlotte

[wimiadmin]

Hi Charlotte,

The first thing to do is take the router out of the equation and plug the troublesome PC directly into the ISP provided equipment.

Does the malfunction still happen?

If yes, I'd check the CAT5 cable, but most likely it'll be a bad NIC.

If the problem doesn't exist when the troubled computer is plugged in directly to the ISP, then it may be the router. Plug the router back in and ONLY put the one PC back on the network. Does the problem still happen? If yes, try a different port on the router and test again. If it still happens, take the router back to factory defaults. Does it still happen? Hopefully by now it would be fixed. If it appears to be fixed, plug the other computers in one at a time to see if too many computers on the network are causing the problem.

Let me know if any of this helped fix it. I've never seen this problem either and am curious as to what the corrective solution is going to be.

Brian

[cousinschar]

Hi Brian,

Yes, I've tried all that. Swapped the router - still happens. Installed wireless connection - still happens. Removed the router - still happens. Completely swapped out cables - still happens...ugh! I have not tried installing another nic card though - I'll try that today and let you know.

Very strange...

[clanmills]

Gosh, I've never heard of anything like this. It's hard to believe that you could get a different IP from the bad machine, when others on the network are OK. That sounds impossible.

If you get this when you're using the ISP directly (no router), then it sounds as if your network card is in a loop of setting up a connection and tearing it down almost immediately. That's got to be a network card issue.

What's the setup of your LAN? Are you using something like 192.168.x.y for your local addresses? Could your LAN addresses be in conflict with the WAN?

Like Brian, I'm really curious to learn how this resolves.

Robin

[cousinschar]

Hi,
I'm checking back in with the results. Changed the nic card - still happens - changed the memory - still happens. The only thing left to do is swap the hard drive and/or the motherboard. Don't want to do that so we will just build a computer from scratch and get rid of the other. I read something about a proxy server when the speed test gives a differenct IP - could that be what is happening with this computer? I don't know - but when the new computer is complete, we'll hook up the PCAnywhere and see if it works!

I'll let you know...

Charlotte

[wimiadmin]

Very strange.

I would've bet money that a new NIC would've corrected your problem. Glad I didn't bet.

You said you had recently formatted that computer so I'm guessing that there's no chance of some malware being installed on it causing this problem.

I would think that if the motherboard were bad you'd have other problems as well....random blue screens, etc.

Maybe update the chipset drivers and flash the bios.

This one has me stumped.

Brian