Dhcp

[clutchd]

Hey everybody, any help on the following issue would be great, especially Greenstead. I have 3 desktops. 1 wired strait to my Netgear MR314. Running WinXP Pro. 2nd Desktop is connected by a Netgear MA401 card. Running WinXP Pro. 3rd Desktop is connected by the Netgear USB Wireless Network adapter. Running Win98 SE. I have just gotten a 4th computer, a dell laptop with a Dell Internal Wireless network card, running WinXP Pro. None of these computers have trouble connecting to the network. I have my router set to DHCP, so its automatically assigning IP addys, BUT, when my laptop drops, my USB adapter desktop takes the laptops spot. Then the laptop cant connect because the desktop takes its place. I also have MAC Addy filtering enabled. The laptop is the 3rd physical addy on the list. Should i assign the 3rd desktop (USB adapter desktop) an IP and the Laptop a IP? Would I have to disable DHCP for this? Is this step even needed? If so, what would I type into where?

[Greenstead]

Thats a strange one Clutchd.
I don't think I know the answer and I have had some strange similar problems on my network that I cannot explain this weekend.

To try and answer your questions (as to what should happen).
It shoudn't matter what order you enter the MAC addresses.
Neither should you have to disable DHCP or manually assign any IPs.
When a PC comes back on-line I don't see it should matter if the IP it had before is now taken, it should get the next available from the DHCP server.
I'm not sure what you mean about the USB taking the laptop's spot - you mean you closed down the laptop and the USB PC and then brought the USB PC on-line and it took the IP the laptop previously had - yes ?

Let me mix up some of what I know with guess work.
What I know - the DHCP server time leases the IP. This is recorded in the router and also in the NIC properties of the PC (You can see the lease wth ipconfig /all). So if you hibernate the PC it retains the IP and doesn't release the lease in the router. If you use windows to power down the PC that should send a release to the router. This latter does not seem to happen. I have just shut down a laptop and I still see its name in the DHCP table against the IP it had. (Or maybe the MR314 ignores it).

So I think what can happen is this. If you remove the laptop it remembers its IP lease. Then if you repower the router it clears the router DHCP table and PCs get an IP on first come first served, Then if you bring back the laptop it wants its old IP back because it thinks its lease should still be valid, but the router has given the IP to another PC. So there's a conflict.

I could do a test but its a bit late today.

I think some things don't work quite as they should, or maybe we don't have all the settings quite right. The usual work around will solve everything - power down everything and power up starting with the router. Alternatively Ipconfig /release followed by ipconfig /renew. Of course manual IPs will fix everything but thats a fudge.
Shouldn't be necessary.

I will think more on this - maybe do some test later in the week.

[clutchd]

lol, thanks greenstead, greatly appreciated...

if i were to assign IP's manually, would i just put:

192.168.0.2 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 on comp #1
192.168.0.3 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 on comp #2
192.168.0.4 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 on comp #3
192.168.0.5 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 on comp #4

is that how i would do it? and just turn off DHCP from the router...and tell its not to automatically detect IP addy?

Also, yes, the USB PC takes the laptops place... you had it correct...

Also Also, lol, how would i open up a port on our router? Say i wanted to open port 2045, how? thanks

[unixfan]

dont forget to also manually assign the DNS info if you assing static IP addresses.

[Greenstead]

Those manual IPs look correct to use. When you set the IP address manually it disables the 'get an IP automatically' feature. Leave 'get DNS address automatically' on (but I'm not sure if you will have to manually enter the DNS addresses - I never tried this). You can disable the LAN DHCP service in the router. (I think instead you can leave the DHCP service on and change the starting IP address it uses, so say leave the first 10 IP addresses for manual use).

If you are planning to use port forwarding then manual IPs are a good idea because you have to forward ports to a specific IP address and you don't want it changing on you.

I am not at home right now so I can't check my router. From memory in the Advanced options there is a port forwarding table where you enter a port range i.e. 'from port' and 'to port', and the IP address to forward to. The ports apply to TCP and UDP.