Windows has detected an IP address conflict and other Network Problems

boweasel · 04 Oct 2018

We are currently running 3 wireless PCs off our small home network. Two are laptops and one is a desktop and all them are using built-in wireless adapters. All have the OS Windows Home 1803.

The desktop and my laptop are having regular IP address conflict message boxes popping up. All 3 PCs have the box checked in the Internet Protocol Version 4 properties that says to Obtain an IP Address Automatically. Both my wife's and my laptops also have the Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically box checked, while the desktop is using the following DNS server address 8-8-8-8 (preferred) and 8-8-4-4 (alternate). The ip addresses are all different right now. My laptop is 192.168.254.5. My wife's laptop is 192.168.254.2 and the desktop 192.168.254.3.

Windows troubleshooting tool is a useless application - it never can either detect or identify the problem.

Additionally, I have a 2TB external drive connected to the desktop and I've set it up to be shared. I generally download music from my laptop to that shared external, but a lot of times the download fails to complete. Downloads that have completed successfully are often nearly impossible to access via my laptop. Explorer will show the bar for my external (G) drive rapidly turning green, but the further to the right the bar moves the slower it goes. Sometimes it will take 30 minutes to go the final quarter of an inch. Sometimes I'll get a box that says Cannot connect to Desktop M42JSTV (the name of my desktop PC - the one with the external USB drive).

I've kind of run out of things to try. Is there some sort of network diagnostic tool can download and run on the computers?

Oh, and we also have an iPad and a Smart TV. I don't know their IP addresses.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

Eagle51 · 04 Oct 2018

We are currently running 3 wireless PCs off our small home network. Two are laptops and one is a desktop and all them are using built-in wireless adapters. All have the OS Windows Home 1803.
The desktop and my laptop are having regular IP address conflict message boxes popping up. All 3 PCs have the box checked in the Internet Protocol Version 4 properties that says to Obtain an IP Address Automatically. Both my wife's and my laptops also have the Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically box checked, while the desktop is using the following DNS server address 8-8-8-8 (preferred) and 8-8-4-4 (alternate). The ip addresses are all different right now. My laptop is 192.168.254.5. My wife's laptop is 192.168.254.2 and the desktop 192.168.254.3.

1. Power cycle your router, turn it off wait a couple minutes and turn it back on. Wait another couple minutes for your PC's reconnect.

2. If that doesn't work, then on each PC
Open Command Prompt as Admin and the run the following commands
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

3. Avoid the issue completely by setting a static IP for each PC in the adapter > tcpipv4 properties
Example ...
Ip Address: 192.168.254.3
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.254.1

Note:
1. I prefer using Reserved IP's which I set my netgear router and leave windows set to obtain automatically.
2. I have the DNS servers set in my router as well.
3. Depending on your router you may be able to do this as well.

Additionally, I have a 2TB external drive connected to the desktop and I've set it up to be shared. I generally download music from my laptop to that shared external, but a lot of times the download fails to complete. Downloads that have completed successfully are often nearly impossible to access via my laptop. Explorer will show the bar for my external (G) drive rapidly turning green, but the further to the right the bar moves the slower it goes. Sometimes it will take 30 minutes to go the final quarter of an inch. Sometimes I'll get a box that says Cannot connect to Desktop M42JSTV (the name of my desktop PC - the one with the external USB drive).

You might want to double check everything using this tutorial - Share Files and Folders Over a Network in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

boweasel · 05 Oct 2018

I'm currently using the desktop PC. I had tried your suggestions about the ipconfig /release and /renew before I posted. The problem is that once I actually have a connection (like right now) I can't run those commands.

If I open up an administrator's cmd screen (while I see the taskbar wireless icon in a connected state) and enter ipconfig /release the icon immediately gets a little yellow triangle over it, and the DOS screen gives me the following:
Same goes for renew. So I can't run either. I had also previously turned off the modem / router for about 3 minutes.

Eagle51 · 05 Oct 2018

I'm currently using the desktop PC. I had tried your suggestions about the ipconfig /release and /renew before I posted. The problem is that once I actually have a connection (like right now) I can't run those commands.

If I open up an administrator's cmd screen (while I see the taskbar wireless icon in a connected state) and enter ipconfig /release the icon immediately gets a little yellow triangle over it, and the DOS screen gives me the following:
Same goes for renew. So I can't run either. I had also previously turned off the modem / router for about 3 minutes.

That's normal with those two commands, it disconnects/reconnects your active adapter to get a new IP from your DHCP Server (i.e Router)

1. If you still having the issue, Open Command Prompt as Admin and run ipconfig /all on all PC's and post the result for each in your post.
2. Have you tried setting Static IP's on your PC's either in Win10 or your Router ?
3. What is the make/model of your router ?