does anyone know what this notification means:

windows: system error. there is an IP address conflict with another system on the network

i was having a yahoo chat this morning and that message popped up. there are no other computers in my home besides the lap top that i was using.

have had that message come up on mine before too but didn't know what it meant...but there are other computers in the house.

Are you also connected to a work VPN (Virtual Private Network)? That can cause it during IM sessions. I'm guessing both are trying to use the same I/O port and get conflicted.

but there's no other computer, or person, even in the house

i have a secured network (never heard of virtual private) and i've never had that message shown before

If your network is secured and it doesn't cause disconnection, it's probably nothing to worry about.

Maybe Chad is trying to hack you

haha, that thought did sort of cross my mind!



nope, i didn't lose any connection. do you think it could have been someone just trying to get access to my network?

That's what I would think, especially if you happened to be using a wireless connection at the time. When I had a network with a former roommate, and 6 computers in the house, we discovered someone was trying to user our network. So he did whatever he needed to do to fix it.

I don't know that this type of situation would cause that error. But it sounds like it would be a possible idea.

Unlikely. Even if someone nearby is trying to access your wi-fi network, your security would prevent them from being assigned an IP address. It's most likely a conflict between 2 applications on your own system. I've rec'd this error message before and that's usually the case.

well thanks everyone for your input; i'll try not to worry

Are you using a router?

If so, what kind of security encryption are you using? If it is WEP... you might want to switch to WPA or WPA2... that if your router has that encryption. Don't use WEP because there are software out there to crack the encryption.

If you are on a wifi, are you using MAC filtering to prevent others from connection to your network?

You might want to change your DHCP ranges or switch it to static IP instead.

This might be too technical.... sorry :( but usually in my field when we see messages like this... we do a security audit on our network to check for hackers.

depends if the laptop if the laptop is pulling the same addie as your desktop. This happens if you are not using DHCP, as the same IP might be assigned to several computers if you havent fleshed out a list of manual IP addresses.

If this happens, you can try this:

Click "Start" -> "Run..." Type in 'cmd' (without quotes) and hit Enter.

Then type these in hitting enter after each command:

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you can't renew, you can then try his to make sure that you computer is getting its IP address properly:

(If you are not comfortable with your skill level, you should get someone to help you. You don't want to cause even worse problems with your network configuration.)

1) In the Control Panel, open Network Connections, and right click on the network connection you are using, select properties

2) highlight "Internet Protocol (TCPIP)"
3) properties
4) click the button "Obtain IP address automatically"
5) Same for "Obtain DNS address automatically"
6) close all windows normally

Big Brother is watching....

sorry i had forgotten to keep checking this thread as the problem hasn't happened again.

haha, yes that ^^ was too technical for me



there are no other computers in the home

Are you connecting directly to your modem (cable/dsl)? (I assume you have broadband.. ;d

type cmd at run.
winipcfg -release
winipcfg -renew
that should fix it. you get a lease on a IP address. for some reason someone else connect to your network they got a lease for the same IP address. If you only have one computer connect to your router. Block by MAC address. it's a very basic way to keep other poeple off your network with out slowing your wireless down using the encryption keys. Using encryption like WEP can slow your wireless connection down. your average person doesn't know how to clone your MAC address. Most people look for unprotected wireless. there are so many out there. Why waste time cracking it, when 2 houses down is a open wireless network.

Sounds like 2 computers have the same ip address...

And miliamber i actually had to crack someones wireless before i got my own, no one else had it =(

if you have a wireless router then some is using it. you need to do 3 things if this is the case,

1 encrypt it using an unbreakable password

https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

2 create a dedicated ip address and turn off some system services.

3 and most equally important - wep can be cracked in less than a minute. you want wpa. and turn off your SSID broadcast. you can learn more about your router at

www.portforward.com

or you could have a laptop and both the wireless is active and the LAN is active with the same ip's ?

all passwords are breakable