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Thread ID: 94132 2008-10-15 20:22:00 Crowded network - Automatic or Manual IP's supersi (8401) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
712473 2008-10-15 20:22:00 I have a Dynalink RTA 1025w router.
Recently my wife brought home another computer, so now we have the following hanging-off the network ....

1 x Vista PC - Wired connection
1 x Apple Mac Mini - Wired connection
1 x PABT Box (VOIP) - Wired connection
1 x Mediagate (streaming media device) - Wireless
1 x PC Laptop - Wireless
1 x iPhone - Wireless

Every time I bring my Vista PC out of sleep I have to disable then re-enable the NIC to get connected. Rather than rush out and buy a gruntier router/modem I want to try manually assigning an IP to each device. However there are a couple of issues.

1. The Mediagate device. Although it offers manual configuration it doesn't like it and won't connect. So I might leave that to automatically obtain it's IP.

2. If the routers default gateway is 192.168.1.1 and the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. What should the preferred & alternate DNS be?
supersi (8401)
712474 2008-10-15 20:28:00 Why not just disbale sleep on the NIC in Device Manager. Or shut the PC down rather than use sleep.

You have too many devices.
pctek (84)
712475 2008-10-15 20:41:00 Sleep is already disabled on the NIC. I'm constantly on and off the PC. So shut-down is a time-consuming pain in the arse compared to waking the PC from sleep.
If I manually assign IP's it should stop different devices from fighting for IP's being dished-out by the router. right?
supersi (8401)
712476 2008-10-15 20:57:00 As a rule, any 'server' devices should always have a static IP - in your case, your VoIP & Mediagate devices probably should.

The other 'clients' on your LAN should work fine under DHCP - just make sure the DHCP scope on your router is set to exclude the address you're going to assign to those devices; i.e. if your router is 192.168.1.1, assign 192.168.1.2 to your VoIP device, and 192.168.1.3 to your mediagate. Then set your DHCP scope to the range of 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.254 etc.

Your primary & secondary DNS server IP's should be available from your ISP.

Regarding your Mediagate not liking static IP's, is there a firmware update available?
nofam (9009)
712477 2008-10-15 21:03:00 It will stop devices fighting to a degree - but then it can also cause clashes.

lets say you assign an IP address of 192.168.1.8 to a device, when the device starts up IT tells the router it wants that Address #8 All good so far, when some other device wants an IP address if the router is issuing them (like Now) it will know #8 is already in use so it issues a different one.

BUT if that device is turned off that has the static IP of #8, the router may issue that number to another device if its "obtain automatically" - so when the original device starts up wanting #8 -- ERRRRRRRor - IP conflict.

Generally speaking - and this is no set rule, but most routers issue lower number IP address's to Obtain automatically. So with that in mind I always set a static IP above 100 ( assuming the router is capable of the full range 2-254,routers generally have 255 or 1 as the routers IP)

Here I have my servers set to static they use 200 & 201 and my play one 250 My own PC has a static of 107, workshop PC's have obtain automatically. As do any customers PC's that I plug into the LAN to get internet access.
wainuitech (129)
712478 2008-10-15 21:07:00 So I can use 2-254 for the IP in the last grouping bracketed.
eg 192.168.1.(252)
supersi (8401)
712479 2008-10-15 21:20:00 So I can use 2-254 for the IP in the last grouping bracketed.
eg 192.168.1.(252) You got it :thumbs: as long as the router will issue the full range shouldn't be a problem. Looking back on the first post the router is 192.168.1.1 so 1 is already used - 254 left :) Best advice is do one device ( or Node as a network Device is called) at a time.

Sometimes I find they dont like having a "Set" number you decide, so if that's the case I set to obtain automatically, find out what the router has issued, and working and set it to that as static.
wainuitech (129)
712480 2008-10-15 21:54:00 You are going to change your network config due to an issue with the Vista PC?....

Why dont you fix the issue with the Vista PC?

1 suggestion would be to stop the PC going to sleep using the power management function, test how that works for awhile....
SolMiester (139)
712481 2008-10-15 21:56:00 Ok, I found a 'reserved IP address' option under DHCP tools on my router.
I'm going to input reserved IP's for each wired device & the MediaGate (no updates available from manufacturer by the way) based on current IP's assigned. See how that goes.
supersi (8401)
712482 2008-10-15 22:03:00 Solmeister. If you read from the start of the post you might see I've already tried that. On the other hand, Wainuitech did this and has given a considered and very helpful response rather than second-guessing. supersi (8401)
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