Static IP Address advice (1 Viewer)

[elsmandino]

Hello,

I currently have an HTPC in my living room, running both the back end and front end.

I also have two other computers running only as clients.

Now, ever since I have had this set up I have had problems with the clients - sometimes they work and sometimes they don't - when they don't they just say "cannot play stream 2.0" and I cannot watch anything. I think it sometimes works after I turn the router off and then back on again, though I have only recently worked this out.

This never happens on the HTPC.

I have read on this forum that it is almost certainly an issue with my network and that I need to assign my TV server a static IP address - especially as the computer goes into sleep mode when not being used.

The problem is that I cannot find any information on what to do.

I would be really grateful for some advice.

Thanks

 

[Lehmden]

AW: Static IP Address advice

Hello.
Do you use a router to connect to internet? If yes (as most people do), nearly all routers today have the aibility to set static DHCP Clients. So you only need to set up static IP Adresses at one place. I'm using this a long time now without any issues. All my PC got fixed IP without any need to fiddle around ón Network settings in Windows.
How to setup your router to use Static DHCP should be explained in user manual.

 

[Peter2]

Hi Lehmden, why don't you give your server a fixed IP address. That way, even if the DHCP server on your network stops working, the machine remains reachable.
If the other pc's are desktops as well and don't have to connect to other networks, I would give them a fixed address too.
On top of that, you can kill the DHCP client service and if you use no mobile device, that needs dynamic ip addressing, you can stop the DHCP server as well in your router.

The only downside to this is:
1) using mobile devices which need to connect dynamically without user intervention to different networks
2) if you switch to another router that operates in another LAN ip range, your pc's have to be re-configured - that is, their ip adresses.

 

[Lehmden]

AW: Static IP Address advice

Hi.
If ever the DHCP server stops working, my server and all other PC keeps their IP as long as I don't completely restart them (what I did not often do). Lease time is set to forever... I also can shut down (restart) the router and all my PC are still reachable...

I often have "alien" PC as guests in my network (I'm repairing them) it's really hard to have a network without DHCP...
And as long as I use this setup I never had any DHCP issues... Also I'm using mostly "cheap" routers, I never encountered any problems with this. The first "normal" router was from Aldi (Medion), is still working without trouble since 2003 now. It was only changed due lack of high speed Wlan and does his job now at a friends place to bring his smartphone to DSL... Before that I'm using a 386 based Linux- PC as router. Actually I use an Edimax GPRS Router (35€) as I don't have any high speed internet over here. Never encountered any issues with DHCP at all.

And, as I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S I9000 Android phone I'm not able to kill DHCP at all...

I'm completely able to setup a complex network without DHCP. I have done this often, but why should I do this at home? Fixed IP addresses are important for lots of network related things. But this did not mean not to use the comfort of DHCP...

 

[elsmandino]

Hi there,

I have found this page, which is the manual for my router.

So is it the page named "LAN Setup" that I have to change the settings for?

Sorry, networking is definitely one of my weakness, when it comes to computing - bit clueless.

Would be really grateful for some instructions on what to do.

Thanks a lot.

Sorry, forgot to add the link: Router Screenshots for the Dlink DSL-2780 - PortForward.com

 

[Lehmden]

AW: Re: Static IP Address advice

Hi.
Yes, this is the page...

Set:

Router IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

Enable DHCP Server
DHCP IP Address Range 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.200
Lease Time as long as possible

Press Add/Apply and wait until Router restart is finished.

Next Step you need to do for every PC in your network
From here...
You have to find out the physical address of your network adapters. Open a DOS prompt and type "ipconfig /all" without the ". There you got a complete list of the network settings of your PC. Find the line with the physical address. It's a 6 digit hex number and looks like ED-37-0A-5B-65-82 If your PC has more than one network adapter (e.G. Lan and WLan on Notebook) you have to decide witch one to use or add both to static DHCP
Then press Add on Router DHCP Table. I did not know exactly how this will look but normally you get a window where you can insert IP Address, MAC address and a description (name) of that PC. here you enter the earlier discovered MAC address from your PC, an IP Address between 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.99 as you like. You must not use an IP twice. All PC must have different IP. Also first three parts has to be the same (192.168.1.xxx). Good is something like 192.168.1.11 192.168.1.73,... but not 192.168.2.11... And last part has to be unique, greater than 1 and below 100
... to here.

That's it. And you only have to do this once as long as you did not change the router. No matter how often you do a "Format C:"...
At next start your PC got the IP address you gave him in router config...