I'm trying to set up a static IP so that I can forward a port or two for bit torrent. Now, I'm new with this sort of thing so bear with me. I'm following this guide: http://www.portforward.com/networking/static-xp.htm It shows that you should have two DNS server addresses, & everyone that I've asked doesn't know why I only have one. I'm confused as to what to do here. Can anyone help? Also, for some reason, when I disconnect my router & plug the modem directly into my computer, my internet won't work. What's the deal with that? Both of my attempts at getting better speeds on downloads are failing. Please help!

Most ISP's have two DNS servers. Call them and ask what their DNS server addresses are if you're unsure. Likely they have the connection mapped to the MAC address of your router. While you're asking them about the 2nd DNS server address, ask about this as well.

So the DNS server is unique to the ISP, not me? Also, what's the significance of their having the connection mapped to the MAC address of my router? Thanks for the reply.

My ISP does this. I'm on DHCP with my ISP yet, because of the MAC mapping, my IP address doesn't change unless I unplug my router and plug the DSL into the computer. This is handy for me as I'm setup to remotely access my PC. Having the same address all the time makes this easier on me.

For the PC you want to port-forward, go into TCP/IP settings and set it to an IP address in the range your router supports. If your router's webpage is located at 192.168.0.1, anything in the 192.168.0.2 through 192.168.0.255 should work. If the router's web page is 192.168.1.1 set it to something in the 192.168.1.xxx range. As a rule you want to set it to something that the router won't accidentally assign to anoter client so if you have 4 clients hooked to the router set the address to 192.168.0.25 or the like. If you have 25 clients, set it to 192.168.0.100, that sort of thing. Reboot the client and make sure it can still connect to the Internet. Now go into the router's configuration menu and forward the port(s) used by the remote application you're using to that IP Address. Check your manual to see what that should be. In rare instances you might declare that IP address to be part of the "DMZ" but that's not a good idea with a PC: The client is on the *other* side of the firewall from your LAN and is exposed to everything coming in on the Internet.

Hmm. When I try to forward my port, I go into the Networking tab, then into the Virtual Server tab, & this is roughly what it looks like: Server Name: I make something up. I check 'enable.' Incoming protocol: TCP. Incoming port: 6881 (that's what bit torrent uses, I've been told). Forwarding IP: 192.168.10.2 Forwarding port: 6881. Schedule: Everyday, 24 hours. Then I click Add. It then sits there saying "Transferring data from 192.168.10.1..." for about 2 minutes, then switches to "Waiting for 192.168.10.1...," where it will sit until I close the window. I don't understand exactly what else I could try. I'm running a MacAffee firewall on XP SP2, but I've disabled the SP2 firewall. The router page also has a Firewall tab, in which "Firewall: Enabled" is checked. What else could be wrong? Any ideas? I'm sure it's something simple, but I'm just not knowledgable enough in this area. Thanks for the help so far.

I'm sorry, I guess I missed that first paragraph of Orion's post. Sorry. So I have to set the TCP/IP to 192.168.10.xxx, THEN I try to forward the port in the router's settings. Ok, I think I get it now. Thanks man! I'll try that. Sorry I didn't catch that the first time I read it, didn't mean to spam up the thread.