My brother and I are connected together through a 10mbps hub. We both use the same dial-up account for online use. We tried to share the internet dial-up account, but it wouldn't work. Recently, a message came up when I turn on my computer, "Conflicting IP number". How do I solve or change the IP number on my computer? Thank you! Kev

To view your machines IP address information from the command prompt type "ipconfig /all" (no quotes) and hit the enter key. Doing thid on both machines will tell you which IP has been duplicated. If the IP address conflict is between the IP addresses used for your Network Adapter Cards (the ones you have connected to the hub) then you can access and change them through the TCP/IP properties of the Network Adapters. Start>Settings>and click Network and Dialup Connections. Right-click the connection icon for your network adapter and choose Properties. Click on "Internet Protocol TCP/IP" to highlight it (don't uncheck the box next to it) and then click the "Properties" button. Your IP Address, Subnet Mask, Gateway and DNS IP information will appear. Make changes accordingly. If you do decide to statically configure your IP addresses on these adapters make sure both machines are configured for the same subnet...something like 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 both using a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. What you may find, however, is that the conflict is associated with your Dial-up connection. If this is the case I'm guessing it would be because you are both using the same dial-up account on two different machines. Your ISP is sending you the IP information using DHCP and each of your machines has been given the same one. Two PCs on the same network can't have the same IP address. -MW

Youll need some form of network address translation (NAT) in use on your LAN, or indeed, both PC's will try to grab the same IP address. How have you got the shared connection set up at the moment, and what OS are you using. If you use the internet connection sharing features of 98 or 2K, it should install the NAT protocol for you using a wizard (2K's version is a lot easier to set up!) Nb - only install internet connection sharing on one PC on your LAN, one PC must be a host and all the rest are clients. Ensure that all PC's are set to obtain IP address automatically, and that there are no Windows 2000 domain controllers on your network (internet connection sharing will not work in a Win2K domain, the DNS screws it up) Just do a search for ICS on the web (or configuring a demand dial interface using Win 2K if you do have a domain controller)

Think about where your IP address is coming from. You're both using the same ISP? You might need a proxy to pull this off. If you statically change your IP, will you still be able to use your ISP? Probably not. There are some freebies on download.com that will allow one PC to act as a proxy. Better yet, get a cable connection, get a cheap router/hub combo for a $100, and hook up the whole family!