Re: Mac Startup Message Never Seen Before

G5, OS 10.4.11

On startup I got the message:

IP Configuration

192.168.0.5. in use by 00.1a:92:ce:fd:2d

What does this mean?

Thanks,

Tom

This is a network issue

it means someone or something on your local network is using the same network/IP address as you.

Prob a PC or a laser printer- is there something new in your office/set up?

the 00.1a:92:ce:fd:2d is the mac address (the 'mac' doesn't necessarily refer to an 'apple mac' ) of another piece of equipment that plugs into the network ethernet or wireless.

the 192.168.0.5 is the ip network address- no two numbers on a local network should be the same. you will prob have to change this on your G5 or on the other piece of equipment if you use static addresses- without knowing what's on your network or how it's set up it's hard to advise.

A simple restart of both items might fix the issue- otherwise have a chat with who ever looks after/set up your network (assuming you have access to someone like that)

Herwig,

My other computer is a Windows PC. The Mac is a wireless connection to it so I can gain access to the Internet. Both computers have been set up since 2005 and this is the first time I've seen this message.

Tom

hi Tom
if you haven't had the problem before, and nothing new has been added- then im sure the problem will go away, just your router on a hiccup with the IP assignment.

if you can access internet on both machines now then the problem my be already sorted. and new IP's assigned.


if you keep getting the warning on start up- then something is wrong

a mac address (00.1a:92:ce:fd:2d) identifies a piece of equipment exclusively. The first half of the mac address (00.1a:92) (or the first 6 digits) identifies the manufacturer, and the second half (:ce:fd:2d) identifies the serial number of your device.

if another device is using the ip address that your computer usually uses, or the last one that it used,
it's because you probably turned on the other wireless laptop first before turning on your computer and the ip must have renewed in the laptop or just chose that ip that you were already using before because of it being set to "dynamic" (meaning random from your router) instead of "static" which would be one that you have assigned that computer to use all the time.

The best thing to do to prevent this in the future is to log into your router with all your devices "on" and reserve the ip addresses for all the devices at that time. Then your devices (or in your case computers) will always use the same ip addresses.
The confusion with your router will not happen again if you set your router to reserve those ip addresses to their respective mac addresses.

To log into your router, it's usually done by typing into the address bar of your internet browser the ip address of 192.168.0.1

Then it prompts you to enter the user name and password and from that point on..... I think you would need the manual that came with your router or you would need to visit the support section of their website.
Well..... just another small piece of knowledge to share.
Good Luck!

On my Mac I was able to have a diagnostic screen come up and it walked me through the set up again. It seems that all I had to do was to disconnect the DSL box and restart it and everything now works as advertised.

Thanks for the above info,

Tom