How To Get Rid of GHOST IP address?

Reply to RobinsonSilvestre...

As I discussed in my previous reply, I found and fixed the duplicate entries for my PC in the "DHCP Server" manual IP assignment list of my ASUS Router. At the time I wrote that reply, I "assumed" that the issue was fixed BEFORE I rebooted my PC. I was wrong. It wasn't that simple.

Even though there was no longer two copies of my computer name, I still had some problems getting the "fix" to take effect. After "playing around" with it for a while and after about three more reboots, it finally worked. I thought my problems were over with. Wrong!!!

Everything looked okay until I tried to reopen my ASUS app which I almost never have a problem opening. This time, when I tried to open it, it started coming up but much more slowly than usual. Then, it stopped coming up and reverted back to the login screen. This happened several times in-a-row, eventually displaying an error message. I believe it was a "Your connection isn't private" error. This sequence repeated itself several times until eventually it stopped even trying to open the router app. It would just go right to this error message:

I haven't figured out how to attack this new issue yet, which appears to be a security issue. Do you have any ideas about fixing this problem? The only thing I can think of so far is to reset the router. I was hoping I would not have to go that route... But it's the only thing I can think of. What do you think??? Once again, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I really cannot believe all of the trouble I'm having getting this PC set up!

Denis

I screwed up... I marked RobinsonSilvestre's reply as the answer BEFORE I replied and then was not allowed to directly add a reply to his post, so I'm adding it here:

I did not have to follow Robinson's post directly but it quickly pointed me at the problem and its fix. When I went to the "LAN, DHCP Server" tab of my ASUS Router's app and looked at the "MANUAL" assignments section, the problem became obvious. This list contained two copies of my primary computer, the first of which listed it with the MAC address of the computer I returned to HP and an IP assignment of 192.168.1.111 which is the IP I want. The second copy of my computer listed the MAC address of the new computer (which is what I want) but with an IP assignment of 192.168.1.230 (which I do not want).

Therefore, all I had to do to correct the problem was to delete BOTH of the listings and then add the correct numbers (i.e., the same computer name along with the MAC address of the NEW computer and IP address of 192.168.1.111).

I never thought of my issue being a DHCP Server issue until I got Robinson's reply. Thank you VERY MUCH.

I cannot believe all of the time I wasted on this issue,

Denis

Hi. I'm Brian and I will do my best to help you.

The routers I use assign static IP addresses according to the MAC addresses of the devices. Since you have a different computer, its MAC address is different. The name shouldn't matter.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the reply but it doesn't help. I'm well aware of the relationship between the IP and the MAC address and, for that matter, the "name" of the device.

My 10+-year-old primary computer has used the same name and MAC address since I built it and, for most of that time, the same IP address. I originally set up my ASUS router to automatically assign 192.168.1.111 to that computer. Then, when I received my first new computer more than two months ago, once I renamed and rebooted it, it automatically set the IP address to 192.168.1.111 as expected, based on the computer name.

After having nothing but keyboard-related problems over the next month, I returned the computer to HP, replacing it with a new one of the same model and accessories. Next, I did the same thing I had done with the first new computer: I renamed and rebooted it, expecting it to automatically set the IP address to 192.168.1.111, same as happened with the first new computer. This time, expecting the IP to be correct, I did not check it for a while.

When I finally did check it, I was surprised to see that the IP address was not the expected one (192.168.1.111) but instead it was 192.168.1.230, the IP address it originally assigned when I first booted the second new computer. So, I tried to manually set the IP to 192.168.1.111 but received an error message that that IP address already exists. Automatically setting the IP based on the computer "name" (which is, of course, directly tied to the MAC address) should work perfectly UNLESS the IP address you're trying to set already exists, as happened in my case. The problem is that it should NOT exist.

I cannot figure out what that IP is attached to so I' not able to remove it. I've used the same IP for my primary computer for nearly 10 years so I do not want to change it to something else. I've wasted nearly a couple of full days trying to figure this out. I cannot find anything on the internet close to my issue,

Denis

Hi. I'm Brian and I will do my best to help you.

The routers I use assign static IP addresses according to the MAC addresses of the devices. Since you have a different computer, its MAC address is different. The name shouldn't matter.