I'm trying to connect a few computers on a switch thingy

[svengoolie]

It's a thing we had to buy for school because they don't allow routers but it's got 8 ports, it's Linksys, it worked great all year. But we have AT&T DSL back at home and that damn modem fights me all the way. They just don't want to let you do anything. I've tried using a normal router and it would work for a good 10 minutes before they randomly just cut off the connection and we had to call them for them to turn it back on. It's just ridiculous that we actually pay for this crap.

So the connection has no problem getting through the thing and will work for either computer when the other isn't plugged in. When I do plug the thing in, I get an error message saying I'm using the same IP address as another computer in the network. Well no ****. Why does this mean I don't have a connection? I don't see why having the same IP is a problem.

I've tried about everything I know. Anyone know of something I can do? Is there a way to just change my IP?

[svengoolie]

Someone help!

I'll add that they're both running on Vista. So when I'm using one computer plugged into the switch and I add in the second one, that does not cut off the connection for the first one. It just doesn't work with the one I plugged in, giving me that error about using the same IP.

[johnwill]

First off, lose the profanity, even masked. That's not permitted here.

I suspect that the reason here is they don't want you to have multiple computers connected to their network. Please visit the Tech Support Forum Rules & Conduct, because we don't assist in bypassing school or corporate network restrictions. My suggestion is to buy your own access if you don't like the school's arrangements.

I'm going to close this one.