Computer Wont release ip

[Rashkae]

Wade Smart wrote:
> A friend of mine called and said his computer wont release the IP 
> address. A little window keeps popping up saying IP conflict. I think he 
> has a old 98 machine (I know.. he needs off but.....). After releasing 
> and renewing, rebooting, just turning the thing off for a day or two, he 
> said it just keeps getting the same ip address again.
> 
> He called the ISP and they confirmed that the IP was assigned to another 
> clients a few days back.
> 
> I gave him my 9.10 cd and told him to use it for a day or two. 
> Everything worked fine in the first 5 or so hours and then he lost 
> internet connection again. I had him check the IP and its the same one 
> again.
> 
> Ok, a older 98 machine is trouble waiting to happen but, a new OS 
> (running off cd I should add) shouldnt pickup the same ip.
> 
> I would appreciate a little trouble shooting help.
> 
> Wade

I think the ISP is screwing up big time... They assigned the IP address
to another client, but it's still getting picked in Dynamic pool.  Most
DHCP servers keep a cache of NIC hardware address (sorry, brain failed
and I don't remember what they are properly called) and will re-assign
the same IP address to the same NIC, no matter how many times the client
OS "releases" the IP.  The easiest way to deal with this will probably
be to use a different NIC, and hopefully making it someone else's
problem whatever the misconfiguration is.