Computer Behaves Like it is a Router.

[Guest]

I have a very complex problem with my home network that has just occured last
week.

The way my network is set up now is that there are two computers, and a
two-port SpeedStream Router. Last week, I was able to access the second
computer to get to the shared files and vice-versa. When I would check the
log of my router on it's 'web page' it would show my ISP's IP address as a
69.82.x.x number.

But that has all changed. I can not access the second computer [even though
I had configured the firewall on the second computer to allow my IP address
to come through], and my ISP's IP address is now a 192.168.x.x number. Just
four days ago, and acting strangely for two days, the Windows Firewall on my
computer would automatically turn itself on, not allowing either computer on
the network to access the Internet. I would have to turn off the Firewall
for Internet access on both computers, but I still could not access the
second computer's shared files.

The Windows Firewall does not turn itself on anymore, I should mention that.
But I had mentioned the firewall since that the problems have started to
occur with my Windows Firewall turning itself on. The Windows Firewall on
the second computer has remained off. Both computers can access the Internet
now, however, the second computer can not access the Hotmail section of the
MSN page while my computer can. [That seems awfully strange...]

I have been told that my computer is trying to act like the router. [I had
brought this up to my supervisor yesterday, and this is what he told me.]
Why would my computer automatically take the role of my router? I have tried
running the Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP on both computers [since both
computer's OS is Windows XP Home Edition] but to no avail. My computer still
acts funny, and the second computer is still not able to access MSN Hotmail.

All addresses are Class C IP addresses. My IP address is a dynamic address,
it came right from my router. The second computer's IP address is a static
address, I had to assign it myself because if the router assigns the address,
the second computer IP address warns that it has limited or no connectivity.
And like I said before, even my ISP's IP Address is a Class C IP address,
which is wrong, it should be a Class A IP Address.

I was told I could also be hacked, but I am not noticing any other peculiar
activites besides what had happened with the firewall, and now the second
computer not being able to access MSN Hotmail, or my computer being able to
access the second computer's shared files.

Please help me solve this peculiar situation. Thank you for your time.

 

[RalfG]

Did you try resetting your router, DSL/cable modem to their factory
defaults? I doubt your ISP would suddenly switch to a 192.168.x.x address so
I'd suspect the router or modem configurations were corrupted somehow.
Attacks or even power outages/surges can do that. P2P programs can also be
rough on many models of routers, causing crashes, spontaneous reboots or
configuration corruption. Some broadband modems have built in routing
capablilities which would normally be set to disabled but if the
configuration was corrupted could be turned on, conflicting with both your
router and the ISP connection.

The Windows firewall could turn on if it was left set at automatic in
Services, or if you used the network wizard and inadvertently activated it
that way. A major update might also turn the Windows firewall back on but
I'm not aware of any recent major firewall updates.

I have a very complex problem with my home network that has just occured
last
week.

The way my network is set up now is that there are two computers, and a
two-port SpeedStream Router. Last week, I was able to access the second
computer to get to the shared files and vice-versa. When I would check
the
log of my router on it's 'web page' it would show my ISP's IP address as a
69.82.x.x number.

But that has all changed. I can not access the second computer [even
though
I had configured the firewall on the second computer to allow my IP
address
to come through], and my ISP's IP address is now a 192.168.x.x number.
Just
four days ago, and acting strangely for two days, the Windows Firewall on
my
computer would automatically turn itself on, not allowing either computer
on
the network to access the Internet. I would have to turn off the Firewall
for Internet access on both computers, but I still could not access the
second computer's shared files.

The Windows Firewall does not turn itself on anymore, I should mention
that.
But I had mentioned the firewall since that the problems have started to
occur with my Windows Firewall turning itself on. The Windows Firewall on
the second computer has remained off. Both computers can access the
Internet
now, however, the second computer can not access the Hotmail section of
the
MSN page while my computer can. [That seems awfully strange...]

I have been told that my computer is trying to act like the router. [I
had
brought this up to my supervisor yesterday, and this is what he told me.]
Why would my computer automatically take the role of my router? I have
tried
running the Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP on both computers [since
both
computer's OS is Windows XP Home Edition] but to no avail. My computer
still
acts funny, and the second computer is still not able to access MSN
Hotmail.

All addresses are Class C IP addresses. My IP address is a dynamic
address,
it came right from my router. The second computer's IP address is a
static
address, I had to assign it myself because if the router assigns the
address,
the second computer IP address warns that it has limited or no
connectivity.
And like I said before, even my ISP's IP Address is a Class C IP address,
which is wrong, it should be a Class A IP Address.

I was told I could also be hacked, but I am not noticing any other
peculiar
activites besides what had happened with the firewall, and now the second
computer not being able to access MSN Hotmail, or my computer being able
to
access the second computer's shared files.

Please help me solve this peculiar situation. Thank you for your time.

 

[Guest]

I had just reset the router to factory settings, but my provider's IP address
still shows up as a 192.168.x.x address.

But I am able to access the second computer's files now.

This is what is exactly coming right from my router's home page:

INTERNET
Cable/DSL : CONNECTED
WAN IP: 192.168.1.46
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway IP: 192.168.1.1
DNS: 192.168.1.1
Secondary DNS: 192.168.1.1

Security Log:
1970/01/01 00:00:05 DHCP Client : Send Discover
1970/01/01 00:00:05 192.168.254.197 login successful
1970/01/01 00:00:06 DHCP Client : Receive Offer from 192.168.1.1
1970/01/01 00:00:10 DHCP Client : Send Request, Request IP = 192.168.1.46
1970/01/01 00:00:11 DHCP Client : Receive Ack from 192.168.1.1, Lease time
= 86400

I don't know if that will be helpful information. Thank you for helping me.

 

[RalfG]

What you are seeing at the router is exactly what I would be seeing on mine
if the DSL modem were switched from Bridge mode into one of its routing
modes with DHCP turned on. The router would get its WAN IP address from the
modem's DHCP service instead of from the ISP.

You could try connecting one of the computers directly to the modem to check
this. If DHCP is active in the modem the computer will get a 192.168.1.x
address and possibly be able to reach the internet. The modem should also
have a similar home page for configuration as the router that you could
browse to, though if the modem is supplied by the ISP those configuration
pages might not be accessible to you.

We don't know who your ISP is so the first thing you should do is to confirm
with them what address range their IP, Gateway and DNS are actually using.
That information might even be on their internet support web page. I'm
pretty sure their response will be in the 69.82.x.x range. That being the
case your modem might need to be reset to bridge mode or you might simply
need to manually enter in the true IP, Gateway and DNS addresses of your ISP
into the Router. Double check the WAN configuration in the Router to make
sure that it is correctly configured to work with your ISP and modem. For
example. there are 7 main types of connections configurable on my router,
with sub-types for some of those. Only one of those will work properly when
the correct data is entered.

Looking at the Security Log entries, addresses in the 192.168.x.x range
shouldn't be able to directly reach the internet nor the other way around.
Also the LAN addresses need to be within the same range, so a 192.168.254.x
LAN address shouldn't be able to connect directly with shares on a
192.168.1.x LAN address either.