How can i change my IP address?

Question

My IP address was changed the other day to something weird after I fixed my internet. I now want to change my IP address again because my brother uses a laptop which gets internet from my wireless LINKSYS router. He said that his IP addess has been banned from a game and has no clue why? ("I think he cheats...lol") I suck at using computers and hate all computer terminology. Can someone please give me a way that I can change my IP without damaging my internet. I suck at using computers so if it gets damaged, it will take me forever to fix. Thank you! :)
Info you might need: i have windows XP and LINKSYS wireless-G 2.4 GHz---and Mozilla Firefox

Please dont use words like port forwarding and ipconfig

Answer 1

Unplug the router from it's power source and leave it for about 1 minute. When you reapply power it will be assigned a new IP address.

Answer 2

Odds are your brother isn't banned from a particular game based on his IP address. So, I'm unclear what you expect to gain? Your brother is probably blocked based on user login or screen name or some other parameter.

You get your IP address from the Linksys router every time you boot up.

If you can get into the management of the Linksys router management you can change the range of addresses the router serves out. Your looking for the DHCP settings.

Helpful if you understand something about IP addressing. The Internet currently uses IP version 4 (IPv4). There are a limited number of addresses available worldwide and most service providers won't give it out more than 1 to a single customer. For you to connect more than 1 computer through a common connection you need to run Network Address Translation.

Your router runs Network Address Translation (NAT). What that means is that everyone on your network presents the same IP address to the Internet. The router keeps track of which computer internal to your network is trying do.

You need to be very careful when playing around with IP addresses. Your address should be in the range of 192.168.x.x - where x can be any number from 1 to 254. You should never ever mess with the IP address that was supplied by the service provider. If you don't understand this stuff, and your network connection is working you shouldn't play with it at all - don't fix it if it ain't broke.

Answer 3

Ok, let me put on my "explain in english" hat...

Your Linksys router gives you and your brother an IP address automatically, usually based on your geographic location and/or the people you get internet from. Changing that requires that you change your settings to go from setting it automatically to doing it manually by what is called a "Static IP". What this does is basically you set your computer and router so they can talk to your ISP (internet service provider) and the rest of the internet from a different IP address.

I'm not really savvy about static IP, but I think I can still help you for a bit still. What is the model name for your Linksys? It should say right on the router somewhere.

Answer 4

Unplug your modem from its power source for a little bit and you should be assigned a new ip address when it connects again. It can take minutes or hours, it varies from internet service provider to internet service provider.