It's fairly rare these days to find connections that come with static IP addresses; usually if you want one you have to pay extra for it. Other way to find out is to login to your gateway device (your modem or router) and check the settings; it will show you if you have a static or dynamically-assigned IP address.
How-To Geek Forums / Windows XP
How do i know if i have a static IP adress? And how do i portforward a port?
(19 posts)Hi.
I recently bought a new router, or i actually got it for free.. but i'd like to learn how to forward a port so that i can download torrents faster using uTorrent.
My router name is:
Dell TrueMobile 2300 Wireless Broadband Router
Dell TrueMobile 2300 Wireless Broadband Router
I looked on portforward.com, but they didn't really show me how to forward it. The guide just showed me how to come to the right page....
This is what i see when i click on 'Add' on the port forward page..:
http://g.imagehost.org/0065/ScreenShot_21.png
http://g.imagehost.org/0065/ScreenShot_21.png
But before i do that i need to figure out if i have a static IP, right? So how do i do that? And if its not static, how do i make it static?
And btw, the router is from 2003, so its not one of those new fancy one's..
Thanks.
-Nike :)
Thanks.
-Nike :)
I believe that if you go to this ip address site it will tell you your current ip. Err if you have DSL and IE or Mozilla Firefox hit the the clear data option and immediately turn off your dsl modem. Turn it back on after 20 seconds then go back to that ip address site to see if your ip changed. If it did, you have a dynamic address. I'm sorry this is the only way I know how to find this out, I'm sure there are simpler ways of going about it.
From a Command Prompt, run 'ipconfig /all'. If the line, 'DHCP Enabled' says Yes than you are getting a dynamic IP address from the router. If it says No, that's a static IP.
Thanks so both of you.
ScottW, it says 'Yes'. Dynamic is not good right? That means the IP will be changed after each restart or something right?
How do i make it Static? And what is a MAC Adress btw, i found it in the port settings?
How do i make it Static? And what is a MAC Adress btw, i found it in the port settings?
najkiie, a dynamic IP address will definitely make trouble when port forwarding. It actually means the IP *might* be changed whenever the computer requests an IP from the router. It's highly likely that eventually it will get a different IP than the one you forwarded. Better to use a static IP.
Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Network Connections. Right-click on 'Local Area Connection', then select Properties. On the General tab, select 'Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)', then click the Properties button. Change the setting from 'Obtain an IP address automatically' which is dynamic IP, to 'Use the following IP address' which is static IP. Now you need to fill in the fields:
IP Address - this must be in the same subnet as the router and outside the range of DHCP addresses
Subnet mask - use 255.255.255.0
Default gateway - points to the router which should be 192.168.2.1
Preferred DNS server - use the router, for now, 192.168.2.1
Subnet mask - use 255.255.255.0
Default gateway - points to the router which should be 192.168.2.1
Preferred DNS server - use the router, for now, 192.168.2.1
Click OK, click OK again, then follow instructions. It may ask you to reboot. Once it's done, verify that you still have a connection to the Internet. You are now using a static IP.
...continuing. I found some documentation for the router here:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/network/p57205/
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/network/p57205/
The DHCP settings for the router are under Advanced Settings -> DHCP Server Settings. Either disable DHCP completely, or narrow the range of assigned addresses. What I like to do is leave DHCP on, but set the address range up high, say 200 - 254. Then all of the addresses below 200 can be used for static addressing. Since the router is at 192.168.2.1, you can put your static IP address at 192.168.2.x where x is between 2 and 199.
A MAC address is an identifier that is used to give uniqueness to adapters on the same network. It's not a security measure and there is no need to reserve and IP address for the MAC of your network adapter. Port forwarding shouldn't need the MAC address, but if it is required by the router you will find it in the output of the ipconfig /all command.
Thank you so much ScottW, i really appreciate it.
First off, what do you mean by 'IP Address - this must be in the same subnet as the router and outside the range of DHCP addresses'?
It has to be in the same subnet? What is a subnet? The subnet MASK is 255.255.255.0 now, can i use 255.255.255.(anything between 200-254)? Or am i completely wrong now?
Oh and i changed the DHCP Server settings to this:
http://rapid-photo.com/uploads/ScreenShot_22.png
http://rapid-photo.com/uploads/ScreenShot_22.png
Thanks for the info about a MAC adress.
The subnet, in this case, is 192.168.2.x where x is 1 to 254. Any IP in that range is in the same subnet. Since you have configured the DHCP addresses from .200 to .254, then the IP address you should use is one between 192.168.2.2 and 192.168.2.199.
The subnet mask is not an IP address but a bit mask. 255 is a decimal representation of all 1 bits. I can explain more, but it gets confusing. For now, just see if you can get the static IP working, then we can have more school lessons. :-)
Haha, thanks. I entered all the info, and i didn't get any error messages when i clicked on 'ok'.
Now that i have a static IP, can we try forwarding the port? :)
This is how the window looks like when i press 'add'..:
I have absolutely no idea on what to write. The Port i need to forward is '11329'.
Oh and one more thing. When i go to www.whatismyip.com it says my IP is '212.85.92.56'. And when i write 'ipconfig /all' or just'ipconfig' in the cmd, it tells me that my IP is '192.168.2.5'. What is my real IP now? And why does the website say that the IP is '212.85.92.56'?
Your router is assigning a private IP address to your system and any others that are connected to it. The router allows one external IP address to be used by several systems. The number that you get from whatsmyip (that should be .org) is your external Internet, or WAN, IP address. The 192.168.x.x IP is a private IP address that only applies to systems on your home network.
Now, for the port forwarding. In uTorrent, go to Options -> Preferences -> Connection and click the 'Random port' button. You don't want to use the default port, so let it generate one for you. That port number, which should be 5 digits nnnnn, will be used to fill in the forwarding information.
Service Name - a text field for you to describe the forward, e.g.
Incoming ports from
Destination IP 192.168.2.
Destination Port from
Port Type
'uTorrent'
Incoming ports from
nnnnn
to nnnnn
Destination IP 192.168.2.
5
Destination Port from
nnnnn
to nnnnn
Port Type
both
(as in both TCP and UDP)If it insists on the MAC address, get it from ipconfig /all.
Thank you.
After generating a new port, i clicked on 'Test if port is forwarded properly', it said that it didn't work.. But then i ticked a checkbox that said 'Enable DMZ Host --DMZ IP Address : 192.168.2.(textfield: 5)', and then i refreshed the page and it worked. I don't know what that means, so is it ok to have the DMZ Host enabled?
[color=green]
Welcome to the µTorrent Port Checker.
A test will be performed on your computer to check if the specified port is opened.
[color=green]
Welcome to the µTorrent Port Checker.
A test will be performed on your computer to check if the specified port is opened.
Checking port 13375 on 212.85.92.56...
[b]OK! Port 13375 is open and accepting connections.[/b]
You will be able to receive incoming BitTorrent connections.
[/color]
[/color]
Thank you soo much! I wish i could pay you back somehow. I really appreciate your help. How do you know all this? It's amazing!
Again, thanks!! :D
I have a problem, a huge one. After about 10 min the internet stopped working on all computers in my home. Any ideas why? I tried to remove the forwarded port.. But it still does.nt work. P.S I'm writing from my phone now. -nike
A port forward, or DMZ setting on the router, should not break your Internet. Try powering off the router and broadband modem, wait a bit, then power on the modem first. Wait for the LEDs to stop blinking, then power on the router and wait for it's LEDs to settle down. See if that helps.
Another possibility -- did you start a torrent? Some ISPs don't allow peer-to-peer traffic and yours may have shut you off. Even if that's not what happened, if the power reset doesn't work you should call them.
Thanks. We don't have a modem, we have a hole in our wall and a router. I have alredy tried to restart the router, i waited for over 30 min before i turned it on again... I didn't start downloading a new torrent when it happened, but i was alredy downloadig about 4 torrents.. We have 4 computers plugged in right now, and even tho only i have a static ip (i only changed it to static for me right?) None of the computers can refresh their IP.
Nike :)
A hole in the wall? What comes out of there -- an ethernet cable? It might be that whoever (landlord?) is providing you with that ethernet has a type of router, a gateway, between you and the Internet. It might be that this person could be blocking users who send P2P packets, for example, torrents.
Haha yeah. Its a hole in the wall, and then we have a router with an Internet Cable that is plugged in to the wall hole.
Here is an image of the mystery hole in the wall: (i am soo sorry about the bad quality image, and the pink wall.. My phone camera is a little bit messed up.)
Click Here
Click Here
Today my stepfather replaced the the Router with our old Switch, it shouldn't be working because all computers has different IP adresses... Or should it be working? Our ISP recommended it to switch to a router a few weeks ago because we shouldn't be able to use a Switch for all computers.
We are only using the Switch again until we can get the router to work. And actually, yesterday i downloaded a few movies. It took me over 5 hours to complete ONE movie. And i looked for those who had lots of seeders. It's really weird, today when we plugged in the Switch its going MUCH faster. I mean 5 hours for a movie? That's just crazy, it usually takes about 1h most.
Can it be the router that just stopped working for some reason? I don't think its because of the torrents. Cause it stopped working about 10 minutes after i forwarded the port. Shouldn't it happen directly? Maybe i messed something up in the router settings? I hope not.
And sorry about my bad english, i just woke up.. i always write worse when i'm tierd ^^
-Nike
-Nike
Nike, I see it -- the fabled hole-in-the-wall Internet service! I still don't know what it is, but I see it. It would appear to be an ethernet jack with an ethernet cable coming out of it. You said 'our ISP', so who is your ISP? Maybe that would tell you something about what happens behind the hole.
I'm getting a feeling of deja vu. Now that you have your switch back in, everything from this previous conversation applies. I would think that a static IP would not work with that switch, but maybe it's smart enough to handle one. Also, as before, there is no port forwarding with a switch -- all ports are all open all of the time. A router provides more security because unwanted, malicious traffic is blocked.
It's possible that your router died, coincidentally, ten minutes after you changed a setting. You should try resetting it, configuring it again, and see if it still works.
When i said 'our ISP' i ment our Internet Service Provider, which currently is bahnhof (75% sure).
And yes, now that ive plugged the switch in again, everything from my old post applies. :) When i posted that post i actually thought i was using a router, but it was a switch.. i didn't see the difference between them. I'm not sure i do now either, but i know its two different things.
I have a question. You said that 'All ports are open all of the time' above, does that mean i never ever EVER will need to forward a port (if i use the switch)? I just tested uTorrent to see if the port was forwarded sucessfully.... i havn't forwarded anything (i can't do it on a switch..) but since all ports are open, it worked! It said 'OK'. Which is good. OOh, that's why i download faster when i use the switch :O
What is best to use? A router or a switch?
My Stepfather looked on the router, and he said it was dead. I have no idea what he did with, but i think he's right, those small green blinking lights aren't blinking anymore, none of them are... And yes, it was plugged in when he looked at it..
Oh and when the internet stopped working, we weren't able to connect to the router.
-Nike
I don't know why i haven't got a respond to my last question... I'll be monitoring the post for about a week or two now.. Please anyone reply, its my last question :)
-Nike
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