Help, Invalid IP address

Suppaman · Post by **Suppaman** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 4:27 pm

Just last night i found out that I had a trojan virus on my computer. After removing the Trojan i find out that i can no longer connect to the internet. MSN Messenger said it couldn't connect because it said i had an invalid IP address. I tried system restoring but that doesn't work. I think someone has stolen my IP address and i was hoping someone can tell me a way to recover it.

Handelo · Post by **Handelo** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 5:11 pm

You can't have your IP address "stolen", you can have it found out. An IP address is not something that anyone could grab from your computer. You might need to refresh you IP address manually. I'm assuming you do not have a router, so go to Start>Run... and type in "cmd" and hit Enter. Now in the command console type in ipconfig /release , hit enter, then ipconfig /renew , and hit enter again. If you do have a router then simply restart it, and it will acquire a new IP address automatically.
However, if that does not work, it would mean your modem has lost the capability to acquire an IP address because of the virus (trojans aren't always used JUST to get information). If that is the case you may have to uninstall and reinstall your modem drivers (to uninstall, go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and find your modem drivers in the list. To reinstall, use the disc you got when you bought your modem). If that STILL does not work, the problem could be with your ISP. Try giving them a call, see if there's anything wrong with your account. If that doesn't work either, it would mean that the Trojan had hit your O/S's capability of connecting to a network. You might need to format the drive and reinstall your O/S (This normally solves all problems, but you lose all the information on your hard drive(s), so make sure to back it up first).

Suppaman · Post by **Suppaman** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 5:33 pm

Handelo wrote:You can't have your IP address "stolen", you can have it found out. An IP address is not something that anyone could grab from your computer. You might need to refresh you IP address manually. I'm assuming you do not have a router, so go to Start>Run... and type in "cmd" and hit Enter. Now in the command console type in ipconfig /release , hit enter, then ipconfig /renew , and hit enter again. If you do have a router then simply restart it, and it will acquire a new IP address automatically.
However, if that does not work, it would mean your modem has lost the capability to acquire an IP address because of the virus (trojans aren't always used JUST to get information). If that is the case you may have to uninstall and reinstall your modem drivers (to uninstall, go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and find your modem drivers in the list. To reinstall, use the disc you got when you bought your modem). If that STILL does not work, the problem could be with your ISP. Try giving them a call, see if there's anything wrong with your account. If that doesn't work either, it would mean that the Trojan had hit your O/S's capability of connecting to a network. You might need to format the drive and reinstall your O/S (This normally solves all problems, but you lose all the information on your hard drive(s), so make sure to back it up first).

how do i restart it? Ive already tried unplugging my comp from the router and plugging it back in but that hasn't worked either. When ever i type a command with IPconfig into the cmd window, it says that there is an Internal Error and that i should contact Microsoft.

Handelo · Post by **Handelo** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:06 pm

Suppaman wrote:how do i restart it? Ive already tried unplugging my comp from the router and plugging it back in but that hasn't worked either. When ever i type a command with IPconfig into the cmd window, it says that there is an Internal Error and that i should contact Microsoft.

You don't need to unplug your computer from the router, you need to unplug the router from it's electric supply. Just plug it out and plug it back in and it should work. As for the error, replugging the router might work. If it doesn't try the other solutions I gave you. However Windows should not give you such an error even if you are not connected to the internet. This is something the Trojan might have damaged. If reinstalling the drivers doesn't work, then you will probably need to format your drive(s).

ddcc · Post by **ddcc** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:20 pm

Make sure you're automatically obtaining IP and DNS from DHCP server on router.

mirox · Post by **mirox** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:58 pm

"I think someone has stolen my IP address"

hehehe

ddcc · Post by **ddcc** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:47 am

It's possible to steal an IP address, though not in the way he's meaning.