Netbook kills PC connection?

[corblimey]

I got a PC upstairs which is plugged into a wireless router. It works fine and dandy. I also have a little netbook that I keep downstairs all the time. It is currently plugged into my telly for watching movies, etc. It's got a wireless receiver on it, which I can turn off. However, if I turn it on and have that machine on downstairs, my PC upstairs connection is absolutely throttled. I get 'no data on page' errors, 404's, all sorts. It appears to calm down once I turn off the downstairs netbook.

I'm a complete noob when it comes to this sort of thing, but I assume it's an IP clash or something? What should I be checking for?

[Biggins]

Just out of curiosity, try turning off your firewall on it and see after a few seconds, does the connection re-establish?

[MarkR]

Computers normally get their ip addresses automatically from the modem, something called dhcp. That way the first computer gets a 192.168.1.1 address, next get a .1.2 address etc. You can also set up computers with static ip adresses. Tell one he is .1, and the other he is .2 etc.

If both your computers are set to the same one you'll have an ip address conflict.

[corblimey]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Computers normally get their ip addresses automatically from the modem, something called dhcp. That way the first computer gets a 192.168.1.1 address, next get a .1.2 address etc. You can also set up computers with static ip adresses. Tell one he is .1, and the other he is .2 etc.

If both your computers are set to the same one you'll have an ip address conflict.

That's what I thought alright, and so I've just turned on the downstairs PC, and of course, now it's not happening. Both are living in perfect harmony. Typical. I'll keep an eye on it, and post back if I spot anything else that might be going on.