mariyaa

I'm running 10.4.3 on a PowerBook G4.

I had been using a NetGear router, which fed one wired connection into a PC, and one wired connection into an Airport Express, with the PowerBook getting wireless access through the AE. But then I the wifi and the router stopped working, and around the same time, I started getting the message:

"The computer's local hostname 'firstname-lastnames-Computer.local" is already in us on this network. The name has been changed to 'firstname-lastnames-Computer-2.local' automatically."

I gradually removed the Airport Express and the router, so that now, it is just a PowerBook plugged into an RCA cable modem provided by TimeWarner.

I can get a network connection that way, but if I try to add the Airport Express connection back in, the AE just blinks amber, and will not give me a network connection. After trying to add the AE back into the chain, not even the plain wired connection to the cable modem will work for a while. But after a while, I will get the "hostname already in use--changed automatically" message, and the plain wired network connection will start working again. I am up to firstname-lastnames-Computer-5.local now.

Any ideas on what I can do to insert the router and/or the Airport Express (it's mainly wireless that I want) back in the chain successfully?