Ann, an accountant, reports that after turning on her new laptop, she received a message stating her IP address is already in use on the system.
She tried going back to her old desktop, which she now only uses for email, but received the same message.
The technician checks the account and sees a comment that Ann requires a special network setup to connect to the banking software.
Which of the following should the technician do to resolve the issue?
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A. B. C. D.B.
The error message that Ann received indicates that there is an IP address conflict on the network. This means that there is another device on the network that is already using the same IP address as Ann's laptop and desktop.
The technician's first step should be to investigate why Ann's laptop and desktop are both using the same IP address. Since Ann requires a special network setup to connect to the banking software, it is possible that the network configuration is not set up correctly.
Option A suggests removing the static IP configuration from the desktop. This could potentially resolve the IP address conflict if the desktop is the device that is causing the conflict. However, if the conflict is caused by Ann's laptop, this solution would not be effective.
Option B suggests setting the laptop configuration to DHCP to prevent conflicts. DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is a network protocol that automatically assigns IP addresses to devices on the network. If Ann's laptop is currently using a static IP address that conflicts with another device, switching to DHCP could resolve the issue by assigning a unique IP address to the laptop.
Option C suggests replacing the network card in the laptop, as it may be defective. While it is possible that a defective network card could cause an IP address conflict, it is not the most likely cause. It would be best to investigate other potential causes before replacing hardware.
Option D suggests bridging the LAN connection between the laptop and the desktop. This solution would not address the underlying cause of the IP address conflict and could potentially create more network issues.
Therefore, the best solution in this case would be to choose option B and set the laptop configuration to DHCP to prevent conflicts. This would assign a unique IP address to the laptop and resolve the IP address conflict on the network.